Before Us and Beside Us

How do you feel about car shopping?

I really hate it - it’s a game I don’t know how to play. Yeah, I can go through some of the motions, but I certainly know less than the dealers, both in terms of vehicles and what they are able to offer. My heart races at the thought of having to negotiate a lower price or ask a question or decide if I want an extended warranty. I don’t know why it’s so intimidating to me, but it is. 

I’ve been looking at used cars because my car is starting to show signs of serious rebellion, and I want to trade it in before I can’t anymore. Cue the sweaty palms and sleepless nights of indecision, doom scrolling car websites, and hemming and hawing about my budget. Y’all this is not an exaggeration - I’m a confident woman, but put me in a car showroom and I will likely agree with whatever someone tells me, and I may even leave with a car I don’t actually like.

However, this week I am grateful. I haven’t purchased a car (yet! - prayers please!), but I have the help of a family friend who sells cars for a living. He’s been the bug in my ear, telling me what to offer, whether to call or wait for them to call me, whether to accept or walk away - and he tells me what they are likely thinking or what their next move will be. I also had a friend from my mission trip visit the dealership with me; she’s the one who helped me zero in on what I wanted over coffee, was a safe place to discuss options, and asked a lot of great questions I’d have never considered. Suddenly, this process doesn’t feel so bad because I am not doing it alone, and I feel inexplicably confident that I will get a great deal on a car I actually love.

Now, as I sit down to write my weekly blog, I’m struck by how God used people in my car shopping journey to illustrate how he walks with us. Just like my family friend, He goes before us, anticipates the moves of others because He knows all the things, and whispers guidance to help us get to the places we’ve yet to be to but He’s already been. At the same time, like the friend from my mission trip, He walks beside us, holding our hand and sharing wisdom to discern His plan and giving us confidence to take the next right steps.

Deuteronomy 1:30-31 reminds us, “The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes and in the wilderness. There you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place.” These are the words that Moses used to encourage the Israelites as they were afraid to enter into the promises God had for them. Their hearts were melting in fear because the city was great and the people were tall; they were looking at the problem instead of keeping their eyes on The One who always has the solution. They didn’t trust the Lord even though he had proven himself faithful with a could by day and a fire by night, and thus, they forfieted their promise and spent the rest of their years wandering in the desert.

I don’t want to spend my years aimlessly wandering.

Although the Lord has not literally brought me out of Egypt, He has fought for me in places that feel like Egypt. He has been by my side in the thick of the wilderness. With my very own eyes, I have seen him provide, iron out details, and make a way when there was none. And at moments like these, I am glad that He is the God of both the big and the small things; a car is a small thing compared to the grandeur and scope of a whole life, but he’s here with me, too. Telling me secrets, holding my hand, and using the people around me to encourage me through the process.

So today, I am taking a deep breath and resolving not to worry. Instead, I will listen for His voice, and seek His will, even in the small things. Even here, I will be faithful and trust in His faithfulness. I will not be anxious because He is carrying me to a place He’s already been, as a father carries his daughter. Tenderly and carefully.

Today, I will remember how it feels to be a daughter.

Protected. 

Loved. 

Held. 

And more.

So much more.