I believe the Lord arranges things just for us when we need it. He knows how physically weak we can become especially during strenuous times of trial. At times a realization of arrangements can appear what would have been anyway, but thinking on it, I am convinced the Lord intervened and what would have been, changed in a display of heavenly mercy on our pitiful souls.
Late yesterday afternoon I returned home after a very difficult and emotional week away. To see "home" on the horizon was more than a welcome thing to behold. The car was loaded and had to be emptied and I wondered where my strength would come from. One foot in front of the other along with a prayer for help. It got done. Then it was discovered that there was no heat in the house. The temperature read in blinking numbers, 66, yet the furnace did not come on with warm air. I took out the wood stove to have a year off without soot and smoke, so the reliance upon an electrical furnace blowing propane-warmed air is all we have - well, with the exception of a space heater or two.
So I ran to the equipment room to check on things and the pilot light was not on and upon trying to light it several times, it would not remain lit. The thermo couple was dead. It was literally 4:50 PM on a Friday afternoon, so I called the propane company. "Sorry, everyone is gone and we do not work weekends." I called a mechanical company and got the same answer. Nothing could happen until Monday. By 5 o'clock, I was out of options. The needy family living with me numbers 4 and then there is my grandson ... what to do? A snow storm is due and the temperatures are forecasted to drop into the 20s. How will we stay warm?
God knows.
Quickly, I gathered two oil-filled heaters and plugged them in and told them to do the job. Commanded would be a better word! LOL Then, I soaked a load of towels, rung them out and threw them in the dryer and turned it on with the 20-foot hose extended into the great room to reach as many bodies as possible during this ordeal. After those wet towels were dried, they got dosed again and so the cycle began as the sun set in the west. This morning, the action was repeated and has been all day long. It is working. Our home is warm and better than that, it is nice humid warmth, the kind the body needs.
But what about the weather and the snow storm? It is still coming, only 100 miles away to the west. The temperature outside the kitchen window says 60 when the weather service is reporting 47. And we are always 5 to 10 degrees colder than the NWS reports. Explain that if not divine intervention.
I am convinced tomorrow will be the same experience, through to Monday morning.
Call upon the name of the Lord and He will help you! Amen and amen! Thank you, Lord Jesus!