Flat Tire From the Father ~ by Julie Earl

My husband, Ron, saw that I had a flat tire as he was headed off to work, so I waited until our son woke up so that he could air it up and follow me to the tire shop to get it fixed.

Tire Encounter #1: When I sat down to wait for the shop to fix my tire, I opened my Bible to have my devotions while I waited. A man near me asked where I bought my Bible. As it turned out, he was a Christian and does prison ministry. Just last week I had the thought that perhaps we should look into doing a little prison ministry, so this was a fantastic conversation and incredibly helpful. We talked for over 25 minutes until his car was done.

Tire Encounter #2: I started again to read my Bible, but asked the Holy Spirit, “Is there anyone here you want to bless?” The man and his kids nearest me were all on their phones, and I prayed for them, but didn’t feel prompted to say anything.

There was another young man sitting further away who caught my eye, and I felt a stirring that God had something for him. “What do you have, Father?” I got a picture of something that I’ve gotten numerous times so I said, “Lord, I don’t know if that’s you or me, but please give me something else so that I know it’s you.” I then got a picture of a drive-in theatre, which I’d never had before so I said ok. I didn’t know what it meant, but I knew the Lord would show me once I started sharing with the man.

I walked over and sat beside him. “Hi. I was praying God would bless you and the Lord gave me a picture of a drive-in theatre. I don’t know if you’ve been in one, but when I was a kid we would go. I believe the Lord is saying that He is clearing away all the cars that are in your way so that you can see the screen clearly. The screen is His wisdom and insights. He is going to reveal His heart to you and answer the questions you have. He really loves you, and you are incredibly special to Him.” I shared a little more along those lines.

“Thank you,” he said. “That is weird that you came up to me because my wife recently said for the first time she felt like she wanted to pray, and we were talking about possibly growing in that.”

“God loves you both so much and wants to do life with you! What is your spiritual background?”

“None, really. Neither my wife nor I went to church growing up. Sometimes I visited with friends, but that was all.”

I was able to share my story of coming to Jesus and how having the Holy Spirit inside me to give me wisdom, grace, forgiveness and love made such a difference with early marriage challenges, parenting challenges and other trials that have come my way. We ended up talking for at least 25 minutes until my car was finished. I gave him my contact info, and I pray that he or his wife will reach out to me, but most importantly that they will reach out to Jesus! He loves them so much that He gave me a flat tire in order to express His heart of love through me!

Julie Earl
March 21, 2016