Day 103

On Day 103 of  The Red Shoe Project,  I chose to wear RED sneakers.  They seemed an appropriate choice for a day filled with extreme challeges on every level:  Emotional, Physical, Financial, Spiritual.

I was reminded of a DVD that a friend had given me once about River Rapid Kayaking.  When I watched it, I was totally mesmerized.  I couldn't figure out what it was about the DVD that had so captured my attention.  And then it hit me.  I felt like I was watching a clip of my life on one of it's most challenging days.

There's some very interesting take aways from River Rapid Kayaking
 that we can all benefit from.
FIRST... There are people all over the world that set out each morning to find a dangerous set of river rapids to throw their kayak into.  Yes... purposefully!  Their goal for the day is to conquer the river, and have fun doing it!

Hmmm.  So I'm wondering if  I am perhaps approaching life from the wrong angle.  Maybe I  need to be more on the offensive each day and LOOK for the challenges with tenacity and vigor, instead of them finding me?


SECOND... I noticed that each participant is given a little stick about three and a half feet long with paddles on each end.  Now you know that stick isn't worth squat!  Those rapids are so powerful, the real key here is to just be able to go with the flow.  The stick is to just give a nudge here or there, to assure that you don't crash into those big boulders and die!  Got it?


Hmmm... So I am wondering why it's so  difficult to "go with the flow?" On occassion, my life can be just like those rapids!  I don't know about you, but in those times, I got nothing! I'm just being moved right along at a pace that's not all that enjoyable.  More often than I'd care to admit, I can be found, panicking or even attempting to use that little stick to gain control. SNAP!!! There goes the stick. Yup... many times I've learned the hard way.  Now it's time to sit back,  breath, keep my mouth shut, trust God and let go of trying to control the uncontrollable.

THIRD... On occasion a kayaker will find herself plunged into the water and upside down.  That's when "The roll" is critical.  It's one of the first things a beginning kayaker learns.  There's a special technique you  must master that rolls you back to the upright position, so that your head is above the water. One's ability to do that successfully each time can be the difference between life and death!

Hmmm. So I'm noticing that "The roll" is mastered in advance.  In life, there's also a critical maneuver that must be mastered in order to be successful. Just like the roll, you have to be able to fall into this technique without thinking.  It has to be second nature, and it can mean the difference between success and failure.

 The key is knowing The Master 

and being in continual fellowship 

and communication with him.  

It's also important to have a plan in place, and to review it often, so that I don't fall into panic mode, operating out of fear.
 It's a plan for Guarding My Heart.

1.  Face each day with a positive, enthusiastic attitude.
2.  Make it a goal to conquer whatever life brings your way.
3.  Have fun.
4.  Let go. Give the control over to God.
5.  Breathe and Go with the flow.
6.  When things get a little scary... let out a victory shout in advance!
    "Jesus!"  "Yahoo!"  "Glory!"  "Yes! I'm doing it!"
7.  Approach the challenges with faith not fear.
8.   Remember, you are never alone.
9.  Talk to your Divine Partner in Life.  Don't shut God out!
10. When it's over, smile,  give the "thumbs up," and thank the Lord.


FINALLY...  It's always important to end on an up note.  All of the people in the DVDs were exhausted, soaked, and some even had scratches, bruises and bleeding cuts.  Yikes! But they were all smiling from ear to ear, overjoyed at all they had accomplished.  They couldn't wait for the next opportunity to "get back in the rapids!"

Hmmm.  So I'm thinking that I need to change my mindset a bit.  I'm very optomistic and positive about a lot of things... but every once in a while, a challenging day can leave me feeling defeated.  No more of that!  I'm seeing very clearly that how I end the day is as important as how I start it... upbeat, enthusiastic, in RED shoes and with God.

See you in the rapids!
Gail

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