Waiting for your pick up
Two nights ago, I ventured into the city fighting Bears vs. Packers traffic to celebrate the newest book release of one of my favorite authors, Bianca Olthoff. I arrived just ten minutes before the start of the event, scored second row seats (thank you Jesus!) and settled in.
“God, can you please show up tonight?” I silently prayed.
I’ve spent seven of the last 31 days of the month actually home. The rest of the whirlwind 24 days I traveled the globe. The trips were incredible and the people I met were even more incredible, but I crash landed into home last week, weary and jet lagged. The excitement and allure and passion from the previous weeks gave way to fatigue as I began to settle back into regular life.
“God, I feel like I’m forgetting who you are,” I prayed that morning. “How could this be? I just witnessed you all over the place, moving in miraculous ways. How can I so easily forget?”
Over the past month, I met people from Australia and the United Kingdom and Scotland and California and Iran — beautiful people with powerful stories. I filled out pages and pages of journal entries about how I saw God moving and what people’s lives taught me, but then I came home and it was all a blur.
“God, can you help me remember?”
Nestled in my auditorium seat, Bianca (beautiful as ever) walked out and began greeting guests. A few minutes later, Bianca and a therapist began answering questions about depression, anxiety and purpose. As the conversation continued, the therapist Dr. Deb said, “Wait! I just have to mention — my Lyft driver is here tonight!” She pointed with excitement as we all looked toward the back of the room. “It was a total God moment. I was freaking out because the books hadn’t arrived for tonight, but my driver said, ‘No, this is a divine appointment.’” The books did end up arriving and Dr. Deb was filled with encouragement — a little love from her Lyft driver — who ended up buying a ticket to come to the event that night.
Later in the night, Bianca shared relevant wisdom from the book of Ruth, which led to her newest book How to Have Your Life Not Suck (isn’t that the best title?!) Ruth and Naomi had lost their husbands and their livelihood. Naomi decided to go back to her hometown in Bethlehem and Ruth decided to go with her. Throughout the book, there are rich examples of grieving well, going after what you want, and how endings can actually become beginnings (I encourage you to read the book of Ruth — it’s only 4 chapters!) At the end of her talk, Bianca invited people who may have wandered away from Jesus or never started a relationship with him to start today. She shared a beautiful invitation and then invited people to raise their hands. After a moment of silence, Bianca said “Thank you” and acknowledged someone who had raised her hand. I turned around to look.
It was the Lyft driver.
I started to sob. “God, this is who you are! I forgot, but THIS is who you are! You divinely orchestrate. The Lyft driver who just happened to pick up the event coodinator who just happened to have a book delivery crisis just happened to talk about an event happening that night and this Lyft driver just happened to come to that event. And at that event, this Lyft driver just happened to hear about Jesus, this God who just happened to be orchestrating details to place her in a room where she could hear about how much He loves her.”
This is our God!! He is so creative, so fun, so loving. He will go to beautiful lengths so we can hear about His love for us. This is what I affectionately like to call the divine set-up. God is always moving, always working, always placing treasures around us to show us His love. Always.
You are so loved. You are SO loved. Maybe today all you see are clouds. Maybe the fog is thick. Maybe you’ve been feeling stuck. Maybe you wake up most days discouraged. Maybe you’re exhausted. Maybe you can’t see what’s ahead. But behind those clouds, behind that fog, God is moving mountains. He is putting things in place that you cannot see. You can trust Him. Pour your heart out to Him and lean in close because He’s right there. He’s so close and He’s so good and His love is right there.
Even if you can’t see it now, just wait. Pick up your Bible and your journal and go back to Him every day. Even if you don’t want to. Just do it in faith. Do it out of sheer stubborn resilience. And then wait. Even if you can’t see it now, just wait.
You may just be at the side of the road waiting for your Lyft driver to pick you up.
Joyfully,
Lauren
