Trials, Neighbors, and a Little Lantern

                 Jesus promised in His quote from John 16:33, In the world, you will have tribulation (trouble)…and James, the half-brother of Jesus even wrote in his letter, Count it all joy when you fall into various trials. These principles I have in my mind and heart but this events of this past Thursday, I must admit jolted me a bit. After getting one of the three bales out in preparation for the possible inclement weather, the red battery warning light suddenly glared back at me in the cab of Mother’s Ford F-350.

                Thankfully, I quickly called Joe, one of my favorite and most trusted mechanics. Joe stood out in my mind as an elementary student whose inquisitive mind spurred him to learn as much as he could about so many topics. He diagnosed the possible culprit triggering the warning light as a malfunctioning diode of the alternator.

                Praying, Well, God, You are requiring me to rely on friends who have offered to help Mother and me at anytime, so I called my dear friend and neighbor, Vonda Goad, explained the dilemma of the warning light and needing to feed Mother’s little herd. She assured me Greg, her husband, would be glad to help. When Greg arrived, he suggested, “Let’s just get it over to Fairfax.” Once we got the pickup to Joe’s shop in Fairfax, Greg came back and put out the last two bales plus fed the cattle.

Mother and Vonda, both of them shared "Smith" 
as their maiden name.

                On Friday, Vonda willingly ran errands for me and told me to let her know whenever the pickup was ready to be picked up. Joe texted late in the day to notify Mother’s F-350 no longer had the red battery warning light on, had a new alternator, plenty of transmission fluid, and was ready to be picked up. As I notified Vonda, I heard Greg in the background, “Tell him we’ll be there in 20 minutes.”

                Vonda drove Mother’s feed truck home with Greg following her. As I walked to open the gate so she could drive the repaired truck into the driveway, my little LED lantern illuminated my way.

                              After I thanked Vonda and Greg and parked the pickup, I thought more about the little LED lantern (shown at left) while walking back to the house. A well-known verse from Psalm 119:105 came to mind. Its words ran through my mind, Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

                The lamp mentioned in the longest psalm in the Bible reminded me of the little LED lantern. It lit the ground right where my feet walked. How often on Thursday and Friday did I just see God’s leading to make the next decision.

                I also had a small flashlight in my pocket when I went to open the gate for Vonda. Had I wanted the driveway lit as I approached the gate, I could have whipped out the flashlight and seen a bit farther just as the psalmist wrote the word of God lights the reader’s path.

                Reflecting on the two days of this past week, I am reminded our trials are allowed to cause us to rely foremost on the Lord and His plan. So many times, I have learned to accept the help of others. I tried not to stew and fret over getting things done before the frigid weather blew in. As my sister pointed out to me on Saturday, “You got everything done.”

                Just as God led me throughout the week, so He will lead us daily, moment by moment, to fulfill His plan for us. I pray daily for wisdom to follow His lamp and His light as I read God’s Word and seek to obey each day.