Day 132

Okay, so it's Day 132 of  The Red Shoe Project, and YES, I showed up for my morning meeting with Him.  I wasn't going to miss that for anything!   

No shoes, though... too early.  

But I was ready --  my heart  totally committed.  I purposed, in advance,  to hold onto the picture in my mind of a girl meeting her boy friend in the morning, to walk to school together.  

The last thing I want this to be is another attempt at fixing in place a religious ritual -- a daily observance that makes me feel worthy of God's love.  I know all too well that,  in and of myself,  I'm not worthy and never will be, so I'm not going to spend precious time trying to convince myself that I am.  No way!   

"worthy" means:

• virtuous 
• righteous 
• upright  
• blameless
• guiltless
• honorable 
• reputable
• noble 
•  pure

The Bible says...

"For there is no one righteous, not  even one."

Romans  3:10

Instead, I showed up to just be with the one that I love, because I know that He loves me.

"For God so loved the world,

that He gave His only son, 

that whosoever believes in Him,

will have everlasting life." 

John 3:16

It was a quiet time.  A time of saying "Good Morning!"   I sang a little song, ever so softly, that reminded me of who I was sitting with. 

For God demonstrated His own love for me in this:

While I was still a sinner, Christ died for me.

Romans 5:8

 I didn't talk much.  I just sat there in His presence, focusing my mind and heart on Him.  He reminded me of something He wanted me to do later today, so I wrote it down.  And then I just sat quietly some more and listened.  Before I knew it 30 minutes had gone by. There was no hyped up calling on God.  There was no Bible reading.  There was no interceding for others.  There were just silent whispers from my soul to heaven and back.  

I got up from that place to start my day.  Moving quickly, I washed up, dressed and was out the door, in my RED shoes.  It wasn't until I got  to my seat at church that I realized there was no need to "warm up."  My heart moved immediately into worship.  I closed my eyes, raised my hands, lifted my voice, and found myself  lost in His presence.  For but a moment, I remember thinking, "Ahhhh, so this is the result of giving my first minutes of the day to God."

The day has come and gone.  The hours have flown by.  As I look down at my RED shoes, I now think of how full my heart feels.

Until tomorrow, dear friends,
Gail

Day 131

Day 131 of The Red Shoe Project was a day of continual pouring down... of God's blessings, that is!  Who can complain about that?  Not me, for sure.  A blessing here, a blessing there, and there's another one right behind it.  I'll tell you, I was in no way dodging the raindrops.  Instead, my head was lifted up and my arms were open, receiving each and every one as they fell into my arms!  So I popped on my RED canvas shoes, left the umbrella behind and headed out the door for a day with God.


Blessing #1
My eyes were barely open when I received a phone call from a dear friend.  We chatted up a storm, while glorying in the works of God.  He had spent the morning basking in God's glory.  How delightful!

Blessing #2
As our conversation continued, God began to piece things together for me about what He is doing in my life.  And to think, it all started with a scripture from God's Word.  Yup... that's all it takes!  We talked about a scripture that was part of a story from God's Book,  and it ended up being part of my story!  I love when God shows me "the big picture" because it reminds me of His Greatness.  I can't even see the fullness of what He's doing, without His help.  Another reason to Praise His Name!

Blessing #3
My friend put me on speaker phone, and our  chat went in even another direction as God began to show me things prophetically about him and his sons.  They are set apart to be soul winners for Christ. We talked about how God stirs the hearts of the unsaved around us well before they even show an interest in God.  That's when we can begin praying. And we are doing just that!
Oh! That souls might be saved! 

Blessing #4
As the afternoon rolled around, I found myself on a long drive to an appointment.  Time for a chat with God.  I found myself asking God question after question... only His response each time was the same:  "You already know the answer to that, Gail."  As I thought about it.  I did!

Throughout my Christian walk, I've noticed that when God speaks to me, He'll often confirm and reinforce so that I know, without a doubt, what He's saying.  But today, He was showing me that I no longer need that same level of continual reinforcement.   He's encouraging me to stand strong on His direction and more forward in it confidently.  Wow!  okay... I can do that.  I know that He will always be there to reinforce when necessary, but I also know that there will be times that I must be able to act quickly on his command, without hesitation.

Blessing #5 & 6
When I ran out the door earlier today, I felt a prompting from God to go over to my "favorite book table" and bring a book with me.  But which one?  As I looked at the titles, one stood out boldly:  The Hidden Life of Prayer by David M'Intyre.

Did I mention that I leave for Scotland in a few days for some family business?  M'Intyre sounded rather Scottish, so I quickly popped it in my bag for a little read later on.

Later on eventually arrived.  I stopped in a favorite lunch spot for a salad.  As I picked up in the book, where I last left off, I found myself in an "Access Point" with God.  Access Points are places where God supernaturally draws me into the Secret Place with Him.  It could be a specific song, or a video clip, a message, a movie, a scripture, a story, a place or more. I know it's an access point because He's there.  And today, I could barely get through a page of this book.  He kept calling me.  "Come spend time with me!" I know when He does that... I must go!

Besides... He was toying with me.  Right there in the restaurant, He showed me a vision of myself doing a financial victory dance.  In my mind, I could see myself dancing for joy and knew that it was in regards to God's faithful provision.  I'm not in possession of the divine gift just yet.  But God released it almost a month ago, and assured me that it would be in my hands within 30 days.  Hallelujah!  Not just that...  earlier this week, while in prayer, I saw myself catching a football and God told me that I was seeing myself catch the financial gift that He released.

It's a very good thing, 

when you see yourself, 

catching the promise!  

 

And it's a very good thing 

seeing yourself doing 

the victory dance!  

Boy, did that set me to laughing in the restaurant.  I couldn't wait to finish up, pay my bill, and get out of there, so that I could get in His Presence.

The Biggest Blessing of All!

As I left that place, I found myself eager to get home.  I couldn't wait to get in prayer.  God started speaking to me right there in the car.  He wanted to set a daily time for us to meet.  A time, first thing every day, to talk face to face. You would have thought that I was sixteen again, and agreeing to meet my high school sweetheart, first thing every morning, to walk to school together. It's official.  We're a couple!

Really?  I mean come on!  Everyone knows that you should start each day with some quiet time with God, right?   Yeah...  but this is different.  He's got my heart in His hands now.  It's not the same thing!  He loves me and I love Him.   So...  I know that He's always loved me.  Maybe I just love Him differently now -- More intimately -- More deeply -- More committed -- More everything.  RED shoes will do that!   Besides, I've changed!  And I'm going with it!  I've agreed to meet Him every morning.  I guess we'll see what comes of that.   I don't really care about the results... I just want to be with Him, at the start of my day, before the distractions begin. I want His voice to be the first voice I hear. I want to know what He wants to do.  I want to put my head against His heart and hear it beat!

Ok... so you know that these weren't the only raindrops of blessing, right?  There's just too many to tell.  But boy, do I love the rain!

No umbrellas please!
Red Shoes a must!

Gail

Day 130

I started Day 130 of  The Red Shoe Project  in RED shoes and on the phone with a dear friend and mentor.  She was commenting on some of the victories I have been experiencing and connecting them to the fact that I've been seeking God and allowing Him to totally have His way in my life.

Isn't it funny how sometimes 

you can't see what's 

right in front of you?

Her words were perfectly timed.  I needed to see that connection.  My spirit was lifted and I was encouraged.  It was a perfect way to start my day!

I drove up to see my Mom today -- an early Mother's Day visit.  I just love my Mom!  We had dinner together and talked and talked and talked.  It was time well spent.  She's such a blessing to me.

On the way home, I thought about my friend's testimony the other day.  He talked about being prompted by God to go with his mom to the doctors, and it turned out to be a very good thing that he did.  I remembered his proclaiming, "I didn't want to really go to the doctor's with my mom, but I had this strong urging from God to go.  And you know what, I should go, because it's the right thing to do!!!" LOL.  I'm laughing because I've been in that position many times, where I didn't want to do something, but there was that urging, and next thing you know, regardless of how I felt, there I was doing it.  He was so joyous as he gave that testimony.  And I was so joyous as I drove home from my mom's.  It was a wonderful day!

My mom had given me a bucket and mop to bring home with me.  It was sitting on her porch, only used once, and she thought I might get better use of it.  I popped it into my little hatch back and drove home.  When I came in the house, I positioned it by the door, until I had a chance to move it to the garage.  

Meanwhile,  I headed out the door to take Pauly for his evening walk.  Usually we go out the front door and turn to the left.  I like walking that way because there's good lighting and not a lot of cars to have to walk around.  Lately, however, Pauly has been rather feisty and pulling to the right.  It's dark that way, so I insisted that he go left. Talk about a tug-of-war.  As much as I tried, there's not much you can do when a 70 pound bulldog has made up his mind.  I could feel myself getting a little frustrated with him, but God's voice spoke... "Gail, be patient.  It's not a big deal." 

God was right.  It doesn't matter at all which direction we go in for the walk.  There's no need to get crazy over it.  But then, (and this isn't the first time I've thought this), I wondered, "Is that how I am with God?  Insistent upon going in the direction I want to go in?  Even when He's making it perfectly clear where He wants me to go?"

Generally speaking, I think that I'm pretty good at following God's direction.  BUT these days,  I want more than that.  My heart's desire is to be totally sensitive to God's voice and guidance.  Oh, that I would consistently yield to Him, in all matters, great and small.  If he guides me to the right, may I follow His lead without distraction.  If he guides me to the left, may I do the same.  Yes, I know it sounds easy, but I've probably been like Pauly on more than a few occasions and not even realized it.  God's doing a work in me!

When we finally came back from our walk, I sat down, turned on the computer and began to write this evening's blog.  My daughter came in and noticed the bucket still sitting by the door.  "A gift from Granny!"  I shouted.  

"What's that?"  she pointed.  "Oh my gosh, it's a snake!"  Yikes it was a snake.  How did it get in here?  Probably from the bucket.   It was late --  10:30 --  but we quickly put Pauly in his kennel and decided to ask our neighbor for help. He gladly ran over, with rake in hand, and transported that three foot snake out the door where it belonged.  I had an arial view of the entire thing as I stood on a chair... wearing my RED shoes, of course!

That's an impromptu fellowship if I do say so.  We were ever so thankful for his help at such a late hour!  Now I really can head off to bed for a good night's sleep.  Yes... the bucket has been put outside!

Til tomorrow,

Gail 

Day 129

Day 129 of  The Red Shoe Project was like discovering a Time Machine.  In the last 24 hours, while wearing my RED shoes, God has brought me to both ends of the time spectrum, and then, conveniently, dropped me back off, somewhere in the middle.

PAST  -  PRESENT  -  FUTURE

How God does that? I'll never know. But He can & He does & He did it to me.

A Dynamic Past!

Last night, some dear friends of mine invited me and a few others to their home for a cookout and fellowship.  What a wonderful time!  Chips, salsa and home-made guacamole! YUM.  Salad, baked potatoes and beans.  Burgers on the grill...  And my little veggie burger.  (Everyone seemed to have a good laugh over that!  I was the only non-meat eater.) 

After dinner, a brisk walk and a sunset, we gathered around in the living room to get to know one another a little better.  It was testimony time!  There is nothing like hearing a good testimony about how someone came to know Christ.  That alone will blow you right out of the water!  That's God's opportunity to change your whole mindset on what you thought about a person.  The details of the "Divine Partnership" rise to the surface.  Truly God works in magnificent ways!  It makes me want to stand up and applaud.,

 "Bravo!  Jesus  Bravo!"

So I haven't had the opportunity to tell my entire testimony for some time now...  until last night.  What a BLAST from the past!  I got caught up in my own testimony and came pretty close to preaching!  LOL.  God just wildly and wonderfully stirred me up as I remembered where I've come from in Christ;  How I got saved;  the promises God made to me; and the  visions He's given me.  I think I lit myself on fire just talking about all that.  LOL!

Back to the Future!

This afternoon I headed out to a very important business meeting with a Mentor of Mentors.  I'm really not at liberty to share details at this time, but I can say this...  God has given me a very powerful vision for the future.  

Whenever I have received a vision from God,  it's often been like watching a movie on the big screen, only I'm the main character.  It can be quite overwhelming.  Laughingly, I've thought to myself...  

"Yeah... that's great...  

but there's no way 

I could ever do that!" 

I've come to realize that visions are prophetic.  They're about the future. The person I see in the vision is not me today,  it's me in the future.   

God will somehow mold me into that person in that vision.  He will use situations and circumstances to mature me into that role. When the appointed time arrives and that vision becomes a reality, God will have prepared me to play that part perfectly. 

"This vision is for a future time. 

 It describes the end, and it will be fulfilled.  

If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, 

for it will surely take place.  It will not be delayed. "  

(Habakkuk  2:3)

Today's meeting seemed "normal" except for the fact that this individual is levels above me, incredibly successful, and fully experienced in the position I will one day step into.  Somehow, I have been granted favor, beyond anything I could ever imagine, to sit in this person's presence and receive.  A Divine Connection has taken place, because God has a plan.  It's amazing to see Him shuffle around people, calendars and situations to bring about His perfect will.  When I left my business meeting, I didn't even make it to my car before losing it.  I couldn't believe what had just taken place.  It's not supposed to happen that way!  I had nothing to do with it!  I was just set up! Yes... God does work supernaturally in the business arena! Thank You, Jesus!

God is working here and now, all around me!

I barely got home in time to shift gears and head off to the God-Seekers discussion group.  This one guy has been so diligent, in the last month or two, at attending everything and anything offered to grab ahold of God.  I've been asking him week after week, "What's God been doing in your life?"  Lately, He has been looking everywhere - behind every tree - under every rock, per say.  And tonight, He hit the jackpot, and I'm not sure he even fully realizes it!

First... He started off with the words, "Well, Today..."   That's right... Today.  Today he was looking and listening for God. In fact, these days, he's looking and listening for God everyday!  And today, God just straight out prompted him to do some things...  Not once  --  but twice!  And to top it all off... He did what God told him to do and was the better for it.  It is a glorious thing to see someone slip into the groove of walking and talking with Jesus!  And this is just the beginning for him.  Hallelujah!  That just makes me want to dance.

Time to put on "The Happy Song" and cut a little rug, in RED shoes.

Care to join me?

Gail