Jenna's Journey

The next morning Jenna awoke to find her two children still sleeping soundly in the next bed. So she got up, washed herself, and then came out and turned on the TV to catch the morning news. Much to her surprise there was a report on about a manhunt that'd gone on through the night and had, much to her relief, ended only a few hours earlier. But what intrigued her the most was when the news reporter ran a clip showing the angel, who'd been guarding her door during the night, standing over two angry, hog tied suspects that were laying on the ground at his feet in the middle of a local parking lot. She smiled.

  "When you provide security, Lord, you really provide security," she chuckled.

  She then walked over to the door and leaned out. As expected the angel was gone. Apparently his work was done, and as such he'd moved on to his next assignment. She thanked God for the blessing of protection during the night, and then went about waking the children and getting them ready for the next part of their trip. They soon pulled out of the sleepy little desert town and continued on their way along Interstate 70, eventually coming into the gigantic city of Denver, nestled deep in the Colorado mountains. Part way through the city they found themselves forced to switch off of Interstate 70 and onto 76.

  At first she'd wanted to stay on 70 all the way through, keeping to a familiar highway until she was into a less congested area. But traffic had forced her to keep left, ultimately resulting in her being shifted onto Interstate 76. The only thing that kept her from panicking over this rather inconvenient redirection was the signs that pointed to the fact that they were still going east. As long as they were doing that, she was fine. They could always make course corrections later if they were going the wrong way. Eventually they found themselves back out into the beautiful green countryside of Colorado. But whereas the west side of Denver had been mountainous and hilly, the eastern side was flat, almost washboard in appearance, with wide open, nearly treeless expanses of fertile farmland stretching out as far as the eye could see in every direction.

  But even this soon faded away, and by the time they'd gotten to Wiggins, the only hills and valleys in sight were all man made. Everything else was postcard flat. Even the scattered islands of forested trees seemed like little lines of green on the distant horizon, as though they'd been etched into the flawless blue sky with a thin green pen. But as they passed Lexington and Kearney, the land quickly filled out with trees. Not all at once, as there were still many wide, treeless expanses to be seen. But there were certainly many more than before, and their numbers were quickly growing.

  By the time they reached Grand Island, the land was lush, full and rich with trees, rivers, wetlands and wildlife. It'd been like going from the deserts of Egypt to the Garden of Eden, and all within a few hundred miles. However, once again Jenna found herself back in the same position as before, low on gas and with no way to fill up again. But if experience had taught her anything, it was that God was always with her, and one way or another she'd be able to continue on to her destination, as He'd clearly proven this was what He wanted her to do, and thus He had repeatedly provided the resources for her to do just that.

  So, pulling off at exit 312, she turned and headed north on highway 34 into Grand Island in search of fuel. But those plans soon got sidetracked by the overflowing bladders of her children. So before she could work her way into a gas station she was forced to pull off into a nearby grocery store. It wasn't where she wanted to stop, but it'd work for now. Plus, after such a long drive with nothing to eat, the least she could do was to buy something for them to snack on. It wouldn't be much, but it would at least be something.

  So she pulled into the parking lot and found a spot directly across from a very beautiful, and expensive, Cadillac Escalade. She stared at it for several moments, thinking back to the days when life was good and money was abundant. During those days she could've owned a car like that if she'd wanted. But now those days were gone and, despite a distant longing for a return to those times, she was content with what she had because, unlike that long ago time in her life, God was with her now, and even in the deepest, darkest pits of poverty, she was richer than she'd ever been before! And if poverty was where God wanted her, then that's where she wanted to be too! Because to her, it was better to be poor in this life and rich in Heaven than rich in this life and a pauper up there.

  She and the two kids then climbed out of the car and made for the store. It didn't take long for them to find the bathrooms and avail themselves of them. They then wandered around the store for several minutes, searching casually for something that would fit within their very thin budget. Eventually they found something, and much to her delight it was on sale! They soon made their way to the front, checked out, and headed for the car. Their dinner for that night would consist of peanut butter crackers and a couple sodas. Even so, it was still a blessing to each of them. But as Jenna approached the car, she immediately noticed two things that were different than before. The first was that the Cadillac was gone, and the second was the presence of several strange green papers sticking up from her wiper blade and flapping gently in the afternoon breeze.

  At first she thought they were just junk fliers meant to convince people to buy things they neither needed, nor could ill afford. But as she got closer her mind slowly began to wrap itself around what she was seeing. Those weren't fliers. They were hundred dollar bills!! Her heart nearly leapt out of her chest in surprise at this. It made her immediately sprint to the car, briefly forgetting about her two children and snatch them out from under the wiper. They were indeed hundred dollar bills! Three of them in fact! Jenna's eyes went wide in amazement as she held the money in her hand. She then clutched them to her chest and began crying.

  "Thank you, Lord. Thank you!" she exclaimed.

  "Mama! Mama! What'cha got?" asked Emma.

  "Manna from heaven, honey."

  "Cool! Can we eat it?" replied the boy.

  This drew a smile from his mother.

  "No, Brad, this isn't the kind you can eat," she chuckled. She then looked to the sky, and said, "Thank you, Lord, for blessing us yet again. I don't know what to say or why you're even doing this, as I'm so not worthy. But I thank you for this manna, and I pray that we would use it in a way befitting of you."

  "Amen!" said little Emma.