I recently returned from a trip to Paris - France. I went to Paris with one of my daughters to celebrate her 15th birthday. In my country when you turn 15 you call it "Quinsianera" and you either have a trip to Europe, or have a giant party or do something truly memorable. My oldest daughter's 15th was during "Covid" and we were blessed enough to have been able to have a beautiful party, when things were loosening up a bit in our city. My other daughter's Quinsianera is this year. She is a huge Taylor Swift Fan. So my daughter decided, she did not want to have a party, or anything other than to go to the Eras Tour to see her beloved Taylor Swift.
I was a bit divided in making a final decision, because although I love many of Taylor Swifts songs and I consider myself a fan, there were a few things worrying me. First of all, well the Eras tour is so expensive! When the "cheap tickets" go out for sale in "Ticket Master", you have not even blinked when they are all sold out. Then our only chance is to buy from someone who is trying to get rich out of us, in a place like Stubhub.
Second there are at least a couple of songs that I do not like from Taylor Swift, specifically "Willow" and one from "Vigilante ***"- the choreography for them in the concert is not conducive to holiness if you know what I mean! And in a way also some of the lyrics are not exactly the best if someone is trying to be holy, remain pure or and be modest.
I am not going to lie, it took me a while to decide what to do. We all prayed about it and discussed it, in the end we figured we could have a good time and pray for the conversion of Taylor Swift, while at the Eras Tour.
We purchased excessively overpriced tickets and decided to go to the Eras Tour in Nanterre France. For a bit we had a huge scare because the Stadium's web site said that they would only accept tickets purchased in "Ticket Master" or directly from the stadium, and that any others would be denied entry.
When I read this my heart sank. I though we had made a huge mistake and wasted a lot of money.
I talked to my daughter and told her what I truly believe: that God's will is always for our good and that if it was His will we would go into the stadium, and that if He was protecting us from something - well He would make sure to keep us out of the Eras tour.
So in the end we took our plane to Paris and we tried to enjoy the week as we waited for Friday (the day of our concert), without knowing if we would be able to enter the concert or if we would be turned away and lose the money. The day came and we realized that at 9:00 am, there were already long lines for the concert which was starting at 6:30 pm! We decided to get in line at 1:00 pm, because I figured that is all I could survive lol. We stood in line in the sun, sitting on the hard cement side walk from 1:00 pm to 6:30 pm when the doors opened.
I know it must sound crazy to be in line for so long, but the truth is that time passes fast when you are with great people!
And Swifties are sweethearts!
Swifites are fun and friendly and full of joy!
We made friends, we chatted exchanged bracelets and before we knew it we were ready to go in. While in line, some of our new found friends took a look at our tickets - which were floor tickets but the first come first serve type, at least that is what we thought. But, when they looked at our tickets they gasped and told us that we had what they call"Golden Tickets" - and they guaranteed us that with these tickets we would be in a special area, where we would be so close to Taylor, that we would almost be able to touch her !
Any normal person would have been ecstatic to hear this, but we still were not sure if we were going to be allowed in, so it was bitter sweet. As we approached the gate, our hearts were pounding, we truly did not know what would happen. They had already re-directed us to a different line, because of our "Golden Tickets", everyone was singing, the mood was raising, the anticipation was killing us..
I again reminded my daughter we might be turned around.
She looked at me and smiled and told me not to worry, and she said with her beautiful sweet eyes shining. that it had already been worth it! That, being part of such an amazing experience, had already made her so absolutely happy, and that she would offer it up for Tylor Swift's holiness. I was amazed at her willingness to accept God's will in a situation that honestly she could have chosen to be having a tantrum. She was full of faith and joy and she did not let anything ruin that precious moment!
We arrived to the gate and the time came to scan our tickets! We looked at each other with hearts pounding, I put my ticket under the scanner and bam! Green light, I felt my knees get weak, I scanned my daughter's ticket and bam! Green light again, we were in. Our eyes got full of tears ,only a Swiftie would fully understand. We literally ran inside after being handed a golden wrist band and given another wrist band that light up.
We were amazed to see that our area allowed us to stand literally next to the security fence. We had absolutely no one in front of us! We looked around and it was like a dream. Both of us stunned and shocked at God's grace and love for us. Let me tell you, I can honestly say I am pretty sure Taylor Swift has never gotten so much prayer in her life. Bot my daughter and I enjoyed the concert, but as we enjoyed the concert we prayed and prayed. For the protection and conversion and holiness of both Taylor Swift, her team and her beloved Swifties!
PS : Make sure you keep your eyes open to more stories from the Eras Tour Paris Trip, and many many lovely pictures!
