“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.”

               -Romans 8:28

More than six months of car shopping culminated yesterday afternoon with the purchase of my first car….Well, my second first car that is. Back in January I had a not-so-pleasant experience with a ‘99 Ford Taurus that I owned for a grand total of three full days, discovering after less than 100 miles that it had a bad transmission that would ultimately cost more to fix than the car was worth.

Of course just like any other guy my age, owning my first car has always been a dream of mine and one I was excited to see become a reality. And even though the bank preapproved me for a sizable loan without requiring a cosigner, no amount of prayer could give me peace about starting off my adult life in debt. (Thankfully I have a great mom who let me drive her car to my part time job while I saved up enough to pay cash.)  So I worked and saved for six months, and then all of my prayers led me to believe I was supposed to buy the car that I had to return less than a week later. I was confused, angry and very discouraged.

Some would say I misunderstood God’s leading. After all, where does a bad transmission fit into Jeremiah 29:11? Even after grappling with this question for the past 2+ months I’m not sure I can give the perfect answer to that question, although I do think God had a purpose in all of what took place. Didn’t God say that the trial of our faith worketh patience (James 1:3)? Without trying to sound sarcastic, I certainly think patience is more important than a seamless transition into my first car.

Maybe you’ve never had a car go bad three days after buying it, but I’m confident a large majority of my readers have faced their share of situations they didn’t understand. Even after “praying it through”, know that you still won’t understand all of the unexpected curveballs that come your way in life. But even when nothing is falling into place the way you think it should, trust that God has a purpose much higher, wiser, and greater than you thought He did (Isaiah 55:9). He usually does.