It Turns Out...

For weeks now I'd been looking forward to being a part of the Kari Jobe CD Release Party at my church. Her voice is one that ministers to me in a unique way, and her music is what I often choose when needing to worship and be drawn into the throne room of God. I knew last night's event was going to be more than a Kari Jobe concert - it was going to be a night of worship [very reminiscent of a Shawn McDonald concert], and my spirit was craving a really good night of worship. So, what better target for my enemy, right?

My plans were set. I knew exactly what time I had to be out of my house to be able to get a seat at church, anticipating that the Southlake campus was going to be full.

Then the enemy stepped in... in the form of a child who needed to be corrected and disciplined for an act of deception and manipulation. An incident that should have taken 5 - maybe 10 - minutes to deal with was extended to an hour due to a stubborn will and stole my planned time to get ready. So, at the last minute, I was jumping in the shower and doing everything I could to get out of the house 1/2 hour later than I had originally planned. This 1/2 hour guaranteed my inability to get a seat.

As I walked in and found everyone being redirected to the upstairs overflow rooms [to watch on video monitors], my anger rose within me. I was still frustrated over the incident from earlier simply because it was one more infraction pointing to more disaster to come, but now that choice, followed by a stubborn will, had stolen my ability to participate in this worship event. My anger grew more intense. I wasn't stomping around the place but I was silently having a conversation with my child [unbeknownst to her] letting her know of the additional consequence of her decisions - one that directly impacted me. My enemy knew how much I was looking forward to this night and I'm sure he was laughing at me, in a not-so-nice kind of way.

I purchased the CD and got ready to leave and then decided to pop my head into the sanctuary just so I could get a look at the stage before I headed home. I [at least] wanted to see what, if anything, they had done to transform the stage for this evening.

This is when God stepped in... and worked in my favor in spite of my attitude. There were all kinds of people standing in the back of sanctuary - without hope of getting a seat - so I joined them and waited to be herded out by the ushers.

It turns out... standing was allowed as long as you didn't block a door.
It turns out... I ended up getting a "standing place" that had a perfect view of the stage.
It turns out... the air conditioning wasn't able to keep up with all the body heat of an overly packed room, so they had to open the doors to lobby.
It turns out... I was right by one of the doors and was cooled by a constant breeze from the foyer.
It turns out... the night of worship I had so looked forward to 'turned out' to be even better than I had ancitipated and I walked away refreshed, encouraged and moved by God's goodness.

It turns out... I was once again reminded that I serve a God who is for me and bigger than my enemy.