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Blessed By A Stranger

By Joan Wester Anderson

It was winter when Nancy Williamson answered the door and found a friend, Barb, and her daughter, Anna, standing on the porch. Happy to have company, Nancy fixed coffee and the women talked of vacation wishes.

"Someday I'd like to take my daughters on a vacation to Prince Edward Island," Nancy said.

"Why don't we go?" Barb asked. "I'd love to see that area."

They had plenty of time to save money, and plan a two-week trip. "But two days before we were to leave," reported Nancy, "I noticed a grinding sound when I turned the steering wheel of the station wagon."

She had already had the car checked out, and knew the noise was coming from a small steering fluid leak, which would cost several hundred dollars to fix. But, instead of cancelling the trip and fixing the power steering, she bought several bottles of steering fluid instead.

It was an adventure from the beginning. "Every day we had to add a bottle of steering fluid," Nancy said. But the journey continued without a breakdown, and on the fourth day of driving, they reached their destination, a campsite on Prince Edward Island.

The area was beautiful, and perfect for relaxing and enjoying the sights. But the leak was getting worse every day.

Every day required a trip to a service station to buy more steering fluid. Uneasily Nancy wondered how they were going to get home. Were they going to break down at night? Or on a dangerous stretch of road?

God, she prayed. Please take care of us, even if we don't deserve it.

Their departure morning arrived. The women stocked up on bottles of fluid, and headed for the ferry to return them to the mainland, New Brunswick, Canada. Barb drove off the ferry but almost immediately they realized that she had made a wrong turn. Barb pulled to the side of the road, and took out the map.

Just then the car behind them pulled up and a nondescript man got out and approached their station wagon. He put his hand on the back of it. "God bless you," he said. "Can I help?"

Barb explained her confusion, and the man gave her directions. As he turned to leave, he said again, "God bless you."


It was a four-day trip back to Michigan, and every time the women stopped the station wagon, they checked the steering fluid. "Not once after we left that man in New Brunswick did we have to put a drop of steering fluid into the car," Nancy said. They arrived home safely.

The next morning Nancy went outside and started the station wagon. The grinding sound was back, and there was a large puddle of fluid under her car. But a final miracle awaited her.

"I had enough money left from vacation to pay the entire repair bill," Nancy said.

The angels think of everything.

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