God Provides a Van

Almost 7 years ago we were in desperate need of a vehicle. At the same time my grandparents were looking to upgrade and sell their '99 Buick Century.  It was perfect timing.  Our tax return check had arrived and we were able to purchase the Century from my grandparents for a great deal.  Little did we know it would give us 7 great years of reliable transportation!  The last few years it has added rust and is well over 200,000 miles but we were so blessed by this car.  For the last 3 or 4 years we've kept saying...."next year we'll get a new one..." The next year would roll around and we'd say...."I think we can wait another year...." Finally last year we had a small savings built up and were ready to purchase a newer Buick.  We were excited to upgrade because even though the car was doing great, we had no idea how much life it would have in it and didn't want to get stranded somewhere.  We prayed over it and asked the Lord to keep it running until we had enough money saved for a new purchase.  We decided several years ago that we would live on a cash budget.  We'd do our part to spend the resources the Lord gives wisely, and ask Him to sustain and help us care for the things He provided.

So last year we found a car we loved, but because we were on a cash budget we couldn't get the sales rep to come down to our price.  We were sooo close but knew that we'd be unwise to accept their bottom dollar price.  So we walked away.  I thought for sure the Lord would re-open the door, but He did not.  Months went by and we couldn't find what we we were looking for to fit our budget so decided to just wait and save a little more.  We had no idea just what the Lord had in store for us.....

Several months later we felt a strong calling to have more children which would require a surgery that insurance would not cover.  We suddenly knew the Lord had other plans for our car savings and we were able to use a part of that savings to fully pay for Jeff's surgery (I should note that the surgery cost is a lot less than we ever expected...in fact men have been known to fly to FW to have it done because it's so much cheaper than other states).  We also knew this would mean a bigger vehicle at a bigger cost.  We had no idea how it would all work out but had decided if we needed to keep the old Buick and put 3 carseats in the back, we'd do just that and trust the Lord's timing and provision.  

Fast forward to January 2013.  After more saving we knew we'd have to wait for the Lord to provide the van we were looking for with the cash savings we had available to go towards a vehicle.  Due to living in the middle of no where we need something safe and reliable so Jeff did his research and felt confident on what we were to purchase.  We also asked the Lord for wisdom throughout this entire time.  I think we researched for 6 months prior.  After looking at our budget and the cost of the vans we were considering we knew it would take a miracle to make it all happen but again had decided if we needed to keep the car around longer, we'd be willing to do that as well to keep adding to our savings.

We found what looked to be a steal of a sticker price on a van but wondered why it was so much lower than everything else we had seen.  Why hadn't someone already snatched up this van?  Why had it been on the lot for several months?  Was something wrong with it?  We proceeded with extreme caution, test drove it and offered WAY low when we couldn't see anything majorly wrong (yes, there were some cosmetic imperfections but they didn't bother us).  We knew the Lord would protect us so if we offered way low and got it, it would be the Lord's hand. We had also set up with the dealership that we'd have a mechanic inspect the vehicle prior to purchase if a purchase price was settled on.    

They immediately rejected our first offer.  Our second offer wasn't much higher but with taxes, fees, etc we told them that as a cash buyer what our "out the door" price had to be.  At this point we still had offered less than our budget for wiggle room.  We left the conversation telling the rep he was welcome to call us later if they wanted to get rid of it at that price but we'd have to wait until we had more saved up to purchase it at their price.  We walked away from the deal on Friday and really didn't think much about it.  The following Tuesday evening Jeff got an email from the sales rep saying he talked to his boss and they really just want to sell the van and they'd be willing to sell it for X amount.  That X amount was our exact budget and a number we never thought they'd agree to.  

Within 24 hours we had it over to a mechanic to make sure there wasn't any hidden problems, continued to pray the Lord would reveal a problem if we weren't to purchase, test drove it a second time and looked it over inside an out. When all was cleared and we had complete peace, we drove home in our 2009 Honda Odyssey.  

Lessons we learned:

God is big and will make the impossible, possible.

Paying in cash protected us to not overspend and I believe is why we got the lower price.

Walking away is a good thing!  We heard and read this over and over.  Because we were cautious and not emotionally involved with this purchase, we truly believe it allowed the Lord to work on our behalf without us messing it up!