If you know me or if you’ve been following our journey at all, you know my four children and I just moved back to America after living in England for the last 8 years. We are road tripping across America to see friends and family we’ve not seen in years (most of whom have never seen our littlest) and to learn about American history by seeing it and living it.
What you may not know is our journey has not gone to plan. Like, not at all. We made it to America to stay with friends on their farm and then things slowly started unraveling. Namely, our vehicle which should have arrived in Jacksonville, FL on May 15th (we arrived April 12) had to change boats and is now arriving in Galveston, TX on 11 June.

When I found this out the last week of April, I started looking for a car to buy. Why buy instead of rent you may be thinking? Well, to rent a car to fit our family of 5 plus all 16 of the suitcases we brought with us, would require an extremely large SUV which runs about $6-700 a week or at least it did when I started looking. Factor in I’ll need the vehicle for about 6 weeks and buying a cheap car just seemed more sensible.

Enter our 2005 Ford Explorer. I found this vehicle on Craigslist only a 20 minute drive from the friends we’re staying with. This is important to note because all the car dealerships are at least an hour drive from where my friend lives and borrowing her car for the day was not an option.

This vehicle had over 300,00 miles on it (yes I know that is a lot!) but the seller stated the vehicle had recently had a new motor swapped in and the transmission rebuilt. I have a background in automotive mechanics, and when I looked at the vehicle it seemed to be in great condition. The engine looked fairly new, it had a new AC compressor (AC is a must in the South this time of year), good brakes, no dents or dings, and there was little to no rust on the undercarriage. It was in our price range, so I bought it.

I’ve now been driving it for about a week and then today, Mother’s Day, it decides to break down. I’d bought a new belt and put it on yesterday because the existing one was looking a little frayed. Then today after leaving church the belt just fell off. We had stopped at the store and as we started to exit the parking lot all the warning lights came on and I lost power steering. This is not supposed to happen with a brand new belt.

Just as I’m pulling over to the side of the road leaving the parking lot, my friend who we’re staying with messages and says her mom is taking the trailer we’ve been staying in and may or may not be back by the kids’ bedtime, do we need anything out of it? I’m thinking, “What! Hold the phone, who the heck invites someone to stay with them, and then takes away their accommodation plus all their things inside with barely a moment’s notice.” Of course that’s not what I write back because I’m too busy trying to figure out how to fix my car and salvage just a slice of Mother’s Day with my children. So, I message her I’ll be there as soon as I can to grab some stuff out of it and pop the hood on the car.

I manage to get the belt back on, start the car, and it jumps off again. Keep in mind I’ve got 4 hangry kids in the car by this time and my frustration level is starting to rise and my patience is slowly fraying. A man stops and offers to help and the same thing happens. Again and again. He gives up, wishes me luck, and leaves.

​Huh, well, thanks buddy. By this time I’m thinking this is looking to be a pretty rough Mother’s Day. Then, I glance up and see another man walking towards us from across the parking lot, he looks a bit familiar, but I can’t figure out why. He comes up and asks if there’s anything he can do to help. Says he recognized me from church as he drove passed and stop to see if there’s anything I need. Understand we’ve only been in the area a few weeks and have only been to the church twice. I let him know what’s going on and he tells me he’s going to call another guy and they’ll help get me sorted out.

The next few hours, God used a lot of people I’d never met or spoken with to turn my Mother’s Day around completely. It’s probably easier to bullet list all that happened.

• 1st Guy from church says he has to take his family home, but he’ll be right back. He’s already called a 2nd Guy from church and he should be here soon.
• 2nd Guy shows up and thinks maybe it’s the wrong belt. I agree so he jumps in his truck to go get another just as 1st Guy shows back up.
• 1st Guy’s wife shows up and offers to go buy the kids and I some lunch because by this point in time it’s nearly 2pm and the kids have only had little cups of fruit to eat since breakfast at 7am.
• My friend calls asking where we are and when we’ll be there to get our stuff out of the trailer. I tell her I still haven’t got the car fixed and have no idea when we’ll be there. I ask if she can grab their pillows, blankets, and cuddly animals along with the clean basket of laundry on my bed. 1st Guy overhears our situation and after I get off the phone with her I explain how the friend we’re staying with is taking the trailer we’re staying in and doesn’t know what time it will be back that evening.
• 2nd Guy comes back from the part store and we try the new belt – still have the same problem. We realize one of the pulleys seems out of alignment and start to wonder if that’s the problem.
• A mobile mechanic drives by, sees us, stops, and offers to help. He takes a look at it and says the crank shaft pulley has slipped off the harmonic balancer and is out of alignment and needs to be replaced.
• 2nd Guy hops in his truck again and goes to the auto part store and gets a new one.
• 2nd Guy’s wife shows up and offers to take the kids and I to their house which is only a couple miles down the road, so we won’t have to sit in the parking lot in the heat.
• I’m sitting at the house talking to 2nd Guy’s wife and watching our kids play when she takes a call from her husband. She gets off the phone and says the church wanted to help with our situation and has booked us a hotel room for 2 nights and she can take us there now.
• We get to the parking lot where my car is so I can get a few things out and find the mobile mechanic closing the hood saying it’s all set. 1st Guy gives me the keys and when I try to pay him for buying the part and paying the mechanic he refuses. 2nd Guy gives me a key to the hotel room and his wife asks the kids sizes so she can bring us a few things.
• The kids and I head off to the hotel and get settled in. They’re hungry because by this time it’s now about 6pm, so we head to the store to pick up a few things. While we’re out I get a call from 2nd Guy’s wife telling us she’s at the hotel with some things for us. I tell her we’re out and offer to swing by her house to pick them up as it’s just down the road from the store.
• We get to her house and she gives me a pack of diapers, wipes, socks and underwear for everyone, pajama shirts for everyone, toothbrushes and toothpaste for everyone, deodorant, soap, shampoo, lotion, a few other little bits and then $60 in gift cards so we can go get dinner.
• The kids and I grab some pizza, head to the hotel, watch a movie, and relax the rest of the night.

Wow! Just wow, right? I mean these were people I’d never met before, never spoken to before, and they offered their homes, their wallets, and their time to help us on Mother’s Day. I’m sure the wives of these guys had stuff planned for Mother’s Day, but they set those plans aside to help us expecting nothing in return. That is exactly how God wants His church to reach and to help others.

This is the type of Christ follower I desire to be. This will be an experience I draw on in the future as an example of how to serve others and how to give selflessly. This is an example my children will always be able to look back on and say, “Remember when those people from church stopped and helped us.” Serving doesn’t have to mean doing work for others. It simply means making yourself and what you have available to those who don’t have. As we travel, I’ll be looking for these kinds of opportunities and I hope you’ll do the same. Show the world Christ’s love through your actions and selflessness.

This will also be an example of God’s faithfulness that I will look back on for the rest of my life. See, I’d like to say that as soon as the car broke down my first thought was to pray and ask God for help, but I didn’t. Yet, that didn’t stop God from sending people to help me. 1 Peter 5:7 says, “Cast all your cares upon Him, for He cares for you.” During our trip so far, this is a verse I’ve fallen back on more than once, and if the rest of the trip continues in this same vein, I’ll likely be leaning on it again and again.

Friends be encouraged by my story. This was a Mother’s Day I will never forget. Not because of how horribly wrong it went with my car breaking down and my friend basically making us homeless. But because God is faithful and He cares for me. He cares for you. Whenever you face hard times turn to Him and He will be there. And even if you don’t turn to Him, know He is there, still caring for you just waiting for you to acknowledge Him.