Day 102

Day 102 of The Red Shoe Project finds me in RED shoes,  and thinking about the impact people have when they  "radiate"  the Love of God.

To radiate means to emit something... 

 to release it outwardly,  to exude,

to give off,  give out,  send out,  

to glow with.

Decades ago, when I was quite young, I lived in a very old home with radiators.  On a cold, winter's night, I'd turn up the thermostat, and heat would exude from the radiators making a room toasty warm.

I've noticed something interesting about our changing world.  I am continually running into people I haven't seen for a while... and as we chat, they are quite free in telling me things about themselves that I would think that they would be embarrassed about...  but they are not.  They talk very openly and in great detail, without reservation or hesitation, about the illegal drugs they are consuming;  the crazy things they've done while intoxicated; or their unreserved sexual exploitations.  They don't hesitate to proclaim their less than ethical business practices; their obnoxious behavior;  their outrageous lies; and/or their incredibly opinionated gossip. The list could go on and on. 

Is there no shame?  no regret?  no reservation?  Is the motto of the today's world:  Let's just show everyone how bad we can be -- how foolish we can act -- how outlandishly we can portray ourselves?

When did stupid, unintelligent, foolish  

behavior become something to brag about?

After verbally vomiting all over themselves, they will often ask me what I've been up to. You know I used to be concerned about what people would think if I talked about Jesus and the Love of God.  But now?  I'm not so worried.  Nobody seems to care about what I think about their choices.  So I'm feeling incredibly free to talk about my choices.  

This situation just happened again, 

only this time something stuck out like a sore thumb.  I noticed that while I was talking about the Goodness of God, The Red Shoe Project, and My Love for Christ,  

I was radiating! 

 I could actually feel waves of glory emanating from me.  

First, it felt incredibly awesome! The evidence of a divine partnership was filling my heart to near explosion!  A genuine smile covered my face from ear to ear.  And joy was gleaming from my eyes like rays of sunlight!  Talk about positivity.  Here it was at it's best and I wasn't even trying for that.  I was just talking about The One who makes my heart beat!  I had "The Glow" going on!

Secondly, (in contrast to that), I realized that the person I was talking with was the exact opposite.  Their posture and countenance made a blaring statement.  It said,  "Sad,  Depressed, Downcast... Stuck in life."  There was no pleasant fruit to be seen from their choices!  No life!  No joy!  Not an inkling.  Nothing! 

I left there,  "on fire for God!"  They went in the other direction... cold and indifferent, uninterested, and unmoved.  

As my feet, (clad in RED),  moved me homeward, my heart burned with prayers for the lost.  Even as I write now, I can hear their voices shouting at me... "Don't pray for me!  I don't need your prayers! I remember when I said those very same things.  At the time, I just didn't get it.  I was blind, until my soul got so sick and cold that I couldn't stand it any longer. And then I saw someone...  radiating.  And I followed after her to find out what that fire was... what that glow was.  I had to know!

I can't save people.  I have no ability to do that.  But I can ask God,  The Father,  to draw them to His Holy Fire.

My hope is that in some way, 

that brief few minutes of joy that 

I was able to genuinely express in 

that person's  presence, will somehow

 be unforgettable. 

 Oh, that God will haunt them with it -- in such a way that they will set out on a spiritual quest of their own to find True Love, True Peace, True Joy. 

Fanning your flame for the lost,

Gail  

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