Being Poor or Blessed.... or Poor AND Blessed: both at the same time

 Yesterday I received one of those blessings in the mail. So off to town (Hutchinson) I trotted to get some cash and get some needs knocked out. This quick little outing quickly turned into a recipe for disaster. 

First, I went to the bank to cash the check. The bank said no. So I said gimme back my check, I'll figure something out. So I went to the Walmart. It says that it can cash personal checks up to $200 and this wish was less than $200. But the system declined it. Thank you big banking. Okay, so I'll take it somewhere else, I say to myself. I went to Dillons. They only cash personal checks up to $25. *sigh* Last ditch effort. Try the (name of the bank it was drawn off of). I set off looking for said bank. No luck. Got lost. Found a cool park, but no bank. At the light, smoke and steam starting rolling out from under the hood. I quickly pull into a parking lot and turn the engine off. Now what?! Who should I call? Who even knows about cars?! I called person number 1 in my contacts that might be able to help. No answer. What if there's no one else to call? What if I'm truly all alone? The church. I'll try that pastor from the church where I go eat dinner. So I call him. He says he'll head my way and in about 45 minutes, there he was. We can't find the leaky hose, but I mention the antifreeze was coming out the top of the lid of the overflow where you put it in.  So "the pastor" goes to the auto store and gets antifreeze and comes back. I'm not sure how time passes here, but I'm starting to be very aware that my pain meds are all at home, and I am not. 

We end up putting in antifreeze and I start out for home with the pastor behind me. I make it a whopping 6 or 7 blocks before the engine temp starts to shoot up again. So when the light turns green, I move to the right lane and find a side street to pull onto. 

Now we have to decide. Tow to a shop where someone might be able to fix said car? or tow to the farm where no one knows how to mechanic. 

The short answer: it is sitting out back by the garage. 

So.... 

Sucky poor people things:

• no money for a tow or anything else.... 
• no money means no bank account which has come about after years of living with a bank account in the red, so no bank account if better for me anyway.... 
• no bank account means no way to cash a check
• no money in the bank or on a card means I will have to shop for whatever needs we have, can't just make a walmart order or farm store order to be picked up later.

Blessings that happened/continue to happen in my state of humility and despair:

• someone sent the extra payment on the check that I couldn't cash
• the tow truck driver slipped the payment for the tow into my hand when we got home.
• people show me their goodness by being willing to help pick up groceries, prescriptions, and more
• the church/pastor paid for the car to get towed
• I had a friend willing to let me drive their car in the first place. 

In the midst of two steps forward and one step back that sometimes shuffles into one step forward and two steps back, we are learning to look for the miracles. To find the good. To believe that good is going to keep on happening. We are learning about dreaming and how dreamers can't stop dreaming just because reality tells a different story. 

Dream on....