Day 66

It's Day 66 of  The Red Shoe Project.  As I run around town doing errands, I'm wearing the cutest little pair of RED vintage sneakers that my daughter gave me. People seem to love contributing to my RED shoe wardrobe.  Hey, if they fit, I wear them.  BUT even more wonderful to me, is when they wear their RED shoes along with me and share what God is doing in their lives!

As I meet and talk with different people about  The Red Shoe Project, many tell me that the world can be a difficult place to live in these days.  It has it's challenges to say the least.  Darkness is often lurking around the corner. Disappointment and despair are abundant.  Emptiness fills many a soul.


Yet, people are searching...  yes searching for answers.  They are looking for "The Good" in life.  They are starving for things like:  Love,  Joy,  Peace, Patience,  Kindness  Goodness,  Faithfulness,  Gentleness and  Self-Control.    Do such things even exist?   Where are they?  Galatians 5:22  refers to these good things as "The Fruits of the Spirit" and they are found in people who are divinely connected with Christ.

The difficulty is sometimes found in getting people to "consider Christ"... to just look in His direction... to open the Bible and see for themselves.  That opportunity is rarely offered these days in a safe and inviting manner.  So they try everything else that is being offered, first.  I know that all to well because that's what I did.

I still remember the day that someone challenged me to give God a chance in my life.  He asked me if I was willing to give myself 100% to God and see what happened.  I thought to myself, "100%?  That's serious!" Then this little voice in my head said, "What have you got to lose? You've tried everything else.  Why not give God a chance?  Go on... Go for it!"

With that, I said, YES and asked God  to show Himself to me,  and to lead and guide me through life!"

God stepped right up to the plate and took me up on it!  He showed me He was real. And He woo-ed me into an awesome relationship with Himself...  A Divine Partnership that is about to hit the thirty year mark.  That's right, thirty years!  Mind you, "The back door" was always there to walk out of if things didn't pan out... if this "God thing" wasn't all it was made out to be. But no... I've never had a reason, to leave.  I've never even gotten close to that back door. He has proved Himself to me, over and over again.

You know how I even got to that point?  I saw FRUIT in someone's life.  When I went to work out at the gym,  I saw a glow and a joy on an aerobic instructor's face that I couldn't quite shake.  It was so different.  She had something that I didn't... and I wanted it!  I wanted to be around her.  I wanted to figure out what "that glow thing" was all about!

Her name was Cindy.  She brought me to a birthday party and introduced me to some friends. I immediately noticed that they all had that glow too!  They were all so nice.  The next day, I made it a point to go to church with one of them.  At the end of the service, a man asked me if I was a Christian.  My response was...

"Well, yeah... kind of...  sort of... well, maybe,  I'm not so sure."

Of course my mother had always told me that I was a Christian.  But I had a feeling that what this guy was really asking me was  "Am I like THESE Christians? "... and well,  No... I wasn't.  I didn't have that thing... that glow... that joy... that peace that they all seemed to overflow with.  

Well, the rest of the story you know.

So what about you?  

Are you a Christian?  

Maybe it's time to pop on some
Ruby Slippers of your own and consider Christ? ...look in His direction?  ...open the Bible and search for yourself?  Give God a chance?  Ask Him to show Himself to you?

I'm here if you have questions.

Gail

Day 65

Day 65 of The Red Shoe Project finds me in St. Pete, FL bundled up in my warm RED socks, looking at a beautiful view of the beach and surrounding area. From the 10th floor condo, where I'm visiting my sister, it's a beautiful sight.

The weather was cool today for Florida, mid 60s, but the sun has now set, the temperature is dropping significantly, and the wind is howling like a mad man!!!  Somehow that has got me thinking about the "wrath of God."  YIKES!!!  I have to be honest with you, as a Child of the King,  I don't often think about God's wrath.  Personally, I don't want to see Daddy get mad.



As a kid growing up in Arlington Massachusetts, I was the same way with my natural dad.  I can remember a time when I was about eleven.  I must have done something wrong that day, because  (1) I was hiding upstairs in my bedroom,  (as opposed to mingling downstairs with the family),  and (2) my dad called for me to come down... he wanted to talk to me.  I wasn't even half way down the staircase, and the tears were flowing.  I remember my dad saying to me...

 "Why are you crying?  I haven't even said anything yet?"

My dad was not a man to ever yell or get out of control.  And with three women in the house, he was definitely the King of the Castle.

 I was crying because I knew I had disappointed him. I never wanted to disappoint my dad.  He loved me and I loved him.  In fact, he didn't just love me, he totally delighted in me.  It was a good thing to be around my dad.

With God the Father, I 'm exactly the same way... I love to be around him!  And I don't want to see Him upset, (at least not with me),   not because I'm afraid of Him... but because I love him!  So you can understand my surprise in recently having met with several people who were taught that God demands perfection and if you fall short, you are going to hell! Case closed!

Really?  Well, let's re-open the case.  I find it sad that so many people have discontinued their search for God and taken the nearest exit to The World because of unbalanced, erroneous teaching engulfed in religiosity.  "Religiosity" is when it's all about the rules, period!  The result of that is a haunting and dreadful fear of God.

Don't get me wrong.... God is All-Powerful... Great & Mighty... The King of Kings and Lord of Lords! I wouldn't want to fall onto His bad side. With His breath, He could easily blow out an entire country! But God is also The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace,  The Wonderful Counselor, The Friend that sticks closer than a brother.  His name is Faithful and True!   Did someone forget to mention that?

So what I'm loving these days is the opportunity to talk with people about the Fullness of God and ALL that He has to offer us... To show them the loving side of God that somehow got overlooked or left out...  To help them search the scriptures to see for themselves who God really is...  To better decipher what's true and what's false...  And to usher them towards the opportunity for a Divine Connection of their own... A Relationship with God, not a Religion!

Red shoes and all,
I'm taking a stand on that!
Gail

Day 64

Day 64 of  The Red Shoe Project was a full day.  I wore my RED shoes to morning Bible Study... followed by my friend's afternoon, Art Journaling class... and topped it all off with my Starting Point Discussion Group for those seeking to know more about God.

With all that going on, throughout the entire day, in the back of my mind, I have been pondering a story.  You've heard of Parables in the Bible? (Stories that Jesus used to teach lessons to his followers).  Well, today I was pondering a parable of my own.  Let's see if you can read through the mystery of it all and figure out what it might mean. Perhaps God will reveal the lesson to you.



This is the story of two longtime friends.  One is an older, wealthy and very wise woman. The other is a younger woman who is attempting to be successful at life.  The older woman, with all her experience,  has taken the younger woman "under her wing."  The younger woman is totally receptive of that.  She loves the fact that the older woman is speaking wisdom and encouragement into her life.  The older woman sees it as an opportunity to  invest in the younger gal that she might go forth in the world with passion and  do what she has been created to do.  The young gal is appreciative of all the love and support and doesn't hesitate to continually thank her mentor!

One day the older woman calls the younger woman and invites her to lunch... her treat.  In fact, she'd like to connect with the younger woman on a regular basis to mentor her in a way that will bring forth the greatest success.   She knows that the younger woman can't afford the lunches and has told her not to worry about that... just to come.  She's happy to pick up the tab.  They set a date, time and place to meet every month.

Here's the re-occuring problem.  Every month, starting 29 days prior to their lunch date, the younger woman worries about how she is going to pay for the lunch.  She knows that the woman has told her that  she will be covering the cost... but even still, the young gal insists on trying to raise the money prior to the meeting.

One month she worked extra hours for a little more money in her paycheck.  The next  month she withdrew the money from her savings account.  Still another month, she had a yard sale to raise the cash.  And this month... after exhausting all her other options, she was found going through the creases in her car seats for extra pocket change to try and cover the cost.


Month in and month out, the older woman was prepared to pay.  But no... the younger woman insisted that she would take care of it.  At first, the older woman smiled and complied, but insisted that next month was her turn.  Even still, the younger woman wore herself out with worry, trying to  come up with the extra cash.  Finally the mentor confronted the young mentoree...

"Don't you see that you don't have to do all this?" she stated. 

What's the matter, don't you trust me to cover the cost? 

Please, next month, just show up for lunch!"

So tell me...

What is God saying to you?  What's the lesson?

Put on your RED SHOES, ponder the story, and tell me what you think.

I'm looking forward to your thoughts,

 Gail

Day 63

Today is Day 63 of The Red Shoe Project and it was jam-packed with activity. It started out with a little quiet time with God in my RED socks.

I'm finally getting consistent with my early morning prayer time.  I hope there comes a day when "missing it" isn't an option, ever. That will be a good thing!  Every now and again, I find myself out the door early and on my way somewhere, when it occurs to me that I haven't even said "Good Morning" to God. That's scary.  Talk about vulnerable -- Going out into the world, spiritually unclothed. Yikes! I know that may seem rather severe to some, but hey, would you go out of the house without make-up? or without brushing your teeth? or without deodorant?


I wonder what I look like without prayer?  Have you ever run out of the house,  just to do a quick errand at the store, and caught a quick glimpse of yourself in a mirror?  Yikes!  I'll never do that again.  What if one of my clients saw me?  What if one of my readers saw me?

My goal is to make a good impression with everyone I meet, and spiritually speaking, what do I look like without a smile?  One Sunday, I caught myself at an early morning church service, without a smile and very grumpy.  It wasn't pretty!  The clash between goodness and grumpiness was too much to handle. I headed home right after service to "adjust" my attitude before I infected anybody.

 Or what if my countenance is dreary and depressed?  Do I really want to share that with the world? As a Christian, my business is to promote positivity. Dressing in depression and despair  is not an option... especially when a few minutes in the prayer closet can fix all that, ever so nicely.

Please know that I'm not pushing a false smile.  What do we call that?  "Wearing a  mask."    No, no.  Authenticity is where it's at.  But in
the same respect, that shouldn't give us liberty to just let it all hang out either.
I prefer to "work it out" and "get myself together" with God.
That way, I can face the world with a real smile, a positive mindset, and an aura of peace and joy.  And let me just add this.  It's not fair to treat my family any less respectfully.  Sometimes it's about not coming out of my bedroom in the morning before being spiritually adjusted, let alone going out of the house.


Now I know that none of us would ever leave the house without brushing our teeth.  Right?  Because we don't want to breathe wretchedness on anyone that we may encounter.  I wonder what could possible come out of my mouth if I didn't brush with God's Word everyday.  Negativity perhaps?  Vulgarity?  Gossip?  Anger?  Foolish Banter?  Jealousy?   There's something to think about. Talk about first impressions?  Self-control is a fruit of the Spirit.  Spending time with the Holy Spirit causes self-control to grow in my life.


Or what about a day without deodorant.  Watch out!!!  You can lose a lot of friends, real fast, with that one... not to mention your confidence.  So often that affirming story in the morning devotional is just what I need to keep me confident throughout the entire day.  And it can be "time-released" giving me a boost in the morning, then again in the afternoon.  It even works in those unexpected moments... when something stressful pops up out of nowhere.

I guess it's not just about putting on RED shoes every morning to remind myself to look for God.   It's about wearing God.  Allowing Him to effect me so much that people don't even notice my RED shoes.  Instead, they see Christ in me. Wow!  Now that would be something.  Judges 6:24 says...

"God clothed Himself with Gideon". 

 Maybe someday God will clothe Himself with Gail?
Okay... that's a little heavy duty to be thinking about right now... but you never know what God has in store for you on this Yellow Brick Road called Life.

Until tomorrow,
Gail