Beth Moore, Lost Cars, and Spinning Donuts

I attended Beth Moore's Living Proof Live last weekend (as mentioned in a previous post) and WOW. Was it amazing. I'll share more posts on the material she taught soon :)  Be watching for that!

The event was unreal. 8,000+ women. Can you imagine?!

Leaving the parking lot was also unreal. 8,000+women. Can you imagine?!

YEAH.

My friend Krystle and I hiked probably, literally, a mile total trying to find my car in the giant arena parking lot at 10:00 p.m., in heels, all while gabbing and searching and trying to avoid other cars and pedestrians, finally just to stop and say "Okay, really. where is the car??"

We joked that eventually it'd be the only one left in the lot and we'd find it by default.

We finally found my car, after multiple conversations like this:

Is that it?
No. We didn't park over there.
We parked by trees, right?
There's some trees! ::::walk walk walk walk walk:::
Well I guess there's trees over there too.
Trees everywhere, basically.
What about the fence? We had to walk past a fence.
There's a fence! :::walk walk walk walk:::::
Well I guess the fence is longer than I remembered.

(yes, we're both blonde, but both fake blonde, so I don't think it counts)

We found the car. Got in. Buckled up. And...drove forward about 2 feet. Then stopped. In a line of traffic that extended around the parking lot and toward the side road leading to the main road.

We didn't move an inch for 15 minutes.

So we decided to follow a few other cars and try another line that appeared to be moving. We relocated, and then...yep. We sat. Again. For another 15-20 minutes. The parking lot looked like, as Krystle said, one giant game of Domino's with "chicken legs" extending in ALL directions. Craziness.

And beyond frustrating. It was 10 p.m. We wanted to go home. (actually, we were going to Sonic to get half priced milkshakes but that's not the point)

While talking and waiting, waiting and talking, not moving an inch, I finally grabbed the wheel and shouted "OH MY GOSH I just want to move. I'm about to drive over there and just do donuts. Anything is better than just sitting."

Have you ever felt that way? I have lately, and not just in my car leaving the Beth Moore event. I've felt that way in my journey, in my life, in my storm.

I've said through gritted teeth and tears "I do NOT want to go backwards." But...I'll get very real here and admit - sometimes going backwards seems appealing because at least it's MOVING. It's beyond frustrating to feel as if you're sitting still. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting. For things you can't control. Like traffic. Or finances. A job. A relationship. A restoration. A healing.

We want to go forwards so badly, it's easy to mistake backwards as a worthy substitute.

Don't fall prey to that lie. It's straight from hell. I'm telling myself that in the mirror every day.

BACKWARDS is not BETTER even if it's MOVING.

Don't get out of the line, friend. Don't get away from where God placed you in this moment and in this season. Because as is always inevitable in these traffic situations, the second you give in, give up, and move to try another line, the one you were in starts moving.

And you missed it.

Don't miss it.

Put it in park, relax, and gab with a close friend who is waiting with you. But don't take your eyes off that line. Don't get lazy. Get ready to throw it in gear and hit the gas at the moment God gives the green light. It WILL come.

And you will move forward again.