The Car Wash that didn't break the door

This happened recently, and it stayed with me. I’m sharing it because it reflects something I keep learning in recovery and in life—that sometimes growth doesn’t come through big breakthroughs, but through how we respond when things don’t go as planned.

The Car Wash That Didn’t Break The Door

.

Angeline wanted the car washed before church. She asked if we should do it that saturday night or in the morning before church. I didn’t feel like going anywhere, so I suggested the morning. About an hour later she changed her mind. Better to do it now and sleep late in the morning.

So we loaded the dogs and drove the half hour to the next town.

Angeline paid at the machine. The garage door rose. She drove in until the stoplight lit up telling her to stop. The presoak began........and then everything shut down!

All the process lights went dark. A tiny emergency light flicked on overhead. I looked forward and then I looked back. Both doors were shut tight.

We waited.

At first, I assumed it was frozen and would restart on its own. Maybe the hot water would thaw whatever needed thawing. Nothing happened. Time stretched. I could feel my body getting restless.

I asked Angeline if we should dial 911.
She told me to calm down.
I asked how she could be so calm. That’s when she told me this wasn’t her first time being stuck in a car wash. Or her second. On both occasions, police and fire trucks eventually arrived, and the rescue crew broke the big door open to get her out. The manager, when he finally showed up, was furious.....not about the people trapped inside, but about the damage to his door.

I said, "if you own a business like this, you’re on call 24/7. The cops were right. He should have answered his phone, on the first ring."

As we waited, another thought crept in. I asked Angeline if she thought we should shut the car off. How long would it take for carbon monoxide to build up enough to make us sick?

She said she’d been stuck in the other one for over an hour with the car running and had no trouble.
It was cold outside. We were warm inside. Neither of us wanted to shut the engine off.

I didn’t say much after that, but I know she could feel the fear moving through me. I tried not to feed it.

And somewhere in that waiting, a quieter thought passed through me:

How many times did I not answer when God called,  and how many times did my ego’s door have to be broken open because nothing else worked?

While we waited, the soap slowly slid down the driver’s side window. On the wall beside us, now clearly visible, was an emergency number.

Angeline called it. She barely had time to explain that we were stuck inside the car wash before the signal dropped. That’s when she asked me to reset her phone. It had begun making an insistent, looping ring, and the only way to stop it was to pull the battery.

But it was dark inside the bay.

I couldn’t find the dome light.....we’d never needed it before.....so I grabbed my phone, shook it, and the flashlight came on. Using that small beam of light, I reset her phone.

Shortly after, the car wash came back to life......then stopped again almost immediately. That’s when we knew someone was working on it from somewhere. A reset. A pause. Another reset.

Eventually, it resumed its work.

Water.
Rinse.
Dry.

The door opened.

We drove out......clean car, no damage, no sirens, no broken doors.

Once outside, Angeline turned her phone back on and saw several messages from the owner. She called him to let him know we were out. He answered right away, clearly relieved. He said he’d return in the morning to see what had caused the power loss.

After she hung up, I said that if I were the owner, I would’ve offered you a free car wash.
She said she would have turned it down.
I told her,  "I would have too."
Then she said something else.....quietly, without drama:

“God works in mysterious ways.”

The dogs slept through the entire thing.

On the way home, it struck me that something had changed. There was a time in my life when being stuck meant panic, when fear demanded urgency, when nothing short of force seemed to move things forward.

This time, nothing broke.

We waited.
We stayed warm.
We used what was already there.
A little light appeared when we needed it.
The system reset.

Sometimes that’s all it takes.

And sometimes that’s how you know you’ve crossed a bridge,
not because the world stopped closing doors,
but because you no longer need them broken open to pass through.

Reflection — When Nothing Breaks

There was a time when being stuck meant something had gone wrong.
When pressure demanded urgency.
When silence felt dangerous.

This time, it didn’t.

No one forced the door.
No one rushed in with lights and sirens.
Nothing had to be destroyed to move forward.

We waited.
We used what was already there.
A small light was enough.

Maybe this is what growth looks like,  not fewer breakdowns, but fewer battles.
Not a life without stops, but a life that no longer panics when the motion pauses.

Sometimes the system doesn’t need fixing.
It just needs time to reset.

Prayer For the Moments We Are Temporarily Stuck

Love that holds all things,
when the doors close and nothing moves,
help me remember that waiting is not failure.

Let me trust the small light already in my hands.
Let me use what is present instead of demanding what is dramatic.
Let me rest when there is nothing to do,
and move when the way opens—without fear.

May I learn to pass through life
without breaking what no longer needs to be broken.

Amen.

Addendum — A Week Later

I didn’t think Angeline would ever return to that same car wash. But about a week later, I saw her heading in that direction again.

When we got there, there was a line of cars. We nearly turned around. But the line moved quickly, meaning they were all buying the shorter, cheaper washes, so we decided to stay.

When our turn came, Angeline pressed the button to play the game for a free car wash.
The machine flashed: “You’ve won the premium!”

It was the top-tier $20 wash, and we didn’t pay a dime.

We both laughed. Everything went smoothly this time, no breakdowns, no resets, no stuck doors.

And thinking back to what she said before, I couldn’t help but wonder:

Was that what she meant when she said,
“God works in mysterious ways”?