By Rev. Kathy Bonvallet

I was not intending to get a new car. My 2000 Corolla was still a dependable car—it was well-built and I loved that it had a manual transmission and I could drive stick. It had served well during our long history together, and although I knew that some day I would need to replace it, for the time being it was perfect—that is, until it was totaled in early July 2021 and I needed to find a new way of getting around.

So I began to search for a replacement—in nearby car dealers’ lots and online—and I began to realize how the “supply chain” issues that the pandemic had impacted on my trips to the supermarket were also limiting the availability of cars on the market as well. We would be out on the road (a blessing that Bob had his vehicle) and a certain car dealers’ license plate holder kept appearing in front of us on cars that caught my attention. So, “following the cues” (as Ron would say) we traveled to this dealer, had a few conversations, drove a few vehicles in their inventory, looked at others (which were already promised to other customers), and moved ahead with a deposit for one of the vehicles to be delivered on an upcoming shipment…or so I thought.

Then issues arose—factories making vehicle parts (like air bags) shutting down because of Covid, or the few vehicles that had been shipped overseas now sitting at ports waiting to be unloaded. Two weeks of waiting turned into four weeks, six weeks, eight weeks…with nothing coming into this dealers’ lot.

In the meantime, I took note of another dealer that we passed on the way to my physical therapy appointments who, although not showing a full lot, seemed to be receiving fresh inventory. So, one day I stopped in (on week 8 of waiting on car dealer No. 1), connected with a sales rep, asked a few questions about inventory, thanked him, and took his card for reference.

On my next follow-up call with car dealer No. 1, the manager got on the line, and after apologizing for the huge delay, said that they did not know when vehicles would be arriving, and that under these circumstances they would be happy to negate our contract and refund my deposit if I chose.

If I remember correctly, it was less than 24 hours later I suddenly got a hit: “Check your email!”  Upon doing so, I saw that car dealer No. 2 (the one we passed weekly) had just posted an email of new inventory. As I opened it and saw the first vehicle, I knew it was to be my car. The photo was posted, but the complete listing had not yet been created—the car had just been brought onto the lot. I located the card from the sales rep I had recently connected with, and when he answered, I said, “Luis! There is a blue PriusC they just brought on the lot (after reminding him who I was) and I’m interested in buying it! We are on our way over and we will be there within the next hour!”

My car was taken off the email posting almost immediately, so no one else could bid on it. Though slightly used, the car had very low mileage and was still under warranty and exactly—actually, more than—what I was looking for. Luis drew up the papers, I signed them, and within an hour and a half of us reaching the dealer, my miracle car belonged to me.

I told Luis we would return the next afternoon to pick it up when there was more time available to get a tutorial on how to go from a manual 2000 Corolla to a 2018 PriusC. When I sat behind the wheel in my new car, I felt enveloped in a field of Grace. Luis showed me how I could sync up my iPhone to the stereo system, and suddenly over the speakers “Pie Jesu” (meaning ‘Sweet Jesus’, or ‘Merciful Jesus’) began to play. I came to learn that this car had been previously owned by a group of Franciscan nuns who used it primarily for local runs to the store (which would explain not only its ridiculously low mileage, but also the field of Grace I experienced when I sat in it).

Now you may ask why I bothered to include the whole first part of the story—my car search and interaction with car dealer No. 1—and why I didn’t just get to the juicy part of the day that I purchased my miracle car. When I got the hit to open the email and I saw my new PriusC, I realized that if I hadn’t “followed the cues”, if I hadn’t signed the initial contract and was therefore in a holding pattern for 8+ weeks, I might have settled for something else, I might have missed receiving my miracle car that was being readied for me.

Not only does this illustrate such a clear example of how Divine Timing impacted my life, but it also demonstrates the miraculous way my Divine supports me, supports us all. When I reflect on how my new car was brought to me, I feel such gratitude. It’s been over a year now since this amazing sequence of events occurred, and still when I see it, I often place my hand on my PriusC and say, “Thank you, Divine, for my miracle car.”