05/22/2026
Several months ago, I shared a Miracle Story when it was my turn to write our church devotional. As I was praying about what to share this week, another story came to mind, one that I had recently shared with our youngest granddaughter. As I had told Payton, it all began with a car…
From the moment I first saw a Chrysler 300, I was smitten. I thought it was one of the most beautiful models of cars I had ever seen. I remained smitten by that car for several years… So much so that, over time, I was the owner of a white one, a silver one, a black one and a navy one. In each case, I was never the new owner, each of them had been previously owned by at least one other person. Nevertheless, with each one, I was a very satisfied owner. I liked the way they looked, I liked the way they drove and I liked the ride.
One of my favorites was my navy blue Chrysler. I’m a gadget girl and that car offered about every bell and whistle you could imagine… including a custom
Bose stereo system with a bass booster in the trunk — with bass sounds that literally shook the entire car. (I’m quite certain that amazing sound system had been installed by the previous owner for a different genre of music than my Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir and Gaither Homecoming gospel playlists.)
As much as I liked that car, it had a problem that caused one of the most frightening road experiences of my life ~~which, once I lived to tell about it, became one of of my most favorite Miracle Stories:
Years ago, Dan was the guest preacher for a weekend of services at a church way down in southern Ohio. After the Sunday night service, we headed home. I remember telling Dan that, as much as I loved riding to the church in the daylight, enjoying the winding roads through the beautiful hills with breathtaking scenery… that I most certainly did not enjoy it at night time. Those beautiful winding roads seemed to have turned into frightening hairpin curves with every turn.
The further we drove, the hills seemed to grow higher, the curves sharper and the night darker. It truly felt like we were out in the middle of nowhere. A scary nowhere. My apprehension greatly increased when I realized we had zero phone reception. Which meant we had no GPS to guide us out of the middle of nowhere. At the time, as the new owners of that beautiful navy Chrysler 300, we had no idea that car had a faulty gas gauge. Driving those winding roads, our gauge showed a half a tank of gas… Till it didn’t. All of a sudden, the needle plunged from half a tank to empty. Like below empty. And, within minutes, my husband was easing the car to the side of the road. We were out of gas. Out of gas somewhere on a back road, in the dead of night, deep in the hills of southern Ohio.
I was terrified, especially so because we had not seen a house for miles. I was praying and struggling to hold back tears when Dan said “Look! We’re not too far from a house. I’m going to walk up that hill and see if anybody’s home up there.” After assuring him I would not be staying alone in the car, we joined hands and began a long walk up a gravel driveway.
When we got on the porch of the house, we could see a woman and her daughter sitting on a couch watching tv. As soon as Dan knocked on their door, both of them squealed, jumped up and ran out of the room. We waited, then knocked again and no one came. When Dan knocked a third time, a man entered the room then he cautiously opened the door. Before Dan could say a word, the man’s eyes grew big and he blurted out “Dan Whisner!! What in the world are you doing out here?!!”
We were so stunned hearing that stranger say Dan’s name that we just stood there for a moment. The man said, “Don’t you know who I am?” Dan told him he could not remember him. Then the man gave his name and said he was the chief of staff for the state senator in that area. He told Dan that his office had worked with him in preparing for the Legislative Prayer Service at the Ohio Statehouse, a meeting that Dan hosted each year for Ohio’s legislators and pastors. We were absolutely blown away… How miraculous that we just happened to run out of gas at the bottom of a hill of a farm owned by a man that knew Dan, hours away from the Statehouse where they had met! After hearing of our predicament, guess what that man had out in his barn out in the middle of nowhere… Yes! A gas tank for his farm vehicles! After introducing us to his wife and daughter, he filled our gas tank and we were once again on our way, rejoicing in the goodness of our Father.
So that night, another page was added to my Miracle Stories, to pass along to my children, and my children’s children… A story of how God really did mean it when he said in Psalm 46:1 that He is our refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble… Even out in the middle of nowhere!
(Shared by Ronda Whisner)
