Another Prayer Story

Dustin's car hasn't been running well lately. It doesn't like summer I guess--too hot. It will be driving around just fine and then just sort of lose power. You push and push on the gas and it creeps along slowly. The only way we've figured out how to fix the problem is just to turn it off and let it sit for a while and then see if it starts up again. Also there's no AC, so you have to just sit and bake until the car decides to work again. We can't sell it and get a new one because we just sold MY car and got the Sequoia.

Last week a friend of mine, who recently returned from her mission, was in Salt Lake visiting family and asked if I could give her a ride to the temple. I decided to take Dustin's car because it gets way better gas mileage than the Sequoia and with all the summer travelling we've almost exhausted our gas budget. I knew the car was having problems but I thought since I wasn't going very far it would be fine.

I got to an intersection at the top of a hill near my friend's house and the car died. I got super flustered because of course there were cars lined up behind me, but I didn't know where the switch for the hazard lights was so I had to call Dustin quickly. Every time I tried to start the car it would roll back and then die. Finally after what seemed like forever but was probably only 5 minutes, the car started and I peeled out of the intersection as fast as I could. (Side note: I hate driving stick.)

I was moving again, but I noticed almost immediately that the car wasn't actually fixed. It was doing that thing where it just crawls along with no power. I got to the bottom of the hill before my friend's house and stopped in the shade. I had her walk out to meet me and told her the situation. We waited for ten minutes or so and started the car again, but once again it just crawled along for a few yards before I stopped again.

We spent the next half hour doing the same thing: stopping the car to see if it would fix itself, then starting up and cruising along the shoulder with the hazards on to see if it would get any power, then stopping again. I was pleading with the car and praying silently for it to start working, but the car still didn't work. I kept feeling like I should say a prayer, out loud, but I was already feeling embarrassed that the car wasn't working and it we were baking inside it, and for some reason I was really hesitant to suggest praying.

Finally I swallowed my embarrassment and told my friend I thought we should pray. I asked her to say it because she is a recently returned missionary, and I believe missionaries have  a very strong spirit and a lot of faith. She said a simple prayer, thanking Heavenly Father for temples and for the opportunity to attend, and asking him to help the car work. I started tearing up and was grateful for my sunglasses.

As soon as she was done praying, I took a deep breath and started the car. It turned on without any problem. I carefully pulled into traffic and accelerated.

And the car moved forward perfectly, faster and faster, as if nothing had ever been wrong with it in the first place.

We arrived at the temple ten minutes later, and after dropping off my friend I made it home with no other incidents.

Sounds like something straight out of the Ensign, right? It was a pretty humbling experience. I feel like the Lord has been really trying to teach me about praying with faith lately. I'm really grateful for the experience with the car, and I felt like I needed to share it with you all!

(source)