I'd got to about a thousand when the rain started really coming down. I finally noticed my dad was quite worried--he could barely see through the windscreen. Even when he flicked the wipers to high, they couldn't get rid of the water fast enough, even though they were now going way too fast to count.
Backforthbackforthbackforth--watching the wipers trying to fight off the deluge made me kind of nauseous. I wondered how long we could keep going with such limited visibility. Dad's a good driver but even he needs to see where he's going! And then it happened. Instead of going backforthbackforth, the windscreen wiper on Dad's side slowed, then stopped all together.
We tried driving with Dad looking out the passenger-side windscreen. It worked for a while but then that wiper stopped, too. As Dad pulled over to the side of the road, I thought about how bad our situation was. We were about halfway between home and Dad's house. It was raining, raining, raining with no end in sight and we didn't have a phone. No doubt about it--we were in trouble.
Sitting in the car with the rain drumming on the roof, someone-- I'm going to say it was me--suggested we pray. So we did. We bowed our heads and Dad prayed one of his clear, simple prayers. He prayed something like: "Our Father in heaven, we thank You that we are in good health. We know we are in Your care, dear God. If it is Your will, please help us to get home safely. In Your holy name, Amen." As we opened our eyes, the rain let up. Dad tentatively pulled back onto the road and I hoped God had solved our problem by simply stopping the rain. But we hadn't got far before it was back again--with reinforcements. As Dad turned the wipers on, it streamed down the windscreen in a seemingly never-ending flood. Dad flicked the windscreen wipers on and we all watched with interest. Would it work again?
The windscreen wiper twitched slightly but refused to move again. What was going on?
And that was when it happened. Somehow before my eyes, the windscreen wiper from Irene's side of the car slipped out of place and started clearing a wide arc across the middle of the windscreen. It heroically cleared a large V shape in the centre for Dad to see where he was going.
I watched that wiper all the way home, silently thanking God. I'm watching a miracle! I thought. It's happening right in front of my face!
Dad did get us home safely--and that little wiper soldiered on all the way back to Dad's house, delivering them home safely, too.
When the rain had stopped the next day, Dad checked the wipers. They were useless--completely sheared off.
What I saw was a miracle--I have no doubt of that. Rather than stopping the rain or fixing the other wiper, God chose to give us something memorable--and fantastic--to remind us of His love. While what happened is possible, it's amazing that it happened right when we needed it to. Coincidence? Not when God is on your side!
"My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts," says the Lord. "And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8, 9.
Talitha Simmons is a university student and freelance copyeditor, who lives in Lilydale, Victoria.
