When Something Can Go Wrong, It Will - Martin Wiles

I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid. John 14:27 NLT

I turned the ignition. Nothing.

Driving a sixteen-year-old car with 260,000 miles on the motor makes every day a new experience. In five years, we’ve only spent $600 on repairs, so I don’t complain. Still, I don’t have a whole lot of peace of mind when driving it.

The timing was bad when it decided to quit. I had just resigned one of my jobs. The remaining one wouldn’t pay our bills. Due to health issues, my wife couldn’t work. On my next to the last day at my place of employment, I drove up to the building, switched off the car’s ignition, went inside, turned on the heat, and walked back to the car. When I turned the ignition, nothing happened.

Great, I thought. This is really bad timing. My wife had busied herself selling some of our belongings on Facebook, hoping for enough to help us live until another door for income opened. Now, we’d have to use that money for repairs. I wondered why the Lord couldn’t have let the car run a little longer.

A fellow church member drove up, and I asked him to help me jump the car off, thinking the battery was dead. No such luck. We called a friend whose dad owns a towing service. He came, and left with my car and sixty-five dollars. A call to the mechanic the next day brought the unwelcome news that the repairs would be two hundred dollars. 

Jesus says He gives His followers a gift such as we can’t find in the world: peace of mind and heart. But when the bank account is empty, when you can’t pay the rent, when you don’t know how to pay the other bills, or when your vehicle breaks down on top of everything else, peace seems to fly out the window.

The amazing thing is that the peace remains in spite of circumstances. That’s because God nestles it deeply in our hearts—and because it doesn’t depend on the nature of our circumstances. We live by faith, which can’t co-exist with fear. If fear is in our hearts, God didn’t put it there. He brings peace when we put our trust in His control, timing, wisdom, and strength.

Don’t let circumstances drive out God’s peace. Remember, He loves you and has your best interests at heart.

Prayer: Father, we trust You to care for our needs.

Tweetable: What do you do when the something goes wrong? 

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