We’d driven our family minivan as long as we could. Someone had generously donated it to us several years before when we needed a second vehicle after nearly two decades as a onevehicle family. At the time, it had more than 200,000 miles on it. We added another 60,000 and, like any good Mainer, my husband, Dana, kept it going.

A few weeks ago, however, I noticed the van seemed a little tilted. Sure I must be imagining it, that night after work I asked Dana, “Does the van seem like it’s sort of leaning at an angle?”

“You noticed it too?” he said.

Sure enough, the left front bumper was about six inches closer to the pavement than the right. The suspension was gone. Unwilling to throw any more money at such an old vehicle, we searched online for a replacement, which is how we ended up driving to the Central Maine city of Waterville to meet a salesman named Dan.

Only, I’d forgotten that Waterville was more than an hour north. As we sped up the Interstate in our little sedan, I turned to Dana and said, “Why on earth didn’t we look for something closer? Do you realize how many dealerships there are between our house and Waterville? Unless, of course, God really wants to bless Dan.”

Several hours later, we were filling out paperwork at the Waterville dealership to buy a used van that fit our budget when Dan noticed that I was a writer. So was his wife, he said. In fact, it was her passion.

“There’s a great writer’s conference by the Maine Fellowship of Christian Writers that sometimes meets at the church just up the street,” I told him.

“I go to that church,” said Dan, a father of two small children. “My family and I started going a couple of months ago.”

I laughed, and told him the story about wondering why we were driving so far to buy a van. I also encouraged his wife to get in touch if she wanted to connect with other Maine writers. I remember well starting out as a freelancer when my own oldest children were small. It can be hard and lonely. And I remember how hard Dana worked to make it possible for me to stay home with our kids. He still does.

That afternoon, as I turned the key in the ignition of our new van to drive the long hour home, I laughed at realizing that God had truly led us all the way to Waterville to bless Dan and his family. You see, the way the world works, one person often thrives at the expense of someone else — just look at the top paid CEOs and the number of low wage workers who are working multiple jobs to support them. But in God’s kingdom, what’s good for one person is good for everyone.

“And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches,” the apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 4:19.

In blessing others, we are blessed. In meeting our need for a van, God met Dan’s needs too — definitely worth the drive.

MEADOW RUE MERRILL is a Mid-coast Maine writer who shares about God in her everyday life through “Faith Notes.” For more, go to www.meadowrue.com where you can follow her on Twitter or Facebook.