Perseverance...

"We also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverence: and perseverance, character; and character, hope." Romans 5:3-4 NKJV

We've been having a tough time with our vehicles lately! Dan's car had a flat tire one morning, so he took my van to work. It may have been divine intervention because he was on the highway and a tire on the van went flat! Although Danny was not very thrilled at the prospect of changing a tire on the side of the highway ~ He certainly thanked God that he was the one driving when it happened and not me with the 3 kids in the van. Okay ~ So, we have the tire fixed on the van ~ Tire fixed on Dan's car ~ Good to go...Then this weekend we were driving to my aunt's house for a picnic when we had a blow out on the driver's side tire! Again, Thank God that Dan was driving - (if he had stayed home that day & I was the one driving - I probably would have been on the highway doing 70 mph at the time it happened instead of a side road going 30 mph bc we like to take different routes to her house). Okay - so that's our tire issues...Now onto the saga with DMV!

Danny takes his car to inspection and unfortunately, it fails for some body work in the rear and the hood latch (which has just never been the same since Dan hit that deer). He was not very happy to say the least. So, we fix the body work and the hood and Dan goes back to inspection a second time. Here’s the prognosis: Body work excellent - Hood fine - That is, until the very end when the guy slammed the hood down so hard that he was unable to get it to stay latched. Result: Failed a second time! Now, as if Danny wasn't angry enough ~ His car battery went dead (the alternator was bad) and he had to be pushed out of the inspection place off to the side & I had to come with the kids & jumper cables (Not a very happy day at our house, to say the least!)

Dan works all day the next day (partially in the rain to fix the hood & put in the new alternator. Okay, after much perseverance~Success! The car is working and he has to hood working properly - Now we just have to wait until Saturday morning to reinspect (for the third time!) Well, I prayed all morning (because if his car failed again ~ We would not have a very fun weekend bc Danny would be in a miserable mood!) Well, Praise God!! The thing finally passed inspection!!

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What I took away from this whole episode is that God is always with us! Even though the few tire issues we have endured this past week were an inconvenience and an added financial burden, I feel that we were protected from even greater misfortune and possible tragedy. And as far as the whole inspection station thing goes~I feel proud of Dan for his perseverance not only in going back to finally get the car to pass inspection, but in actually fixing the hood - The day he was working on it I kept hearing the banging of the hammer on the metal of the latch & every time I looked out the window - There he was trying to move the latch to the exact point it needed to be so that it would once again latch properly ~ and his perseverance paid off! Good job, Danny! :)