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
