So… some days, actually make that all days, it is a good idea to remember the testimony of the Lord in your life. Psalm 119:111 describes this well – ‘your testimonies I have taken as a heritage forever, for they are the rejoicing of my heart.” One of the things I love about the Psalms, is that every time you see the writer having a bad day… they may let out all of their sorrow and struggle, but they so often finish with thankfulness!
So today, I am feeling a bit tired and weary, and it suddenly occurred to me that today is the best day to get to celebrate something God has done! This is a long one, but it is good! So get a coffee, take some time out and here is a blog I have been meaning to write for quite a few weeks. I am sorry it has taken me some time to give you this story; in my heart that was because I wanted to write it well, but therefore it often seemed like there was never quite time! So here it is… This is the story of how God (through the hands of many of you, faithful friends), gave me a car; but not just any car, he invited me into a crazy journey of understanding who He is.
This story starts in March this year. Many of you will remember that I made a trip to Omaha, Nebraska, to pursue God’s presence and experience an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that was happening there. That is totally a story for another time – but it was the best five days of my life so far up to that point. God showed me how He had been speaking to me about that time and place for almost a year before that. He taught me new things about His goodness, His voice, and His nearness. He changed my standard for who He is, what is possible when He is around, and what I will see Him do throughout my life. I left more in love with Him than before, with a load of new friends, and a different person. Significantly for me, on the way home, amongst many other bizarre signs (a way God has used to grab my attention quite a lot since then), our rental car home from the airport in San Francisco was upgraded to a Red Mustang. This was funny because a week earlier, after a chat with a friend who loved these cars, I had joked ‘wouldn’t it be fun if we got upgraded to a Red Mustang??!’. We walked up to the rental car counter, and the guy looked at us and said ‘I have a 2014 Red Mustang for you if you’d like it?’ Haha. It was really significant to me of walking out of one beautiful experience and into increase. God was coming with me from Omaha, back home to California.
Fast forward a few months, and I had applied and been accepted for my third year internship with Shane, a pastor in the school of ministry here. I was sitting in a cute new coffee shop in Redding with my brother-in-law and talking about how I really wanted to be a great intern, and serve well, and great interns had cars, but I didn’t feel like I had faith for a car. I have done two years of school here without a car (give or take a few months of generous friends lending me cars), and it has been a challenge in a country not designed for those without wheels. He turned the tables back on me and said the following – ‘the question is not do you have faith for a car, but do you think you are worth one?’ Ouch. I knew I didn’t. ‘And’, he continued ‘if you think you are worth one, you’ll probably get one.’ Wow. I knew I had something tangible I could work on.
A few days later I was sitting with my now mentor, Shane, and telling him about this, and for some reason cracked a joke about wouldn’t it be funny if God gave me a Red Mustang? Smiling, he asked me if I would get a convertible if I got one. ‘Clearly,’ I responded, ‘why would you get one and not get a convertible??!’ It felt like the most ludicrous statement in the world to someone from England, where convertibles are viewed generally as both unnecessary and over-extravagent. I left that meeting and went to a home group, and parked right behind a red mustang, convertible, with the roof down. Laughing, I texted Shane a photo.
This began a week of crazy mustang sightings. No kidding, within a week, me and one friend had seen over 100 Mustangs. We sent each other voice messages when we did, and laughed and laughed as it carried on. I stopped counting after about five days. It was crazy, my friend would think about God’s goodness, and how she thought he was going to give me a car, and then she would see a mustang. She would get out her phone to tell me and then as she was messaging me more would drive past. The bizarre coincidences continued… I picked out my ideal car online (for fun, why not dream?!) and then drove past the exact model for sale in a random car park later that same day. Same seat colour, roof colour, everything. Ridiculous. I emailed them to find out what it was selling for, even though my bank balance was below zero… just to push the door and see if God would do anything (you never know! Faith acts!).
I realised (not surprisingly) that God was talking to me. Using my reason, I figured (not believing he would actually give me a red mustang – let’s remember I didn’t have faith for, or think I was worth, God giving me any old bad car at all!) that even if God wasn’t saying He would give me that car, he was clearly sending me a message – I am worth a Red Mustang. So every time I saw one, I started seeing it as Him telling me, ‘Girl, you’re worth it. You’re worth it. YOU’RE WORTH IT!’
He was changing the way I think.
Fast forward a few months, and I had spent my summer back in England, where there are NO Mustangs. (Believe me, I looked). My friend who had also been seeing them had spent the summer on mission in Mozambique (not surprisingly, there are also no Mustangs there). In response to the above story, I figured I should do something about this, and set up the fundraiser that many of you will have seen on my blog and facebook. Honestly, it was a challenge for me to humble myself and do that, but when God is talking, it is worth listening! I figured, worst case scenario, was I humbled myself and got no money… no big deal.
And then as a bit of money began to come in, my friend, Alyssa, who had been in Mozambique, started seeing Mustangs again. I didn’t. (Proves it is not normal to see so many!). I got to the stage where yes, I believed I could afford to buy a cheap (£1000ish) car… praise Jesus! Somehow I was going to be able to serve well and be an intern with a car. I told some of my team here, and someone said to me ‘not just any car… a Red Mustang.’ My internal response was ‘if that happened, it would mess with my head so much I would have to change my whole paradigm of God’s abundance.’ I knew I could work on that before then, but I still really didn’t think it could actually happen. I mean, why?
Some days later, I decided to do one final email to supporters and post one last time on facebook, and then make a decision based on the total funds I had received. I had a car lined up which was much cheaper, and ended up (after some process) letting go of the Mustang dream, as I realised I had enough money to buy and run a much cheaper car, but not enough to buy and run a Mustang. I figured, that although it would be disappointing, it would be fine to leave America this year with an unfulfilled Mustang promise (I’d just have to come back!) and I would rather be a great steward of the money He has given me, than over-exhuberant in trying make a prophetic word happen, and be a bad steward in the process. So I laid it down, found a cheaper car and began discussing the price. I was getting a car, and was choosing to praise! The next day, Kris Vallotton preached in School and randomly said ‘why would you buy an expensive car and not have money to put gas in it?!’ Haha. I knew God was confirming I had made a great decision, and did not have to fight to make my own dreams happen. And none of the fundraising would have happened without the whole process anyway.
And then… (you know who you are) I woke up to an extravagantly surprisingly kind email saying I was getting some extra money donated. A large amount! Suddenly i was back in the financial bracket where I could afford to buy and run a second hand mustang. WHAT??!!! I just laid it down and God put it right back in my lap! After a morning of speechless shock, I test drove a Red Mustang that afternoon. In shock. Laughing. Amazed.
That car ended up not being a great option for me and after looking at a few more I found one to look at a few days later. I drove to see it – and do not have space here to account for the things God began to teach me as I looked at it – to summarise – I discovered some areas of my life I really needed more of God’s truth to invade – and He came and helped me out! I realised buying cars is scary (!), I was afraid of failing or making a mistake, but even if I bought a bad car (second hand cars are risky!) I cannot fail with God! Success looks like trust and being in relationship not an outcome. And He has got my back. I realised He wants to be my covering in the practical issues of my life. He wants to actually help me out with the details (like finding mechanical people to come with me, financial practicalities, even since then – i had a dream about a screw in my tire before it happened, and it caused no damage because I found it fast because he warned me!). He showed me how I shouldn’t be embarrassed by His abundance – this car is bright and visible – I can’t hide in it! But the alternative, He showed me, to embracing His abundance, was spending my life apologising for it, or running from it. Neither of them are great options. If He wants to love me out loud, I want to say YES!
There were so many other things He showed me in the process. As I came back to Redding and spent some time deciding what to do, He started talking to me even more. At the ‘end’ of this process he showed me something that blew me away (and still does)… I thought this whole journey was about a car, but it wasn’t about a car, it was about His nature. It was an invitation for me into a new season, a new understanding of who He is. My car isn’t just a one of gift, it’s a gateway and a door into a new thing. He is the abundant giving God. He spoils His children!
The day I bought the car, after God resolving the final practical issues on the very day of the purchase (I just had to let go, and let Him figure it out!), I drove it away stunned. ‘You don’t seem very excited’ one of the guys who was with me commented. I began to tell Him the story which I just told you, and why it was I was struggling to digest and process the fact that I was actually driving away a red convertible Mustang, that was mine. He looked at me, surprised, and said ‘Don’t be ridiculous. This is just metal! You are worth way more than this car!’ Haha… after all that journey, of months (March to September) of trying to figure out I was worth it, God just raised the bar.
Every time I drove somewhere for the next few weeks, and even now when I walk towards my car, I just think, God, I LOVE my car! People tell me its a really ‘me’ car, it really suits me. I had no idea I could suit a car like that! God got me a car that I didn’t even know or ever dream I wanted. I love it! Every day I sit in the provision and abundance of God. He really is that good.
On top of that I have already been able to help out and serve in many many ways that simply would not have been possible without a car. Stories I can’t all put online. But to those that gave, thank you. Not only is God loving me, daily, through your generosity, but lots of people are getting ministered to and loved because of it too.
And since then, I just keep seeing more Mustangs everywhere. Literally every time I drive somewhere, I see them. I can’t escape! As someone said to me the other day, it’s because it was always about more than a car, it is about an understanding of who God is. I smiled. They, not knowing every detail of the story, were more accurate than they knew!
God loves me. And He is abundantly Good. What is He inviting you to understand about Him more today?
Enjoying the goodness of God in many senses at Whiskeytown Lake
God has spoke to me so much through rainbows about His promises… and this was a week after I bought the car, at a retreat with school. 🙂 He loves me.
Oh and by the way… a Mustang is a wild horse… and my name means lover of horses. So much prophetic symbolism in there! 🙂
Horse on my wheel… symbol, for me, of God’s call on my life. I sit, daily, in my prophetic promises!
I spent a lot of days taking photos of my car when I went to get in it. 🙂
That’s a happy… I just bought this Mustang face!
touchingheavenchangingearth 
Wow! This is SUPER encouraging! Thanks for taking the time to write it. My favorite part was the part about the prophetic meaning of horses!