I
KNOW THE GAS TANK WAS EMPTY
As
a Young Adult living in New York, I was asked to accept a position of leadership within the church which gave me stewardship
over the other young adults living in our very large stake (Westchester, NY; West Point, NY; the surrounding areas of NY and
parts of New Jersey and Connecticut). I had lived in the area much longer than
most of the other young women in our ward. Because of this, they all knew me
regardless of whether or not they stayed in the area long enough for me to get to know them.
One of the young women in the ward had moved from Utah to take a job as a nanny in Westchester county. Jill and I became acquainted and as a result, I invited her and a few other young women to accompany me
on a trip into New York city on a Saturday. I did not do this very often since
my responsibilities kept me very busy and NYC had lost its novelty for me because I had been there many times. However, on occasion I would relent and take my friends in to show them around.
Not
long after our trip into the city, the family that I lived with and worked for decided to go on vacation. They left the family car for me to use while they were gone. I
did not often get my time, the house and the car to myself so I intended to thoroughly take advantage of it. This would be a rare weekend to relax and pamper myself for a change.
After
I saw the family off on their trip, I went into Scarsdale village to go shopping. That
evening I had just settled in to watch a movie when the phone rang. It was Jill. She desperately wanted go to a movie and I “felt” that something was wrong. Although, I had wanted to spend the night alone, I went to pick her up. We had to go straight to the movie without any stops because we were late for it and we missed the first
fifteen minutes. We went to see Gandhi and I hadn’t known that it
was an extra long movie. When the movie let out, the gas stations in the area
were all closed and the gas tank had been almost empty when I left the house to pick up Jill.
Because
I could tell that she was upset, I invited her back to my place for ice cream. We
sat and talked for hours. She had been having problems with the family she worked
for and was determined to go home. I felt that she should stay so counseled her
to look for another job instead. I told her that the Lord would bless her life
if she sought His Will—whatever it was. It was almost three a.m. by the
time I took her home. Jill’s home was about ten miles away from mine and
for the last two miles back to my place, the red fuel light was on. (Jill did
stay, found another employer, and was later called into the Relief society presidency of our ward.)
The
next day was Sunday and I didn’t want to buy gas on the Sabbath so I walked the five blocks to church. Later, I hitched rides with other members to the stake meeting which I needed to attend. On Monday, painters were coming to paint the house so I couldn’t leave till they arrived. However, I had promised to pick-up a four-year-old boy of one of the members in the ward at 4:30 when he
came home from pre-school. The trip there would take approximately twenty minutes
and the painters didn’t show up until 4:15. I was frantic. I wasn’t even sure that I had enough gas to get to the gas station and I didn’t want to leave
a young child waiting around for me alone at his home. (In an area that I didn’t
think was particularly safe for him.)
As
I left the house, I stopped in the bathroom long enough to kneel and say a short prayer that I would be able to at least make
it to the nearest gas station then I ran out to the car. When I turned on the
ignition, to my complete surprise, the fuel tank registered almost totally full. I
knew that no one else had used that car and I’m positive that the Lord did this for me.
Why? I sure that I don’t know all of the reasons however, I believe
that it was at least twofold: 1. To protect the little boy that I was going to
pick up, and 2. To show me that sacrifices made to serve others and keep His commandments don’t go unrewarded.
