Tuesday. I'm driving to my sister's house to pick up my laundry. Have I mentioned that my sister is lovely and lets me use her machines so I don't have to pay? I drive around her place and there are no spots. The streets were apparently packed with cars at that time. I drove into her back alley and saw a little spot.
Hold on, let me back up.
I'm an unconfident but fully capable parallel parker. It's just one of those things. When I first moved to the city, I realized I needed to learn quickly to park my car. After a couple months of lots of practice, I could do it. But only if I was alone in my car and there was NOBODY around the area. Seriously, I'd circle the block multiple times to calm my nerves down, and then I'd park.
I've never hit anybody, and I've never not been able to do it (and when I've been super nervous, I just make my passenger park it). So this fear is dumb. It's a truly silly fear. I don't even know what the fear is. Maybe it's that I'll hit the curb or a car, but seriously, this fear - it's irrational.
Forward to Tuesday. It's been over 3 years and it's a rare moment when I lose my confidence. It happens, typically when it's pouring rain, nighttime, and there are passengers. Hello, did I mention Vancouver rains a lot?
I pulled into the alley, saw the spot, and got ready.
And my confidence sunk.
For no reason.
I tried one time. But overcompensated or something.
Pulled the car out, tried again.
Same deal.
Pulled the car out.
I listened to the words of the Kari Jobe song Joyfully playing, and repeated the words over myself to ground myself in truth to dismantle the lie that I am incapable of parking a car.
Joyfully I lift my voice in praise to TheeI spoke the gospel over myself, repeating the words "with heaven watching over me" just once, recognized that I serve the God who watched over me, and who loves me whether I can park my car or not, and then I parked my car.
With heaven watching over me
I raise my hands up high
Your Majesty gently washes over me
Makes my heart begin to sing joyfully
I know this is a funny story to tell. But I'm learning, slowly, that the gospel applies to every single aspect of my life. It's a truth I've been hearing for months in various forms and just now am recognizing that I have the ability to put it into practice.
When I fear, I can turn to God and be reminded that I can trust in Him. (side note, did you know that the Bible records the statement "trust in the Lord" 35 times? That's a lot of times for one statement.)
When I get anxious, I can turn to God and be reminded that He knows all things.
When I feel lonely at night, I can turn to God and be reminded that He is always with me.
When I get joyful because a good thing happens, I can turn to God and be reminded that He works all things together for my good and His glory.
When a friend is believing a lie, before I respond to her words, I can point my thoughts to heaven and ask the Lord how does the gospel apply to this? And when I do, typically the words that flow from my mouth and fingertips tend to point to Jesus instead of earthly solutions.
It's pretty basic. And it even sounds silly. But the gospel applies to all circumstances because the gospel reminds us that are we free because of the work of Jesus on the cross.
