Last Saturday, my husband and I were on our way to a fundraising gala supporting my favorite ministry, when we noticed a funny sound from our car. Thinking we’d picked up a plastic bag, my husband pulled over only to discover we had a flat tire. Ugh! 

A little frustration unfurled. Didn’t God understand we were on our way to a ministry event? Why would something like this happen? We had a long drive ahead and needed to get there on time. I sighed and helped my husband with the tire change—meaning I stood there and chatted while he worked. 

We returned home after he put on the spare, and exchanged our car for our truck and made it to the gala in plenty of time. The next day we took the tire to the place where we’d bought tires just a month prior to having the flat. A tire weight had punctured our tire so we were given a new tire under the warranty.

But there was a problem. The compressor the tire place used wasn’t working and they were waiting for a repairman. A little more annoyance settled in. We left the tire and returned home. 

During the week, we made trips to town for appointments and always checked on our tire. They kept saying they were waiting for the compressor to be fixed, which was a lesson in inconvenience for us. You have to understand that we live in a remote area and the place we bought the tire is almost 60 miles away.

We all face times of affliction when life isn’t going the way we expect it to go and we have no control over the situation. There is the desire to take things into our hands and manipulate without seeking God’s advice. That almost never ends well.

Abraham was told of a child of promise that he would father with Sarah, but Sarah was old and didn’t truly believe or want to wait. She gave Hagar, her maid, to Abraham. The result was Ishmael, who wasn’t the child of promise. They needed to be patient and wait for Isaac to come in God’s timing.

The Israelites followed Moses into the desert away from Egypt, seeing many miracles performed by God to keep them safe as He delivered them from Pharaoh’s cruel hand. When Moses ascended the mountain to meet with God and get the ten commandments, the Israelites grew impatient. They made an idol to worship and many of them died when Moses discovered their treachery. If they had just waited on God’s timing and Moses’ return.

There are also examples in scripture of how to handle life’s upsets the right way.

Daniel showed how to handle fear and frustration when the King made an edict that anyone worshipping someone other than him would be thrown in the lion’s den. Daniel prayed and sought God’s will and God protected him in the coming trial in a mighty way.

Jesus also showed how to gracefully handle conflict and strife. He often went away to pray and seek His Father’s will. Even on the brink of being arrested, Jesus didn’t try to escape or manipulate events so He didn’t have to die on the cross. His prayer showed that He didn’t look forward to facing the cross, but His words, “Not my will but thine be done,” conveyed the attitude of His heart.

When we face the frustrations life throws at us, our first response should be to pray. What does God want us to do in this situation? What should our heartfelt response be? What does He want us to learn in this instance?

As to our tire situation, on Friday, we went to town with the idea of picking up the tire and taking it somewhere else, if they would allow us to do that and still honor the warranty. When we arrived the repairman for the compressor was there, so we did some shopping, had lunch, and then picked up our new tire and went home.

I am thankful we went through this and saw God work out the situation in His time.