The Lesson I Learned from Waze
Hey you guys! I hope you are surviving your summer. We are melting here in Texas. I would like to hug the guy that invented air conditioners.
Soooo...I did a thing. It was so out of my comfort zone. It was completely terrifying and wholly wonderful. I heard about a writer's conference, Write Brilliant, and Dean signed me up. Talk about being pushed off the ledge.
Now, you have to first know that I avoid driving in Houston traffic like the plaque and I am also directionally challenged. Knowing these two things Dean and I did a dry run a few days before. Driving that route at 2:00 on Thursday afternoon would be very different than during rush hour, but at least I knew where I was going. Tuesday morning comes, I pull up the address on my app and am ready for my hour drive.
I am forced into a decision early in the drive. Waze (direction app) is taking me past the on ramp, the one I knew we were supposed to take. Panic sets in. I didn't practice this way! I can turn around and go where I know. Waze has one job...to get me there! Should I trust it?
Trust is hard when you don't know what's next. Trust is hard when you are not confident in who is leading you. Deciding to trust initially can be difficult, but continuing to trust during the process is just as scary. Waze took me the back way, down streets and neighborhoods I've never been before. Each new turn, each new road, each moment of panic is a choice to trust.
The whole ordeal was an act of courage. Driving in Houston, driving an unknown route, going to a conference that could begin to bring my writing dream to a reality.
Leaving what we know, what we are comfortable with, what we practiced for the scary and nerve wracking is an act of bravery.
Waze did get me there, shaking and exhausted but safe and 5 minutes early. I did see a section of the highway I was supposed to be on in bumper-to-bumper-stand-still traffic. Let's be honest that would have been far more frustrating and draining. I was grateful I trusted and followed the British accent telling me to go straight when I first wanted to turn left.
What a lesson in trust. It reminded me how faithful God has been in my life, even when I didn't know it was Him I was following. There are so many ways that God speaks to us and can lead us. A small voice, a gut feeling, a friend, an enemy, a book, the Bible...or, as in my case, Waze.
Deuteronomy 31:6 says: "Be strong. Take Courage. Don't be intimated. Don't give them a second thought because God, your God, is striding ahead of you. He's right there with you. He won't let you down; He won't leave you."
Whatever challenges, situations or new paths we are facing today there is a God who loves us, sees us and is with us. So let's take that step of bravery into the wonderfully unknown. We can trust Him.
I would love to hear what your next step is, so I can support you in it or push you off the ledge.
All my love ~
xoxo JB