Trust in the Lord
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6
There have been too many times in my life that I have unequivocally experienced God’s hand guiding my path and my decision making to question whether or not God accepted my request to take the wheel. The song Jesus Take the Wheel resonates with me because I know that trying to live my life on my own terms results in consequences that are not favorable. I thought in my teenage years that I had given my heart to Jesus, and from time to time knew the comfort of surrendering to Jesus; then snatched back control to navigate life myself. I had to learn to trust and believe that what God was telling me was possible. I now know like I know that I know that I am empowered beyond my own wisdom or intellectual capabilities.
This story was not the first time that I knew that God had taken the wheel and it has manifested itself several times since that day. We were on a phone conference call with 200 people in 1992 before there was ZOOM. All 200 of us had our phones on mute and the commentator started to educate us on being martial art school owners. My husband and I owned one location, and we were not making ends meet having only $1,200 per month to support the 2 of us and our 2 dogs.
The commentator was talking to us about the importance of having health insurance and this was something that we did not have. He shared a story about one of the guys on the call named Joe who did not have health insurance and he was diagnosed with a disease that would kill him in a matter of months unless he could come up with $200,000.00 immediately. There was no time for fundraising.
The commentator asked if anyone would help this man. Immediately people started unmuting saying, “I will donate $100, then another and another and another.” I sat there with tears in my eyes because I could not help him, but I felt a sense of calm that I could raise $100 that night to cover my commitment so I unmuted and joined the donating. My husband was upset with me because he knew we did not have the money. The unmuting continued, “I will donate $500, $600, $1,000….” Again, I felt God’s assurance and I unmuted and said, “This is Michelle again. I will donate $1,000.” After my husband muted me, asking what the H*** I was doing, I told him to trust me. This went on for four more minutes and I did it again, “This is Michelle again, I meant to say I will donate $2,000.” After two more minutes went by we raised $200,000 to save this man’s life. It felt great!
What did I do that night? I got on the phone and recruited six families to join our martial arts academy and the $2,000 appeared to fulfill my commitment. It was the best feeling I had ever felt. I knew that God would give me the confidence and tenacity to make it happen. Fast forward to 2004 when one of my students and his fiancé were gunned down in an act of road rage. They needed help! They had no insurance. I prayed about what to do and God reminded me about the Joe Prioli situation. I went into a meeting the next day with 300 people in the room and repeated the same effect by asking for our martial arts community to raise the medical funds and within five minutes it happened again. People were out donating each other. God took the wheel AGAIN!