I had an experience last week that reminded me that God intervenes in our lives to help us.

I drive a car that is about 20 years old. It has been a very reliable car, but it is starting to show its age. I had not driven the car for a while, and given the cold weather, I thought I had better start it to charge up the battery. It started just fine.

Ten minutes after I had started the car the “check engine” light came on. What had I done to the car? My guess was that I shouldn’t have started it when it was so cold outside. But the engine sounded fine and the temperature gauge was normal. So I ran the car for another ten minutes to charge the battery adequately.

When I shut the engine off, I raised the hood and saw that there was a small puddle of antifreeze on the driveway and that the antifreeze reservoir was totally empty. The engine temperature had remained normal due to the cold weather.

Taking the car to a repair shop, they discovered that the radiator had a small leak. But the “check engine” light was on because the signal sending unit from the gas tank was not working properly, causing the gas gauge to give inaccurate readings.

I knew that I had been having trouble with the gas gauge for six months. So why was the “check engine” light coming on just now, six months later?

The timing for this was perfect. Had it not been for the light, I never would have checked to find the antifreeze leak. The engine temperature gauge was showing a normal temperature because the cold weather had been helping to prevent the engine from overheating.

Who knows where I could have been stranded later on with a more seriously leaking radiator? Who knows if I would have been able to find an honest garage to where the car would be towed? What a hassle having the car towed! What a hassle there could have been trying to get home!

The way things turned out, by discovering the radiator problem when I did, I was able to drive my car from home to a nearby garage that I trusted. Thank you, God! The problem could have been so much worse! Yet my discovery was caused by a warning light that was just now telling me about a problem that I had known about for months!

Incidentally, after the car was warmed up during the repair, the gas gauge was functioning, and the check engine light went out.