Drip-Drop Miracle

The faint scratching of a pencil on paper signified the completion of one more item on the morning’s to-do list. I closed my eyes for a moment, and visions of unfinished items jockeying for pole position appeared like the eighth notes of a Rachmaninoff concerto—at times discordant but always dramatically racing along. Next, I headed to the garage to wait for my mother to go shopping. As I approached the passenger side of the car, I felt an unexpected sensation. It was raining in my garage! It took a minute for my brain to process, especially since sunshine and blue sky peeked in from the windows. I looked up, and a fat drop of water fell on my face. Yes, it was indeed raining in my garage. Possibilities flitted across my mind. I could ignore it, or I could face reality. There was a leaking pipe in the house.

As a newly single mom who had recently moved to an unfamiliar area, my options were limited. Though I was an expert with the screwdriver and the hammer, I knew nothing about plumbing, and I did not know a plumber. I trudged back inside and frenetically started to make a series of phone calls, all with negative outcomes.

The house plumbing was no longer under warranty.

The twenty-four-hour emergency plumbing service was only taking messages. Calls to other plumbers went straight to voicemail. Suddenly, I remembered I had randomly called a handyman to help with some yard work a few weeks before.

Would he know a plumber? I called, and providentially, he was just finishing up a job and could come to investigate the issue. After he arrived, I stood staring at the hole in the garage ceiling as he removed wet insulation. He explained that a myriad of issues could cause the leak. It just so happened that the first pipe he checked was the one leaking.

He just happened to have the right tools in his truck to fix the issue. In that moment, I imagined God saying, “See, even though everything seems chaotic and broken, I still see you; I still provide.” Even before I felt that first drop of water on my head, God had appointed an available helper with all the right tools. My drip-drop miracle serves as a reminder that even though I walk through valleys of uncertainty, God is always with me.

Charmaine Houston