This Is It

     I bought a car last week. It met my requirements of all wheel drive, under 50k miles & $15,000, has a back up camera and heated seats. But it wasn't exactly what I wanted. It was better. 38k miles, sun roof, all the bells and whistles. God keeps doing that to me--upgrading my answers to prayer from the base model to customize them in ways He knows will thoroughly delight me. The God of the Universe knows me and loves me that well. I hadn't even looked at used Hondas because even the high mileage ones are usually expensive, but I am now the proud owner of a beautiful blue Honda CR-V.
     I am almost as glad about not having to car shop anymore as I am about the car itself. I enjoy car shopping about as much as dental surgery, and they don't give you drugs, even though they are called "dealerships". I had been looking for weeks online, hoping to avoid the ridiculous "Let me talk to my manager" game you have to play with car salesmen. When my son brought home "Crazy Mickey's Auto Finder", I agreed with crazy part, but I did look through it for a Santa Fe or Tucson. There weren't any listed, even in other Montana cities. However, my husband spotted an ad for two Hondas at a salvage place just a few miles south of us. The hail damaged Honda was newer and cheaper, but it looked like Andre the Giant had thrown golf balls at it. If I got it, I figured I could get a license plate that said "HAIL NO" and save the explanations. But I must be more prideful than I am cheap, because I went back in time and parking spaces to the 2013 model.
     The moment I sat in it, I knew--this is it. This was the one God had for me. I appreciate it when God makes his message short and sweet. He did the same thing when we bought our current house. After a year of looking, wondering if I would know it when I saw it, I pulled into this driveway and knew--this is it.
     Another time God made His message longer, but abundantly clear was, about our spare son, Lance. I knew God had brought Lance into our lives as clearly as if He had pried the roof off our house and dropped him into my arms. What I didn't know, was how I would recognize when my role as his spare mom was finished. But September of 2008, after the first week of BSF, God hammered into my heart the message that I had completed my part in Lance's life. He would be alright. God would handle it from here. Although Lance lived with us two more months before he left us for the last time, I already knew my job was finished--this is it. We never heard from him again and it broke my heart at the time, but I had already heard what I needed to--from God.
     Perhaps God gives me such clear signals because He knows I don't pick up subtle ones. I am fairly intelligent, but I am not necessarily perceptive. And I know there will be at least one more time this occurs. One day I will close my eyes on earth, open them in heaven and see for myself--THIS IS IT!