PETROL STATION ANGEL

I was driving home from a meeting one afternoon at about 5 p.m. I was stuck in traffic on the N1 North and the car started to choke and splutter. I barely managed to coast into an Ultra City just before Old Johannesburg Road. I was glad that I would not be blocking traffic on the highway and would have a safe spot to wait for a tow truck. The car's engine wouldn't even turn over when I tried to start it. Before I could call for a tow truck, I saw a woman walking out of the building and it looked like she slipped and fell against a petrol pump. So I got out to see if she was okay. When I got there, it looked more like she had been overcome by sobs than that she had fallen. She was a young woman who looked really haggard with dark circles under her eyes. She drop-ped something as I helped her up, and I picked it up to give it to her. It was 50c. At that moment, everything came into focus for me: The crying woman, an old beat up Volkswagen Beatle, crammed full of stuff with three kids in the back seat, and the petrol pump reading R10.00. I asked her if she was okay and if she needed help. She just kept saying, "I don't want my kids to see me crying." So we stood on the other side of the pump from her car. She said she was driving to Limpopo and that things were very hard for her right now. So I asked, "And you were praying when I saw you?" That made her back away from me a little, but I assured her that I was not a crazy person and said, "He heard you, and He sent me." I took out my petrol card and gave it to the petrol attendant to use to pay for petrol and I asked him to fill up her car. And while it was filling, I walked to the next door Steers and bought 2 big bags of food, some gift vouchers for more food and a big cup of coffee. She gave the food to the kids in the car, who attacked it like wolves, and we stood by the pump eating chips and talking a little. She told me her name and that she lived in Bertrams. Her husband had left her two months ago and she had not been able to make ends meet. She knew she wouldn't have money to pay the rent. Finally in desperation, she had plucked up the courage to call her parents, with whom she had not spoken in about 5 years. They lived in Limpopo. They said she could come and live with them and try to get on her feet again. So she packed up everything she owned in the car. She told the kids they were going to Limpopo for Christmas, but not that they were going to live there. I gave her some money, a little hug and said a quick prayer with her for safety on the road. As I was walking over to my car, she said, "So, are you like an angel or something?" This definitely made me cry. I said, "Sweetie, at this time of the year angels are really busy, so sometimes God uses regular people." It was so incredible to be a part of someone else's miracle. And of course you guessed it. When I got into my car, it started right away and got me home with no problem. I thought I'd take it to the mechanic the next day to check, but as I had suspected, he could not find any problem! "Cast your cares on the Lord, and He will sustain you" Ps. 55:22a. [Hospice Physician, NOW, August/Sept. 2011].