Category: Stories I Share

God's Faithfulness, Stories I Share, Winter

The Stories I Share: Our Goldilocks Trucker

December 11th, 2022
Mollie T. Cox

Years ago, after a Christmassy North Carolina weekend, we started home in the rain. Within miles, the rain turned to snow, and as the snow thickened, I urged my husband to turn back. He refused. A work crisis demanded he be present Monday morning.

My anxiety increased each time we passed sideways cars in the median. Truckers either slung blinding snow across our windshield or struggled up hills causing surrounding cars to respond haphazardly.

However, one trucker forged a reliable path. After observing his steadiness, my husband decided to follow his tracks. We passed when the trucker passed. We didn’t when he didn’t. When I asked if we were going to take an exit, my husband said, “It depends on what the trucker does.”   

Our Goldilocks trucker. Not too slow. Not too fast.

We lost view of the truck due to merging traffic near Richmond, Virginia. “Maybe the driver noticed a green Subaru following him and will hang back,” I suggested. My husband didn’t think so. I won.

Eventually, we exited and left our guide of over 100 miles. The next morning, I called Armellini and expressed our gratitude for the driver of truck 5716.

Have you received unexpected guidance?

God's Faithfulness, Stories I Share

The Stories I Share: Last Photo

November 20th, 2022
Mollie T. Cox

One evening, I received a call from a special cousin. “The cancer is in my spinal fluid,” she said. “I’ve been given four to eight weeks.”

“Would you like me to come?”

“I would love to see your face one more time.”

There were blessings each day of my journey. However, I especially wanted one—a last photo with Cheryl. When and how should I ask? I didn’t want tears or forced, false cheerfulness.

My last evening, we stopped at Buc-ees for beef jerky. The Texas icon is not quickly described. All that is important is that the mascot is Buc-ee the Beaver, and Cheryl and I thoroughly enjoyed romping through the massive convenience store examining—and sometimes playing with—the merchandise.

Before we left, I asked Cheryl’s husband to snap a photo of me with Buc-ee’s statue. (Such photos are a family tradition.) Cheryl quickly and unexpectedly hopped out of the car and joined me.

November 19, 2014

I had my photo. A moment of silliness, not sadness. A fitting memory of a woman who loved playing jokes and making people laugh.

Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints. Psalm 116:15

Friendship, Stories I Share

Stories I Share: Meeting Needs

June 12th, 2022
Mollie T. Cox

I was savoring my morning accomplishment of putting a meal in my crockpot—the first since my newborn’s birth—when the phone rang. The two-year-old twin of a close friend had been hospitalized. My friend was pregnant with her fourth child. I immediately thought of my chicken in my crockpot. Did Donna need it more? I prayed.

Moments later, a mutual friend knocked on the door. Because Mary lived nearby, my friend Shirley had given her a meal at church and asked her to deliver it.

“Take it to Donna instead,” I said.

Later, Donna asked, “How did Shirley know I was desperate for a meal? Mary told me to return the dishes to Shirley.”

Months later, Mary stopped by to tell me that another pregnant friend had been put on bedrest. Mary wanted to take her a meal, but it was impossible with her day’s schedule. I immediately thought of a casserole in my freezer. I made a salad and took the meal.

Shirley and Mary met Donna’s need. Not I. I met Chris’s need. Not Mary. I never forgot that sometimes the best way to help is simply let a need be known.

Your turn or another’s?

Parenting, Stories I Share

The Stories I Share: The Kittens

May 8th, 2022
Mollie T. Cox

The view from my bedroom window was a vintage, decrepit sedan. (See Here) I ignored the eyesore. My middle son didn’t.

One spring, he became fixated on the car. He would watch for the longest minutes, run off to play, and then, quickly return. I don’t remember if I discovered his secret, or he revealed it. Newborn kittens lived under the car, and my toddler loved watching them and their attentive mother.

Unfortunately, that same spring our city was deluged with rain—the kind where relatives call and check on you. We were fine. I was convinced the kittens weren’t, even though I couldn’t see through the rain.  The neighborhood yards that weren’t flooded were drenched. Water whooshed under our pier and beam house.

Once the storm passed, my one-year-old resumed his watch. No kittens.

“The kittens aren’t coming back,” I gently told him.

He wouldn’t leave his post even though there were no kittens—day after day—until one day the kittens appeared. Somehow the mother cat had enough storm warning to carry her brood to higher ground. She obviously liked the car as much as my son and—once safe—had carried them back.

Persevering in hope?

God's Faithfulness, Stories I Share

The Stories I Share: The Car on Blocks

May 1st, 2022
Mollie T. Cox

“To begin, the car next door needs to go. It will deter a buyer,” our realtor explained.

“We bought the house,” said my husband.

“No one else will. This is a buyer’s market.”

The car in question was on blocks and sat outside our master bedroom window. Our neighbor—being the good sister that she was—had allowed her brother to tow it to her yard when his wife said the relic had to be removed. The wife had given up on her husband restoring it.

What to do? We liked our neighbor and didn’t want to offend her. The car wasn’t against any city code. Not only did it not bother us, I also had fond memories of my middle son standing at the window and gazing at the car.

So, we did nothing and trusted that God would allow our house to sell with the eyesore. A couple of weeks later, two men towed the car away. Our neighbor said they had knocked on her door and offered to clean her yard in exchange for the car.

An unexpected quick sale for 1991

Have you had a difficult situation disappear?