Day 101

Day 101 of  The Red Shoe Project found me in RED shoes, bringing Pauly for his evening walk, and staring at a sky filled with well over 101 stars.  When I first looked up, I noticed immediately how clear the sky was and how bright the stars were.  Usually, I can pick out some of the constellations, but not tonight.  In fact, this night, they all seemed so randomly positioned. I found it quite overwhelming, and just had to praise God for His magnificent creation.

As I walked my dog around the neighborhood, I thought about all the random events this particular day consisted of:  A canceled luncheon;  A time of prayer with a brother in Christ;  The reading of an inspirational book;  Testifying to an old client of what God's doing in my life;  and quite unexpectedly meeting up with an old childhood friend that I haven't seen in over thirty years.

Later in the evening, as I shared the highlights of my day with a close friend, I noticed that although none of these things seem to have anything to do with one another, they are all significant in their own way.

"What  do you think God is doing?" she asked.

"At this moment... I don't have a clue!  But I know Him - and somehow it's all part of His plan for me".


As I turned the corner with Pauly and headed for home, I once again, looked up at the stars.  Funny... from this angle I could point out many of the constellations.  Same sky, just a different perspective.  In the same way, I know that one day, I'll look back at the random events of this day, and instead of being overwhelmed, I'll be able to see how they specifically fit into the full picture of my life.

For now...

 I'm cherishing each star...
each moment in my life...
each event as it happens.
I'm enjoying everything
at face value.

I might not fully know
what God is doing,
but I know God,
and that's all I really need.
He's all I really need.
I trust Him fully with my life.

After all...  He scattered the stars in the heavens with purpose, and I believe He scatters the events in my life with purpose as well.

Good night, God!
Gail

"Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are.

Up above the world so high,  like a diamond in the sky.

Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are."

Day 100

Not only is today the 100th Day of  The Red Shoe Project,  but it's my Spiritual Birthday  - 30 years old in Jesus!  I'm so excited!  Truly this is a day destined for blessing.

My spiritual mentor stopped by early this morning with a little gift and we prayed, right there, on my front lawn, for God's blessing and favor.
We presented to Him some specific petitions for unmet needs to be divinely satisfied.
My friend drove off in her little red car...  and I,  wearing my little RED sneakers,  headed in the opposite direction -- out into the world to take care of today's business.  What a lovely day in Sarasota FL.  Sunny blue skies.  Perfect weather.  And to top it off, God presented Himself to me in a variety of ways.



First off,  a friend called me to testify of God's answer to prayer.  Just yesterday, she had lost her credit card.  One minute she had it, the next minute it was gone! She was beside herself.  We took time to pray and asked God to specifically bring the credit card to the surface for her to see.   Upon completion of our divine request, I encouraged her to expect the card to show itself.  It might be right on the ground, or in between the seats in her car, or someone might call her and say they found it.  It's funny, because I remember quite vividly how odd I thought it was, that I told her it might be between her car seats.  But I could clearly see in my mind,  a picture of a car seat, and my mouth just seemed to proclaim it without thinking.  I  thought to myself,  "It's got to be a God-thing. I bet that's exactly where it is."  You guessed it!  She found it right in the crevice of her car seat.  God is so good. And that was just the first of several answers to her prayers.


Next I headed over to the bank to make a deposit.  You know that this "living by faith" thing is pretty new to me and it can have its challenging moments.  But today, God had provided two answers to prayer... a check specifically to pay my monthly phone bill, and another one to have my broken mailbox repaired.  They may seem like minor incidentals to you, but they are not.  They are two of the needs that God has divinely provided for this week. I praise and thank Him for every one. Those provisions allow me to keep the focus on the call of God on my life.

Throughout the day, today, I played phone tag with a gal from Global Celebration who had information for me regarding the upcoming missions trip to Bulgaria, (see Day 79).  Although the money hasn't come in yet, I am taking a step of faith,  to prepare what I can in advance, believing that I will be going. As we got to know each other a little bit on the phone, I discovered that she was a Wizard of Oz fan.  It's more than just a movie thing... God speaks to her in dreams using characters from the Wizard of Oz.

That just opened wide the door to discuss my Yellow Brick Road book, as well as The Red Shoe Project.  Sometimes God gives you a divine connection with someone.  You just feel like you've been good friends for a long time, even though you just met. It will be interesting to see what God does with all this.  I've seen Him do this many times before.  It's a sign of sorts.  He's connecting us for a reason.  Time will tell. We have already friended one another on Facebook.  Meanwhile, I'm packaging up a book and shooting it over to her asap!  As she shared the intricate details of the missions trip abroad, she encouraged me to pray in the finances that I might be sharing the gospel with the gypsies this summer. I didn't plan on this, but apparently God did!

As I finished up that phone conversation, I found myself in another friend's neck of the woods, so I stopped by to encourage him with some testimonies of what God is doing.  We are working together on  several soul-winning projects, so this turned out to be the perfect time to do some strategic planning and praying.  We are believing together for another Harvest in the upcoming months. We love knowing that people's names are being written in the Lamb's Book of Life.

As I finally reached home, I was given some great news that divine provisions were on their way. The very things that I had prayed about with my friend this very morning, were already manifesting.  Thank you, Jesus!  I called my friend to testify the good news, and she couldn't help but to praise Him and do her little victory dance!  She had been on a long road trip today, and spent much of it praying on my behalf.  It was sweetness to her ears to hear of the immediate fulfillment.

Last, but not least, God brought some things to light through a book I'm  reading  about Heidi Baker's ministry to the poor in Mozambique.   I was quite astonished at the fact that things didn't always work out "perfectly"... without flaw... exactly as she thought they would... or even hoped for.  There were days where she struggled at seeing God in the picture.  REALLY?  I thought for sure that it was just me! I must be doing something wrong or missing something!

The amazing thing about all this is that... In God's eyes, It is  "PERFECT."  He knows precisely how it's all going to roll out.  It's according to HIS PLAN, not ours!   I so needed to get that.  And that just proves my point.  Heidi's willingness to "tell it like it really is" -- even though it may not be perceived as "perfect" by many -- is exactly what bolstered my faith in this time of need!   I've noticed that  where people work on a "single" playing field, God works in "dimensions."  That means that while we are looking for God to work in our life, He's not only doing that, but He's wrapping all that into a bigger plan that touches so many other people's lives.  Yeh... He's so far beyond our imaginations!  As Ephesians 3:20 states in the amplified version,

"Now to Him, who, by the power that is at work within us, 

is able to do superabundantly, far over and above all the we 

dare ask or think, infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires,

 thoughts, hopes, or dreams..."

Goodnight Great and Mighty God!

Thank you for making my birthday,

in RED shoes, extra special.

Gail

Day 99

Today was the 99th Day of  The Red Shoe Project.  I popped on my RED shoes early this morning and headed out the door to our women's Bible study, looking intently for how God would show Himself to me today!

The message was from Genesis 26:1 -13 (1) There was a famine in the land.
     (The ground was hard, dead and lifeless).
(2) The Lord appeared to Isaac.
(3) God tells Isaac to stay in this land of famine.
      God assures Isaac that He will be with him.
      God says He will bless Isaac.
(12) Isaac planted seed in the ground during
       the famine.  God blessed the seed.
       Isaac reaped a hundredfold.


So the day started with a discussion and study on "Seed Planting."  It's so easy to think that we have no seed -- nothing to plant. But that's a cop out!  Truth be told, we all have something.  Sometimes we have to start by just asking,

"God, What seed do I have to plant?" 

SEEDS:  Seed could be money.  It could be time.  It could be talent -- something we are good at doing.  It could be something that we happen to have an abundance of. Sometimes we don't have an abundance at all.  We just have a small amount...  I like to refer to that as "Sacrificial Seed".  Remember the little boy that had that small lunch with him?  He gave his lunch (seed) to Jesus (soil), who blessed it, multiplied it, and fed over 5000 (harvest).  Wow!




SOIL:  Seed is to be planted in good soil. What are you investing your seed in?  A ministry perhaps? -- Maybe you donate cash or food (seed) into the local food bank (soil)?  Or maybe you are investing your time and expertise (seeds) into someone's life (soil), to help them out?




There's a great church in our city, which happens to be called "The Harvest", and when they pray for the offering, everybody holds their envelope in the air and shouts...

"Lord, I'm planting good seed,

 into good soil, 

 and expecting a good return."

In other words...

"Lord, I'm taking the money I worked hard for,

investing it into this ministry that does so much good,

and expecting that you will multiply it in amazing ways

that I could never imagine".

HARVEST:  In due time, the harvest comes.  That's when you reap what you have sowed.  

If you have planted 

a lot of good seed in good soil... 

there will be a great harvest!

As I left the morning Bible study, I had no idea that all that I had learned would be personally  applied in my life before the day's end.  Within hours I got a call from a Christian gal in need of help. She is in the middle of transitioning from a bad situation to a new way of life in Christ.  I immediately prayed and asked God, "What do I have to plant?"

The Holy Spirit reminded me of a lucky RED purse that my mom had given me years ago. All of a sudden I remembered exactly where it was.  I found it, looked inside and saw that it had nothing in it.  My mom always told me that you never give anyone an "empty" purse.  I didn't have any extra money... just some money set aside to pay my bills.  Well... $10 less wasn't really going to make a huge difference, so I took it and stuck it in the purse.  I would trust God to replace that $10 for my bill payment.  I headed off to my discussion group for the evening.  I knew the girl in need was going to be there. 

On the way, I stopped to pick up some donuts for the group.  I sacrificially bought a $10 gift card and stuffed that into the purse too.  My friend who I was driving to the meeting with asked what I was doing.  He took out his wallet,  pulled out a bunch of bills and stuck them in the purse.  When we got to the meeting, I briefly explained the need and we passed the purse around the circle.  Anyone who wanted to contribute could do so.  

This is a New Believers group!  This is where the rubber meets the road.  If you've given your heart to Christ so that you can show up on Sunday, sing a handful of songs that make you feel good, pat yourself on the back for doing the Christian thing by showing up for church, and walk out the door... you've totally missed it!  On the other hand... If you've made a decision to follow Christ, in times like this, you have to ask Him, "What do I do, Lord?"  and follow his direction.

I'm not sure what was stuffed in that little purse.  I never looked.  I shut the purse and stuffed it into the gal's handbag.  We gathered in a circle, grabbed ahold of one another's hands  and prayed up a storm on her behalf.  We asked God to bless that purse. -- that He might multiply what's in it, to provide for her needs in the days and weeks ahead. Needless to say, the gal was very thankful for all the encouragement and support. We are continuing to undergird her in our prayers, as she steps out with courage in the new direction the Lord is taking her.  We are expecting a harvest one day in her life that will bring glory to God!  Hallelujah!  (It's ok... you can shout praises with me!)

As we left the church tonight and headed to our cars, the gal shouted  to me.  "Thank you Gail for the Lucky Purse!"  I prophesied back to her.... "Someday, you'll be passing that lucky purse on to someone else... and don't forget, you have to give it away with something in it!"  We smiled and went our separate ways.

Isn't it great how God works?  My RED shoes had me looking for God first thing this morning in that Bible study, held in that little back room, at the bookstore.  Yeh... Good things happen in that room!  I didn't know when I was receiving that direction from God, that I would need it quite so soon.  But as my mentor always says, 

"God gives us directives.  

He shows us what we must do.  

And when the opportunity arises

 to move into action, we must!

Tonight I looked down at the RED shoes on my feet.  It seems I have already worn out another pair. LOL.  My RED shoes are getting worn out with all the adventure that God is bringing my way. I don't remember the last time I "wore out" my shoes!  I think I was ten years old. 

So, just this week, I donated several pairs of shoes to a local charity.  They're not  RED,  so I have no  use for them.  I'm an adventurer now!  Those shoes don't belong in my closet.  Yup, you guessed it!  I "sowed" them.  They went to people who need them. 

Isn't it a GREAT life with God?  Who would have thought that The Red Shoe Project  would make me an Adventurer and a Farmer of sorts ?  I may be sowing seed now, (in good soil, of course),  but it's only a matter of time before there's an  abundant harvest!

I'm trusting God to multiply my seeds, 

Gail

Day 98

Day 98 of The Red Shoe Project had me in RED flip flops and thinking ever so deeply about a testimony I recently heard.  The young woman couldn't have been more than twenty-one years of age.  She has totally laid down her life in ministry for The Lord Jesus Christ.  In doing so, she has attended extensive ministry and missionary training, as well as being active in various missionary projects in Africa.  While serving on the mission field of Mozambique for a handful of weeks, she was offered the opportunity to come back and work with the missionaries she attended to, for a full year.  She prayed about it and gladly accepted.

Her plan was to  finish out her short term missionary endeavor with these missionaries, return home to the states briefly, and come back in a few months to start her new term.  Suddenly, without warning, the missionary home was attacked by men, armed with machetes, who tied them up, robbed them, beat them  and abused them.  The young woman didn't go into graphic details, but it seemed that she had been raped.  Yes... how tragic!  They were all immediately moved to a safe place for a time of  healing, recovery and restoration.

I must admit, as the girl was testifying, she seemed incredibly healed and whole. Surely a miracle!  What astounded me was what she said next.  In her personal prayer time afterwards, she felt as if God asked her,

"Did you really mean what you said when you told me

 you'd lay down your life for me at any cost?  

 What if that incident was the only time those men 

would ever hear the name of Jesus?" 

(She had stated that while the assault and robbery were taking place they were all crying out the name of Jesus over and over again.)

Like probably many of you, I found it very difficult to wrap my arms around this one.  Really?  Where's God in all that?  But as I began to think about it, I began to realize that there have been many who have been brutally mistreated and even killed for their faith. Take the Apostle Paul for example.  Here's what he says in  2 Corinthians 11:24-27...

"Three times I was beaten with rods, 
once I was stoned, 
three times I was shipwrecked, 
I spent a night and a day in the open sea, 
I have been constantly on the move.  
I have been in danger from rivers, 

in danger from bandits, 
in danger from my own countrymen, 
in danger from Gentiles, 
in danger in the city, 
in danger in the country, 
in danger at sea; and in
danger from false brothers.  
I have labored and toiled and 
have often gone without sleep; 
I have known hunger and thirst and 
have often gone without food; 
I have been cold and naked."  

We live in this amazing country called the United States of America.  We often have no real understanding of how blessed we really are.  In fact, we're actually pretty spoiled in blessings.  A friend told me recently that when she came back from a missions trip she attended in Greece, the team returning after her was stopped, questioned and almost thrown in jail.  Really? In Greece?  Apparently Greece has a governmental religion, (Greek Orthodox), and speaking against it in any way could end you up in jail, in many places, even put to death. "Wake up!"  my friend told me.  "Most countries don't have the religious freedom that the USA has."  Wow -- I didn't realize that!  Thousands of people, around the world, each day, are tormented, jailed, abused and killed for their faith in Christ!  Thousands!

Talk about putting things in perspective.  Do I fully understand what happened to that young missionary?  No I don't.   But what a courageous young lady she is, not to mention... serious about laying down her life for the sake of the Gospel of Christ.  Did I mention that she's still going back to do that year of missionary work with those same missionaries?  She said that the devil came back and said to her, "You better not go back there!  You're not safe!  You're God won't protect you.  I'll come after you again!"  She shut the door to those voices, turned her heart towards God and said,

  "Yes Jesus, I meant what I said!"

So let me bring all that down to my little world.
When I think of some of the discomforts I've faced in answering the Call of Christ on my life...  some of the inconveniences...  some of the humbling situations...  things that I thought were so bad...  so difficult...  so hard to wrap my arms around -- Well, what can I say now?  They are nothing!   They don't matter!   They are insignificant!   They are such a small price to pay in taking a stand for Jesus.   I have it easy.  And with that, I am closing the door to the voices that want to tell me otherwise, and saying... 

 "Yes Lord, I meant what I said!  -- 

 I surrender all!  Send me!  All for Jesus! 

 Use me, oh God!  I'll do whatever it takes!  

I will follow you!  Take this world, but give me Jesus!
Oh! that souls would come to know You, Lord!"

As I kick off my RED shoes for the night and crawl into my bed, in this wonderful home, in the peaceful community in which I live, I am ever so THANKFUL to God for how good I have it.  I'm also humbled and repentant of my erroneous perspective of things concerning Christ and the Call of God upon me. Talk about a reality check!

Most of all, I'm lifting up prayers for that young woman and the missionaries she is working with.  I don't know their specific names, but God does.  I'm praying for their safety.  I'm praying for blessing and favor in their lives. I'm praying that God will do special things just for them -- even miracles!  

Oh that His Presence will be continually with them in Magnificent Measure!

Good night, dear missionaries.  God's hand be upon you!

Gail