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.

Soak this in....

Cheeseburgers and Cajun Porta-Potties

I was trying to meet someone at a McDonald's parking lot the other day in a part of town I wasn't familiar with.

Side note - this wouldn't be a very interesting story opening except that if you know me, you know I have zero sense of direction. So already this is a set up for disaster. Let me just TELL YOU how hard it was for me and my friend to find my car in the Century-Link Center arena last weekend leaving the Beth Moore Living Proof Live event. Ohmygoodness....

Well, this particular Mickey D's location was set up off a busy highway-type street and was in one of those awkward positions of either having to pass it up and make a u-turn to come back on the other side of the street, or turn in the turning area too soon and drive the wrong way down the other side of the street just for a second before being able to enter their driveway.

You know what I mean? Don't you despise those set-ups? So frustrating.

Well I decided at lunchtime on a busy Saturday I didn't want to drive the wrong way on a street even for a second, so I was going to opt for the "pass it up and u turn" method, when I realized there was a big parking lot adjoining behind. Sweet! So I whipped into the big open lot two stores/restaurants down prior to McDonalds and went around the back.

Straight to a big concrete curb, fence and construction site.

They didn't connect through after all.

Boo.

That's what I got for assuming.

I was really frustrated at that point, and a little panicky, because I was running late and was supposed to be meeting at McDonalds to meet my ride to drive out of town, and now I was going to have to turn around, go back out on the busy street, and essentially make TWO u-turns to get to McDonalds, in all that weekend traffic.

And I really was just ready for my cheeseburger.

Then, eureka. There WAS a cut-through. A narrow cut-through between the curbs that connected all the way down to McDonalds. YAY! I whipped through, met up with my ride, and out of town we went. Ta-da!

That's not much of a story. I know.

But even in the exact moment that I saw that cut through, I pictured this blog post and what I would write. Because I felt God nudging me with an analogy as He does so much lately. Reminding me that even though I get off course, even though it's SO EASY to take the wrong path due to sin or laziness or fear or guilt or naivety...even though...He can reroute us to get back on the right path. To find our destination that he originally intended for us before our wrong turn or detour.

Even though I assumed. Even though I tried a short cut. Even though I got impatient.

Whatever your "even though" is, God's "even though" is greater, bigger, and stronger. More powerful. More effective. And undeniable. When you humble yourself before Him, admit you were wrong, and set out on the right path, He will make that path straight.

Or in my case, pass right beside a Cajun porta-potty, but that's probably a different analogy...

Relax, friend. It doesn't matter where you are coming from, how crazy the traffic is around you, or how far off the beaten path your detour took you - He is the ultimate GPS system, and he can make a way in your wilderness. He can blaze you a trail back the way you're supposed to go, no problem. Sometimes that road might take you a few miles out of the way, due to consequences. Sometimes that road might whip right back around in no time. Sometimes it might get a little bumpy before it levels out. Sometimes He might carve out a cut-through after all just because of His love and mercy.

But regardless of the condition of it, it's a straight and narrow road. And it WILL get you where He wants you to be!

And THAT's better than a dozen cheeseburgers :)

Such an honor

Cool news!

My blog post, "49 Shades of Gray", was featured on www.ibelieve.com ! Such an honor. I'm so glad they published their piece so dear to my heart.

If you missed it on my blog a few weeks ago, check it out here: http://www.ibelieve.com/health-beauty/49-shades-of-gray.html

Then read some of their other author's articles. Such encouraging material. I just love that place!

Well that changes everything...

You probably know the story of Job in the Bible. He's pretty famous, probably even more so than Jonah.

I've heard countless sermons on the man over the course of my life, accounts of how faithful he was in the midst of unfair trial, how his faith never wavered. How he stayed the course despite hardship and pain in literally every area of his life - family, home, possessions, finances, reputation, faith, etc. 

I've heard metaphors and analogies on how because of Job, we know that bad things happen to good people, because of Job, we know that God is with us through even the darkest storms, we know that God restores what the locusts have eaten.We know that Romans 8:28 is alive and well through the story of Job. 

Because of Job, we know that it's okay to question God in the midst of unbearable trials and suffering. Because of Job, we know to be careful whose counsel we seek during our storms. 

We know the story of Job. 

But do you know how it starts?

If you were like me, and like the majority of the people I polled, you probably thought the same thing I did. Because it's the way it's been told and passed around for ages - that Satan came to God in Heaven and asked permission to persecute Job, in order to prove to God that Job was only faithful because God had blessed him so much. 

(There's a good sermon there, too - on how everything that happens to God's children passes through His hands and His word first. Nothing can get to us without God's permission.) 

Yes, but...

Read this from Job chapter one:

In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.” Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.” “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.” The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.” Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.

DID YOU CATCH THAT????

Just in case - here:

Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job?

Well that changes everything....

When this truth was pointed out to me in a sermon recently by a very wise man I respect very much, I about fell off the padded pew. It was one thing to believe that God granted permission for one of his beloved children to go through such pain...but to accept that God SUGGESTED it?

I don't know why, but in the midst of my personal storm right now, this actually brought me significant comfort. 

Because it just really does prove that God is so crazy-ridiculously in control. He's all "I've got this". He was SO confident in Job, that He was essentially bragging on him. "Check out my man Job. He's legit." 

And he was. 

I wanna be legit. 

God had faith in Job because God knew his heart. And God knew that Job would pass those tests and would be better on the other side for them, would grow and learn and stretch and become even more on fire for God, even more passionate for his King, be stronger for it. 

Talk about a boot camp. Job lost everything except his life. And guess what? 

God restored it all in abundance.

God doesn't just like to restore, you know. He likes to go overboard. Think about the miracles Jesus performed in the Gospels. The wine in Cana, the baskets of bread and fish - always more than necessary. Jesus had a thing for leftovers. Abundance. He didn't just take care of business, he was LAVISH in his grace, mercy, and love. 

He still is. The Bible isn't a book of exceptions and one time truths. It's the living Word of God, timeless. It's still true, friend. The Word tell us that God is the same yesterday, today and forever. 

So that brings me comfort. That I can know that in the midst of my storm that some days, literally has me curled up in the fetal position clutching my Bible, that God is in control. There might or might not be a conversation about me in Heaven between the devil and God. I have no way to know. But spiritual warfare is real, and the devil IS, according to God's word roaming about seeking whom he might devour, and let me just assure you, he's after believers. He's after God's passionate servants. He's after the Jobs of today. 

And I want to prove myself like Job did. I want to bless and not curse. I want to question without wavering. I want to cry without giving up. I want to come out the other side in abundance with a faith more concrete than ever before. 

Do you? Will you?

The story of Job - the TRUE story of Job...changes everything. 

Because God changes everything. 

A healing touch...

http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/a-song-for-the-suffering-with-john-piper

Wow.
Wow.
Wow.

My spirit needed this so very desperately. I hope it touches you too. Please listen all the way through, especially if you're experiencing a hard struggle right now. SO worth it.

A quick break....

I won't be blogging this week because I'll be out of town for work.

BUT...I'm working on a post that I'm really excited to share on either Friday or next Monday :)

Hope you'll wait for me! Have a great week...