Yesterday Bryan's car fell apart, but we had no idea how bad it was until this morning. A piece of the power steering system fell off of Bryan's car when he was driving home from work yesterday. He went and bought the part to fix it and rented the tools he would need to get to it. Simple fix, huh? He went to remove the pieces, and he realized something else needed to be replaced. We would have to take the car apart to get to this piece. Now..... this car is 11 years old. It is a lemon. We don't want it anymore. Fixing the car right now would cost more than it is worth, because we do not have the resources to remove all of the parts to get to this one part and do the job ourselves.
While Bryan was figuring out how impossible his task was, a little boy came wandering down the street, alone. He told Bryan he was lost, so we looked around for an adult that might have been looking for him. When we found nothing we asked him some questions. His answers concerned us, so we bandaged his scraped knee, gave him a drink (he has dehyrdated, poor thing!), and I called for a police officer to come to our home. While the police were gathering information an employee for Katy ISD stopped in front of our house and asked for the boy by name. Even though he told us he was not in school, he was. He had apparently left school after getting into trouble with his teacher and had been wandering around the neighborhood! I won't get into details, but he was young.... and it worried us a lot that he had left school and had been alone for x amount of time. He was taken back to school, and we attempted to go on about our business. I still can't stop thinking about what a blessing it was that my husband was home from work today, outside trying to work on his car, when that boy wandered by. I am thankful that we were here to help him and that he was not hurt. It was so sad to realize how vulnerable this little boy had been, but so good to know that we were put in the path to help him without realizing it.
On to the last part of today....
Those of you who know me in person know that I am careful with our money. I have a monthly budget, a menu for meals, and I cut corners wherever I can. But I went against all of that today after an answer to a prayer told me to. Bryan and I talked last year about working towards him being able to get his "dream car". We discussed the amount we would save to put down, the amount of time it would take to do so, and how quickly we would pay off the balance after the purchase. Well...... he got his dream car a little sooner than we had planned. Okay, a lot sooner. He got it today. A good friend of mine reminded me today that, as wives, it is sometimes good to remember that our husbands need the opportunity to make decisions alone, no matter how big or small they are. She also reminded me that we should not openly doubt our husbands decisions, even if they do have a negative outcome. Her example was a pastor who had decided to invest in a business venture that eventually went down the toilet, but his wife never peeped a word of opposition and never mumbled an "I told you so" when it fell apart. She learned to submit and give him the opportunity to succeed or fail, and he learned that her devotion to him was something to love and respect for eternity. As a believer in equal-partner input, a strong-willed woman, and a cautious person, that is incredibly hard for me to swallow... at least for big decisions.... and a car is a VERY big decision. However, I felt prompted to take her words as wise counsel, and I decided to proceed with caution. I expressed my concerns to my husband in a very limited way, and then told him that I would support his decision, no matter what it was. Then I took myself out of the decision-making process completely. If this had been anytime last year or the previous years of our marriage, I would have been angry with him. I would have felt that he was being selfish and not considering the most cautious (or best, for me those words tend to be interchangeable) option and taking it. But I realized today that his sacrifices for our family have been beyond impressive, and that this could be the best (and most memorable) chance to show him how much I appreciate and respect his hard work and devotion to our family (for now). I realized that he would not have this chance again for several years if we decided to take the frugal and cautious route. I realized that it was my turn to sacrifice and give him a wonderful opportunity.
The car is within our budget. It is just way more than I would have spent. Ever. But that is my character. I am not right, he is not wrong. This time there was no compromise. There was loving submission. There was humility. We prayed about it as a family before the papers were signed and the keys were handed over. I thought for a fleeting moment that we would be reminded of our hastiness and that the answer would be to not go forward with it. But the only answer I received was "let him do it....". I was dumbfounded at the amount of peace I felt afterwards.
Will we receive criticism for this?? You bet!! Many people will not understand why or how we came to this decision. Many people will think my logic is flawed. Many people will criticize my husband and say or think that he was indeed selfish. This was not a frugal decision. Yes, we need two cars to get around. Bryan works and I am busy driving kids around and running errands in a community that is not very bike-friendly. Could we have waited? Of course. Could we have picked something more practical? Absolutely. Was that the answer we received when we prayerfully considered? No. I don't understand it, but I trust the answer nonetheless.
If the doubters had been present with us today, they would have felt the strong presence of the spirit and how truly humbling the situation was. I don't know what else to say about it. I will never forget how it felt to see the gratitude in my husband's eyes today, and I will never regret it.
Today, this is the gift I gave to my husband....
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