After spending a wonderful Christmas holiday with my husband's mother and grandmother in Haughton, LA, we were driving home to Dallas, TX on Hwy. 20 E. the day after Christmas with our 3 daughters. It was rather late in the afternoon but we still had plenty of time to get home before dark since it's only a 2 hour drive between our homes.
Suddenly, something began to go wrong with our car (an older model Buick but well cared for). It was losing power and dying out. We pulled over at the next station but couldn't find anything wrong. As we pulled out we made it through the underpass to return to the highway when it died again. This time, we could get the engine to turn over but no power for acceleration.
There we were, stranded on the access road in the middle of nowhere with our little girls, it was getting dark and cold, we only had $20, no place to stay, and in complete despair about what to do. My husband walked back to the station and called his mom to come and get us (we were an hour or so away). After he returned, we just sat there trying to sequence the events to get us back home, worrying about our jobs, the repair cost, his mom out on the road, etc.....
Suddenly, a man in an older truck stopped. My husband told him we might have an electrical problem and that his mom was coming from Louisiana to get us. The man said that he usually doesn't stop because you can't be too careful these days, but that we looked like a family in trouble. They worked the car over trying to find the problem and, after about 30 minutes went by, the man walked back to his truck. He said he owned a little service station up the road at a corner location on the highway and then opened his truckbed toolbox. My husband was surprised to see the toolbox completely empty except for one small part - an electronic module. My husband was grateful for the man's help but was thinking there was no way the only part in the man's truck could be the part we needed and, if it was, it wouldn't be the right one for our make and model of vehicle. They installed the module and the car was immediately fixed! We thanked him again and again and offered him our $20 but he refused to accept the money and told us to stop by up the road if we had any more trouble. We marveled at the goodness still left in the world.
My husband's mother drove up a few minutes later and we decided to have some coffee at the diner up the road before she began her journey back home. It was there that we began to realize how strange the chain of events had been and how peculiar it was that the part we needed was the only "thing" in his whole truck. As we drove home, we looked for his station.
There, on the corner, was a small service station that was boarded up and had been out of business for at least 20 years. The truth that surfaced in us was stronger than the attempt to "explain everything away". We had almost missed this experience for what it really was - and we will never forget the kindness of this Angel and how the obvious can be so hidden from view.