When a challenge arises in life we need to do what we can to help ourselves, but it is also important to ask for God’s help. We can also surrender how and when help will manifest. If we keep our heart open by letting the worry go, we are more likely to “hear” when God whispers the answer to our heart.

I was excited about a visit from two elderly dental hygienist friends I had not seen in twenty years. When I found out they lived only an hour and a half from me I invited them to my home for a visit. I was thrilled when they accepted my invitation. We planned to go out to lunch at a nearby restaurant. I was filled with much love and gratitude to share many past memories of working together and pictures of friends and our families.

When it was time to go out to lunch my friends were going to follow me in their car and leave from the restaurant to go home early. But the car they came in now would not start. They had borrowed the car from an older relative who had not driven it in a while. We suspected a dead battery was the problem. Normally my husband would take care of this type of problem but he was working out of town for several weeks, so I proceeded to come up with a solution.

First, I know that I am never alone, the inner Prophet of God is always with me spiritually. I was given a nudge by the Prophet to try and jump-start the battery. This seemed like an easy and logical solution… if it worked. As coincidence would have it a few weeks earlier I had car battery problems of my own. I was given the opportunity by the Holy Spirit to brush up on how to jump-start a dead car battery. I had needed a new battery for my own car and was shown by the salesman how to test and jump-start a battery. I did not know at the time how useful this information would be just a few weeks later! In my haste to solve the problem I retrieved an older set of battery cables from my car, forgetting I had ordered a new set for our other vehicle and had put the new set in the garage.

As a sidebar, at this time of year a farmer in our rural area cuts the fields for baling. It is a process which takes several days to weeks depending on the weather. The previous day the farmer had cut the field next to our property and his next step was to bale it into the large round bales of hay. You never know when he is coming to finish this task. We have never formally met only waved at some distance to each other.

Now I attached my older cables to the battery of my friends car and tried to jump-start the car. It did not work and the car engine did not even turn over. I tried several more times, making sure the connection was clean and tight. Nothing happened. My elderly friends were getting worried and wondering what to do next. In that moment I walked back into the garage and began singing HU, an ancient name for God, silently to myself and prayed a silent prayer asking the Prophet, my inner guide for help. In my enthusiasm to fix the situation I found I could not do this on my own. In those few moments after my prayer two things happened. I remembered that I had a set of new jumper cables. I retrieved them and as I walked back out of the garage I looked down the long driveway and saw our farmer neighbor on his tractor puttering slowly down my driveway! God’s timing of answering my prayer was amazing!

After introducing himself and asking if we needed help the farmer said “I knew there was something wrong seeing two hoods of cars up and ladies standing around!” We all laughed as I said a silent “thank you” to the Prophet for hearing and answering my prayer. I was so overwhelmed with gratitude! The new jumper cables started the old car right up. We thanked the farmer for his assistance. He said he was very happy he could be of help and we all went on our ways to continue our day with so much joy and gratitude.

There are a few obvious lessons in this experience. One is that I learned to ask for help, from my heart, no matter how small the challenge. Another was to surrender outcome and leave the “heavy lifting” up to God and His timing. I was reminded that God is constantly demonstrating His Love for us even in the smallest of tasks. Also I was happy my friends and I were able to jump-start our friendship, it was a love filled gift for me. Mostly, I was reminded how much we are all loved by God and His Prophet and how much He wants us to have abundant, joyful, and blessed lives!

Written by Nancy Nelson