Finding Out About A Blessing in the Past

As I was driving to a neighbor’s house on July 21, 2018 to help them move, I wondered what blessing the Lord would give me for this act of service – not that I was doing it to earn a blessing or reward. I would have helped anyway, because we’re all in this together. But, I have been noticing lately that I seem to receive some blessing every time I help a neighbor or do a little family history work. But, even though the blessing thought had occurred, I was not actively or alertly watching for a blessing. Later, in the afternoon as I was driving my yellow pickup truck into a parking stall at Home Depot, I saw a man standing by his truck and trailer in the next row who was intently watching me, with an unusual smile on his face. As I got out of the truck he continued to stare at me, so I knew I had to walk over to him to see what was up. As I approached, he said “You have my truck!” Naturally I said that it was my truck, but what he meant was – he was the original owner, and he recognized the rare color and the special features that he had added when he bought it. In the course of our long, pleasant talk I learned that he had bought it about four years ago. He went through a lot of work to get that color, even to the point of offering to buy ten of them since the manufacturer would not paint less than ten. His wife really wanted this color, but he was finally able to get a Salt Lake City dealer to buy ten, because the dealer’s salesmen said they could sell them. Then two years later, he decided to give the truck to his daughter. Since she did not like the color, he traded it in to get her another vehicle. Now, at this point, I need to mention that two years previous to this meeting in the Home Depot parking lot, Cheryl and I were in the process of selling our house in Mapleton, which is about ten minutes south of Provo. Since we had a few last repairs to do to the house, we scheduled a week to stay in Mapleton and complete the repairs. Previously, we had decided that we needed to replace our 25-year old van. So on the day we finished the repairs, we went out in the evening to look at vehicles. The yellow truck was the first vehicle we saw, and it had everything we wanted. It was even two years old which Cheryl needed because she could not tolerate a new vehicle, or even an older car that had had air fresheners or other perfumes in it. The point that most amazed me in my conversation with the original owner was that the truck had only been on the Provo dealer’s lot for a week! That week being the very week that we were in Provo looking for a new vehicle! I was further amazed, and humbled, to realize that the Lord was, in effect, saying to me, “I am aware of your needs and wants. I have been blessing you all through your life, and I’m going to now give you a taste, a small taste, of what I have done for you.” So, what did He do? First, the Lord had to know that we would want this particular yellow truck more than two years before we had any thought about a new vehicle. Then, the original owner’s wife had to want the same vehicle that we did – two years before we knew anything about it, - and the guy needed to have enough money to be able to buy ten of them! Then the SLC dealer’s salesmen had to be persuaded that they could sell ten, and the dealer be persuaded to buy those ten trucks. The dealership did sell the ten, and now that dealer buys ten yellow trucks every year. Then the man’s daughter had to need a vehicle and not like the yellow. Next, the owner had to trade in the vehicle at the very lot where we were going to be – in the very same week that we were going to be back in town. To me this is further proof that the Lord is omniscient and omnipotent, is aware of each of us, and is anxious to bless us and meet our needs and wants – all the time, not just when we need a new truck. Lastly, I need to add that I received a current blessing, too. I found a handle in the store for my old rake – when the online search said they didn’t have the handle I needed. The Lord knows our little wants too.