Blessed chalk and other minor miracles

[Della]

Over Memorial Day weekend my dh and I went camping. We have a very small travel trailer that we converted from a cargo trailer to a camper. Our truck with which we tow our camper is 14 years old with only a 4 cylinder engine. We went camping along the North Shore of Lake Superior, which is still pretty chilly in May. I brought along a winter jacket and was glad I had it because standing outside along overflowing rivers and cascades is cold business in N. MN.

Anyway, in my jacket pocket I found a piece of blessed chalk from Epiphany and on an impulse I took it out and made a small + cross over the inside doorway to dedicate the camper with the blessing of the Magi and forgot all about it.

The trip back had several difficulties. First we set out late afternoon so we knew we’d be driving in the dark part of the way. We ran into thick fog driving through Duluth, but got through that. Then it started to rain while we wound our way through road construction, but it got worse. The rain started to fall in torrents with hail in the mix. Since our truck is so old the headlight lenses are scratched and in need of polishing/replacement (something we didn’t realize until we were driving under such bad conditions). Towing even our small camper lowered the rear end of the truck, pointing what little light the headlights gave off up instead of down at the road. We couldn’t see a thing!

Dh was having a hard time keeping us in our lane with the dark, the rain, on a 4 lane highway. He was doing all right until he drove too close to the right hand verge and we went off the road. We bounced into the shallow ditch, the camper rocked violently, but dh managed to get us back on the road without rolling us over–just managed. We crossed all four lanes and wound up in the far left lane. Thanks be to God no traffic appeared or we’d have been hit for sure.

Dh got us back into the right lane again and we drove through the dark and the rain still unable to see the lines about 50 more miles until we finally got home around 11:30 PM. We were all fine–dh, me, the truck and the camper (with just some things tossed around inside). I didn’t remember the chalk cross over the camper doorway until yesterday, but I’m sure the Magi watched over us travelers, giving us their heavenly aid and intercession. Deo Gratias!

So, what minor miracles have you experienced?

 

[mab23]

I enjoyed that story

 

[Mijoy2]

Thank God you and your husband are okay Della. I’ve been in situations like that before and read your little story almost feeling like I were there with you.

I have an 8000lb boat I trailer. Trailering can always add tremendous complication to traveling. Especially in adveres weather conditions. Sounds like the weather conditins you encountered were quite intense.

 

[LorenC]

Wow, so glad you’re both safe. Thanks for sharing that with us! I know what kind of headlights you’re explaining.

Here’s a small miracle but a big one to me and my husband. We have a grown daughter who still lives with us at home. She goes through lazy streaks and it gets on my husband’s last nerve. By the middle of last week her lazy streak had went on longer than usual and tensions were getting high within the home. I went to the Lord and explained that I realize He cannot make people do things but could He please do something to influence our daughter to get her out of her slump without anyone having to throw hints at her or explain it to her for the umpteenth time. I didn’t give it another thought until day before yesterday. On that day she came home from work, ate a snack, and started to clean her room, which then led to her cleaning the area outside of her room and before we knew it she had vacuumed the entire house, folded and put away laundry and cleaned the kitchen like she never has before! She even dusted!! Dh asked “what’s gotten into her?!” And then I remembered my request. What the Lord did I haven’t a clue but…oh if it could just stay like this or if He would just nudge her again like that for us when it’s needed. It saves so much energy! I keep asking Him for this seemingly small but wonderful miracle to continue!

 

[Della]

Thank God you and your husband are okay Della. I’ve been in situations like that before and read your little story almost feeling like I were there with you.

How kind of you to be thankful for us. Thank you.

I have an 8000lb boat I trailer. Trailering can always add tremendous complication to traveling. Especially in adveres weather conditions. Sounds like the weather conditins you encountered were quite intense.

This is so true. Our trailer weighs under 2000 lbs., but it’s small size also makes it a bit difficult to back into campsites and driveways–it tends to jack knife. I think it saved us from rolling though because the step caught in the sod as keeled over to the right, bouncing it back to the left which kept the truck upright as it lunged to the right, as well. It was a blessing we went off the road there and not in some places along the way with sheer drop-offs into rivers and chasms. I have to credit St. George too. I had put up a poem by Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the Boy Scouts, in which he invoked the saint’s intercession and aid for hikers and campers. We’re going to get a crucifix for our trailer out of gratitude and against future disasters.

 

[Della]

Wow, so glad you’re both safe. Thanks for sharing that with us! I know what kind of headlights you’re explaining.

Thank you for your kind words. :tiphat: To prevent having lighting problems like that again, we’ve ordered a 3M headlight polishing kit and dh is having extra shocks with springs installed to help hold up the truck’s back end.

Here’s a small miracle but a big one to me and my husband. We have a grown daughter who still lives with us at home. She goes through lazy streaks and it gets on my husband’s last nerve. By the middle of last week her lazy streak had went on longer than usual and tensions were getting high within the home. I went to the Lord and explained that I realize He cannot make people do things but could He please do something to influence our daughter to get her out of her slump without anyone having to throw hints at her or explain it to her for the umpteenth time. I didn’t give it another thought until day before yesterday. On that day she came home from work, ate a snack, and started to clean her room, which then led to her cleaning the area outside of her room and before we knew it she had vacuumed the entire house, folded and put away laundry and cleaned the kitchen like she never has before! She even dusted!! Dh asked “what’s gotten into her?!” And then I remembered my request. What the Lord did I haven’t a clue but…oh if it could just stay like this or if He would just nudge her again like that for us when it’s needed. It saves so much energy! I keep asking Him for this seemingly small but wonderful miracle to continue!

Jesus told us it’s the little foxes that spoil the vine–these minor family hassles can lead to worse things, can’t they? God certainly blessed you with a positive answer to your prayer. I hope he continues to bless you and your family.

 

[HonoraDominum]

Last year, Labor Day weekend happened to fall on the fifth First Saturday of my Five First Saturdays devotion. I had planned on going to the all-night prayer vigil at the Carmelite Convent down the road as I always do, but when I woke up in the middle of the night to go, I was simply too tired from preparing for a trip to my mother’s home. I went to my normal 8a Saturday Mass, and I made an Act of Consecration to Our Lady of Mount Carmel after Mass. I asked to be put under her mantle of protection that she has granted those with a devotion to Carmel and to the Brown Scapular for love of her.

My husband and I then headed up to Van Buren, AR in our 11-year old Volkswagen New Beetle. After driving 6 hours, and when we were within 3 miles of my mother’s home, the Check Engine light started blinking. We limped the car to my mother’s house and promptly started to panic. We called the VW dealership in a town about 20 miles away, and they said that their service department closed at Noon and would not open again until the next Tuesday. We had no idea what was wrong with the car and were terrified of having to get it fixed at the dealer, on a Tuesday (missing two days of work each), and we were just not happy campers. I prayed, “Mary, Mother of God, protect me. Sacred Heart of Jesus, I have confidence in thee, confidence in everything!”

We decide to limp the car up to the Auto Zone up the street, to hook it up to the free diagnostics machine, so at least maybe we could get an idea of what kind of repair bill we were facing. We were talking to the guy at the Auto Zone counter and said, offhandedly, “You don’t happen to know anyone around here that works on VW’s do you?” He said, “Well, that guy does.” A man had just walked up with a couple of gallons of antifreeze. Come to find out, he was a mechanic by trade, but for a hobby, rebuilt VW New Beetle engines for racing (!!). We walked out to the car with him and they hooked the machine up to the car. As soon as the man saw the error code, he said, “Oh, that’s an easy one, all you need to do is open the car here, then buy this coil, and you can replace it in about 20 minutes.” My husband asked, “We don’t have any tools and we don’t know anything about cars. Could we hire you to fix it?” He said, “Sure, let me just go have dinner with my family, that’s why I was in this part of town.” We drove down to his garage, where he fixed the car in just under an hour. For $200, and the part was over $100. At 5p on Saturday on Labor Day Weekend. Also, he said that the only places within three hours of where we were that work on VWs was his self-owned garage and the dealership.

Had we broken down somewhere between home and my mother’s house in the middle of Oklahoma, or had I actually woken up and gone to the 3a mass, or had I not gone to church in the morning so I could get my fifth First Saturday in, we would not have been in the exact right spot in that town during a 10 minute window where we would have found the only private mechanic who worked on VWs within a 3-hour driving radius.

When we got home, we did some research and found out that our repair would have been over $500 for our one coil, and most dealership say that when you replace one you should replace all 4, so it could have conceivably been a $2K repair, plus 2 days missed work.

Hail Holy Queen, mother of mercy, who looks upon all of her children and protects them!