Day 365

Finally... Day 365 of  The Red Shoe Project is here!  Early this morning, I popped on my RED beach shoes and headed out for a special New Year's Eve "Bonfire"  on the beach.  Mama Z. shared her personal testimony, officiated communion (jewish style) and blessed us with a foot washing at the water's edge.  We topped it all off with an amazing circle of prayer.

How great it was praying for one another,

 hearing from God and believing that

 anything is possible in this new year!

Most of the afternoon was spent, just me and the Lord, relaxing.  I put on some soft worship music, lit a candle,  and ran a hot bath with eucalyptus and epsom salts.  It was a bit chilly outside and my ankle and shoulder were achy.  It was a perfect excuse to soak... in the tub, as well as in His presence.

I'm not sure what I expected today to be like.  There were all sorts of kind and encouraging words, little gifts and surprises, not to mention unlimited hugs and smiles.  What's better than that?  I spent my morning with some very dear friends.  Most of them I didn't even know a year ago.  It's amazing what God can do in just one year's time.

I'm not quite sure what to do with myself now.   The Lord hasn't given me specific instruction yet,  but I do know this:
I'll probably be wearing RED shoes,  every day,  for the rest of my life.  I mean, really, what kind of statement would I be making if I stopped?  It would be like saying "I'm not going to look for you today, Lord!"  Yeah... I don't think I could ever do that.  What can I say?  I'm black and white -- and RED too!

I chose to lay low tonight.  Yeah... I know it's New Year's eve,  and I did receive several invitations to join friends for various celebrations, but I want to be with Him tonight.  I don't want any distractions when He whispers, "I love you."  In case there's any confusion here, I'm talking about the Lord.  Truly, my heart belongs to Him.

I keep playing this song,  by Hillsong, over and over in my mind.  It so clearly depicts where I'm at today.

"Here I am, down on my knees again,
surrendering all... surrendering all.
Find me here,  Lord as You draw me near,
desperate for You... desperate for You.

I surrender.

Drench my soul, as mercy and grace unfold,
I hunger and thirst...  I hunger and thirst.
With arms stretched wide,
I know You hear my cry.
Speak to me now...  speak to me now.

I surrender.  I surrender.
I want to know You more!
I want to know You more!

Like a rushing wind,  Jesus breathe within.
Lord have your way.
Lord have your way, in me!

Like a mighty storm,  stir within my soul.
Lord have your way.
Lord have your way, in me!

I surrender.  I surrender.
I want to know You more!
I want to know You more! 
I surrender.

I still have some unanswered questions.  And I in no way feel I've arrived in these mere 365 days.  It's just not enough time!  LOL.   I feel like I'm half way up the mountain.  What am I supposed to do now?  Turn back?  I don't think so!  After all, there are books to write, messages to preach, and people who need prayer. There are strong holds that need to be pulled down.  There are words that need to be proclaimed.  There are divine connections that need to be made!  I could go on and on!  How can I turn away from all that? As long as He is willing to lead the way, I am more than willing to follow.

So my plan is to get up tomorrow, slip on my Ruby Reds,  put one foot in front of the other, and continue to walk it out, one day at a time.  I  do hope you'll continue to walk with me.

With love,
Gail

Day 364

It's Day 364 of  The Red Shoe Project and the enemy has not backed off one bit.  FIRE!   FIRE!   FIRE!  He is relentless in His attack, but I'm standing firm in my RED shoes.  My shield of faith is lifted high and the Word of God is flowing from my lips.  

With that, I am determined to not only hold steady in my position, but to move forward in this battle -- to the glory of God!   

I refuse to let go of anything God 

has blessed me with this year and 

I am anticipating an abundant 

harvest in the days to come!

This morning I awoke rather abruptly.  It was as if a hand grenade went off.  One minute I was caught up in the most interesting of dreams.  The next minute, my eyes opened and it was over.  How in the world did that person from my past end up in my dreams?


So much of this year has been cutting away the stuff that doesn't belong in my life.  Yet here, in the midst of my subconscious, it was resurfacing as I slept.  What gives?  I thought I had taken care of all that.  Is the devil able to actually drop thoughts into the battlefield of my mind as I sleep?  Or even worse... am I still toying with the past in my dreams?  Ugg!  How am I supposed to overcome that?  I could feel the discouragement pouring into me.

Immediately, I propped up my pillows, sat up in bed, and opened my Bible to Ephesians,  Chapter 6.   Apparently, today was a work day.  I had better get dressed for the battle field!  I wasted no time clothing myself in the Armor of God.  



Suddenly, God brought an 
image to mind.  
Of all things, it was a picture 
of cotton candy.




When I was a child, I loved cotton candy.  What a magical treat!  The only drawback was that it was so darn messy.  No matter how I attempted to eat it, it always ended up all over the place -- my face, my fingers, my clothes.  It stuck to everything!

As I got older,  I thought for sure that I could avoid all that mess by handling the situation in a more adult-like fashion.  If I gently picked just a little bit off at a time -- using my thumb and forefinger -- and then licked my fingers clean after each bite, surely I'd be just fine.  NOT!  It still ended up all over the place.

The only solution was a simple one:  

Wash it off!  

All I had to do was put my hands under running water and within seconds,  Presto!  the stickiness was completely gone.  That only worked, however,
if I could resist picking at the cotton candy again.  "Well... maybe just one more taste!"  I'd say,  and the cycle would start all over again.  LOL!

As I sat there in my bed, God didn't hesitate to give me instruction.

"I'll wash it away!"  He said,

"but don't pick at it again.

Just walk away and you'll be all set."

Right then and there, I jumped out of bed, ran to the bathroom, turned on the faucet and washed my hands.  Just like washing the stickiness of the cotton candy away, I believed God was washing the stickiness of those old thoughts away!  Then do you know what I did?   I walked away.  I didn't ponder the dream or the details ever again.  I simply closed my mind to them.

Okay... so you know that's what we do, right?  That's where the problem really lies.  We keep thinking about the details.  We mull them over and over again in our mind, thinking that if we analyze it, we'll figure it all out and be done with it.  But it never really works out that way, does it?   We just end up giving opportunity to the devil to play with us.   We give him an inch and he takes a mile, every time!  Before you know it, He has you saturated and bound in sticky thoughts that you can seem to get away from, no matter what.
 

What was yesterday's message?

"Don't do it!" 

Today is a reminder of that 

--a reinforcement -- 

 a practical application.  

Is He speaking to you?  or just me?

Walking it out, in armor and RED shoes.
Gail

Day 363

Some days are so easy.  I wake up with a song on my lips and just glide through the entire day.  That doesn't mean there are no challenges.  But even the biggest challenges seem inconsequential.  On the other hand, some days are not so easy.

Day 363 of The Red Shoe Project 

has been one of those days!

I woke up way too early today -- long before my alarm went off -- and couldn't get back to sleep.  Before even getting out of bed, I could see that it was somewhat overcast and drizzly outside.  Now that doesn't bother me.  The greatest day of my life -- the day I asked Jesus into my heart -- was a gloomy, overcast day with pouring rain.  True... it was a mess of a day, but I was shining from the inside out, so it didn't matter!

This morning when I opened my eyes, I wasn't shining on the inside.  My body seemed to ache all over.  I trudged into the bathroom and headed immediately for the shower in hope that all I really needed was to wake up.  When that proved not to be the problem, I sat on the edge of the bathtub, wrapped in a towel and prayed that God would dress me in my spiritual armor.  No sense in waiting any longer!  I can't stand being a sitting duck for the enemy!

Then I had to walk it out!  I had to believe by faith that God heard my sincere prayer.  Oh the arrows kept flying at me.  All the negative thoughts kept catapulting towards me.

"You're never going to amount to much."

"That will never happen."

"Blah... blah... blah... "

In my mind, I broke those arrows in Jesus' Name!  That's right -- I pictured myself catching the arrows in mid air, breaking them in half and tossing them to the ground. Eventually I got bored and turned my attention to something else.

Isn't that the biggest challenge of all? -- Getting your mind and focus off the tormenting words of the enemy and moving on?  All day those arrows were coming at me.  Most of the time I was wrapped up in other, more promising things, so I paid no attention.  But even still -- later in the day after spending some time with friends -- I came home and the voices were louder than ever.   Good thing my ears were tuned in to God's voice.  For right then and there, He gave me some specific instruction:

"Don't say it!"

cautioned the Lord.

"Don't open your mouth.

Don't repeat it.

Don't even think it!"  

That was God's advice.

When we speak things out loud, our ears hear them.  When our ears hear them, very often our brain takes action accordingly.  Next thing you know, you're out in left field wondering how you ended up knee high in crap.  It's because you spoke the words the devil planted in your mind - You watered them and let them grow.  Don't do it!  God instructs us to think otherwise:

"Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true,

whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever

is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable

-- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy --

think about such things."

Philippians 4:8

No RED gardening boots for me today!  I refuse to wallow in the muck and mire.  No sir!  I'm sporting my RED high heels, keeping my mind focused on noble things and singing praises to God until this stormy spiritual weather passes.

Gail

Day 362

It's Day 362 of  The Red Shoe Project.  My RED shoes have been on my feet all day as I've done errands, cooked, cleaned house and pondered the things of God.  It's funny how God can use just about anything to speak something so profound when He wants to.  This book is proof of that!

For the life of me, I can't stop thinking about a television program I saw late last night.  A young woman was planning her wedding on a fairly tight budget.  She prided herself in her commitment to be frugal throughout the entire process.

In reality, she didn't have much of a choice.  She lives in NYC where everything is expensive, including weddings!  Yet, she was determined to have the wedding she wanted without excessive spending.  Word got out of her unique endeavor and a film crew decided to make a documentary of sorts on how to accomplish this using her as the example.


Here's what she didn't know:

Her immediate family and closest friends
were in on a HUGE secret. The  actual
intent of the show's producer was to give
her the fabulous wedding she truly desired,
no holds barred.



The young woman made sacrifice after sacrifice due to the high cost of things.  Necessary cuts had to be made here, there and just about everywhere.  She even resorted to making her own hors d'oeuvres, had benches instead of proper seating, ordered her bridal dress online, and skipped having any sort of live music for entertainment.  The list of things she had to settle for went on and on.

Here's what I loved about the program:

When the wedding day finally arrived, the producer, family and friends slowly began to unwrap the surprises for her. They started off by giving her the option of wearing her  "cheap-o," mail order dress  -OR-  she could wear the gorgeous $5000 designer dress that she had tried on one day "just for fun."  Yes!  She chose the fine dress.  Next, her dad showed up in an antique car to bring her to the wedding.  Yeah... that wasn't in her budget, but she jumped in all the same.  The surprises just kept getting bigger and better.

All the while, she just goes with the flow 

and enjoys it all!

She doesn't fuss.  She doesn't get upset.  She doesn't question a thing.  I'm not really sure that she was fully there.  Maybe she was in shock?  You know how brides can tend to kind of float through their wedding day on cloud nine?  That's what I mean by her not totally being there.  The whole event is so surreal -- let alone heaping unexpected extravagances on top of it all!

At first, I wasn't sure why I was so captivated by this program.  I just happened upon it as I surfed the channels, but once I started watching, 

I had to see it through to the end.  

Then, when I got up to go to bed, the Lord surprised me by asking...

  "What did you think of that?"

"Are you kidding me?  

That's exactly how I feel 

going into the new year.

I have no clue what's 

about to happen.  The 

only difference is that 

I know that YOU are 

in control of it all!"

 "Now I just have to master the art of 

going with the flow!"

I guess what surprised me the most was that the woman didn't hesitate in receiving all that was poured out on her.  She just enjoyed it.  She didn't care that her mail order dress got tossed to the side.  She took no offense that all the planning and prepping she did was in vain.  A crew of experts rushed in 24 hours before the gig and did a complete overhaul on the entire venue.  

Walking with the Holy Spirit is just like that.  You can plan all you want, but you have to be able to let go of everything and anything - often at the last minute -  for the upgrade!  If you're going to hem and haw, drag your feet, hold offense, complain and cry, your not a good candidate for Divine Partnership. I will say this:  When you're new to the role, He cuts you a lot of slack.  When you're not so new, He expects you to grow into the role, move with Him and follow His lead.

This year has been a lot of practice of just that.  

Next year I'm simply going to the next level!

In RED shoes, 

Gail