The Great Sandal Redemption

Outerwear Part 1 of 6

I didn’t know I had footwear issues until last Friday. I was at mom’s group and as I intently listened to Jill, my eyes were caught by the 20+ pairs of cute painted toe-nail feet adorned by a wide assortment of SANDALS.
It got me thinking. Should I be wearing sandals too? Why hadn’t this phenomena dawned on me as well? What plane did I miss; was I sleeping during the part of “girlie girl education” where they discussed the pros and cons of sandals?
So, THAT thought got me to thinking even FURTHER about the WHY’s of a lot of things I am doing with my outer appearance, which of course will spill over into other areas of my heart, mind & spirit as well. Over the next couple of months, I am going to examine some of these areas, such as hair, make-up, clothing, nails, accessories….. whatever else comes to mind, and delve into the truth about what I am doing and why I am doing it. I am also interested in gathering as much input as I can along the way. Feel free to comment on each topic with any story that you have, and if you feel comfortable sharing your background experience of why you wear what you do….or DON’T… I would love for you to do that! But ONLY if you feel comfortable!!!! OK??

The Great Sandal Redemption

I have always been a Keds kind of girl I guess. Actually, not even Keds… I’ve just usually wear the cheap $6 white tennis shoes and have always LOVED wearing socks. I can remember my younger brother trying to pry socks off of me when I was still living at home. He’d grab the end of a sock on my foot, and try as he would to get them off (just to BUG me of course)… I usually won the battle. I HATED being without socks.
I’ve got this sock thing going on now where I absolutely LOVE interesting socks. I have socks for pretty much every holiday, and wore Easter socks this year well into May. I have monkey socks, sheep socks, cat socks, stripey socks in many different colors that DON’T have to necessarily GO with anything I’m wearing. I just sort of feel a freedom to wear what I want, and when it comes to socks, I’m comfortable with what I choose.

Well, over the weekend, I started thinking about WHY I wear socks and shoes ALL THE TIME, and what the big deal was with the sandal believers. One factor that might have something to do with WHY people wear sandals became crystal clear as I realized, how hot my feet were in my socks and shoes on our 90+ degree Saturday over the weekend. YUCK! I don’t know why I haven’t noticed this before, but I had to continue to endure the heat, or else fall prey to the sandal phenomena.
Well, I had to work on Sunday evening, and thought I’d bring up the sandal topic to my friends there. My friend Lori, God love her, told me that she happens to be a Keds girl too, BUT she ALSO gave me some very important potential sandal wearer information. She told me that if you wear sandals, you should paint your toenails and not have horrible feet. YIPES!!! Don’t we ALL hate our feet??? Well, my other friend Betsy said she didn’t think she had cute feet, but it didn’t stop her from wearing them. WOW….!!!! That helped!!! The simple thing that Lori suggested, was that I could just go out and buy a pair of sandals, try them out… and if I hated them, I could just never wear them again!!! WOW AGAIN! There was a freedom that came on me at that point as I tapped into the kindness of sisterhood right there in front of me. I thought I just might try that idea. So on Memorial Day, I painted my toe nails pink and crammed my bare feet into my favorite torn up pair of white slip-on tennis shoes that really needed to visit a trashcan permanently, and took off by myself to Kohls. I was just in awe at the amount of sandal choices there were. I was completely overwhelmed, but had a good chunk of time to just try a LOT on. At first my feet just felt so NAKED. It took about my 7th pair before I started getting into it. Then I started getting PICKY. At one point, Miss… “I’m never going to wear sandals and you can’t make me” had 4 BOXES of sandals, two under each arm, as I tried to find space in an unoccupied corner to try them all on. I narrowed it down to a pair that had pink straps, which were flip flopish, and another that had brown straps with soles that were form fitted to the bottoms of my feet. I couldn’t decide, so I carried the boxes around for a while, and then just got BOTH of them! I got in the car and proceeded to drive to Target, (actually thinking about MORE sandals at this point…I’m such a psycho!). I sat in the parking lot and de-tagged the pink ones and slipped them on. I figured no one in there would know that I was NOT a sandal person!
As I walked through Target, I just felt this “sassy thing” come over me. I discovered that you can’t walk quite as fast in sandals as you can in little white tennis shoes. I felt like I NEEDED to take my time, cuz, eh-em…. I was wearing sandals.
Once I got back home with them, it changed the whole way I felt about making dinner and doing other chores. I felt pretty, girlie, and like I had needs too.
I’ve discovered that if I’m at a place of being open to something new and scary, in order to step out and try it, I need some gentle reassurance and persuasion. The LOOK!!! Thank you to my friend Jenney who has “The Look” down pat! I’m telling you, when it’s the right person this approach gets immediate results with me. THAT’S A MIRACLE! Me moving FAST, when I’m APPREHENSIVE??? Whew!!!! Jill is my friend who can “suggest something”… and then can suggest it AGAIN… and with her loving persistence, she encourages me to try new things, and new approaches I didn’t think I had the courage for. Thank you Jill! I wouldn’t be a blogger without you!
Finding GENTLE reassurance is essential. We all have a choice to make. We can live in our cooped up little worlds where we don’t involve anyone in our personal matters, and where there is no risk, and NO CHANGE, where we don’t know what anyone thinks, but we’re SAFE??? Right??? But there ARE different levels of vulnerability. I realized that my “sandal issues” were a matter for “understanding people”, since I needed to “get over” my foot self consciousness, (which didn’t take long did it?) I can just tell them when I find them… close friends or the ladies I ask for their “opinion from” at the store when I’m shopping alone. Don’t you ever do that??? Also, I guess that once we make a decision, with or without help… we really aren’t looking for critique of our end choice unless we ask for it, which we’re probably NOT going to do. What are your thoughts on the topic? Do you like sandals, do you think you have cute feet/ugly feet, and does this influence you in your shoe choices? Do you have trouble letting trustworthy friends into your personal stuff? Would you ever ask a complete stranger in a store for their opinion if you weren’t

More Lord!

I was spending some time with the Lord this morning while the kids were all still in bed for a 2 hour delay..PRAISE GOD for that sweet time..
AND.. I was praying, COME Lord, MORE Lord!! BEFORE I read the Psalm He laid before me...
Here's what I read after I prayed...

Out of Zion (us) the perfection of beauty, GOD WILL SHINE FORTH!!
Our God SHALL COME, and shall NOT keep silent. Psalm 50:2b-3a

Oh, isn't He soooo good!!

Yesterday, an amazing amazing woman was at prayer group. She owns an orphanage in Thailand called Agape Home. She was sharing testimony after testimony of God's goodness, power and favor.
One story impacted me sooo much.
God told a man (don't remember if it was her husband or not... she knew him though)... to go to a certain country. (can't remember the country.. but it doesn't matter) He didn't have a ticket!! He didn't have a ticket!!
So, in obedience, he packed his bags, went to the airport, stood in line.. WITHOUT MONEY OR A TICKET... and just as he was next in line to the counter, he heard the Lord tell him to go to the bathroom and pee. =) too funny!?!?!
He wrestled with God for a couple of moments..then went. He left his bag outside the bathroom. and went in to pee. When he came out of the bathroom, HE WAS IN THE COUNTRY he was supposed to travel to!!!

Ok, so when I heard this story... not only was I dumbfounded at God... but I was dumbfounded that my faith only pictured a ticket waiting for him on his suitcase when he came out of the bathroom... but never in a zillion years believed God for miraculous transportation. I knew that God had taken Elijah and Elisha to heaven in the bible.. but until I researched it out more... I didn't realize there were many other such similar miracles God did. Ezekiel 11:24, Daniel 14:36, 1 Kings 18:12...etc.

I mean... a miracle is something that ONLY GOD can do.. that defies the laws of nature, be it human OR physical nature...
WHY OH WHY do I limit God so??? Oh, and why do I only believe in something God's done before??? Why not have the faith of Joshua and tell the sun to stand still??

I am so deeply deeply encouraged to explode the lid even further off of what I expect God to do when I pray. As Jesus says in the story of the little girl who was raised from the dead....Luke 8:50 Don't be afraid... ONLY BELIEVE.
You know what??? SIGN........... ME............. UP!!!

More Lord!!!

Actually, I found a definition today for more...in the Hebrew...

3254- yacaph- to add or augment, to CONTINUE TO DO A THING!!, come more, conceive again, continue, exceed gather together, get more, give more, proceed further, prolong, stronger.

Here's a verse that uses that word for more...

Psalm 71:14-16a
But I will hope continually, and will praise You yet MORE and MORE. My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness and Your salvation ALL THE DAY, for I do not know their limits. I will go in the strength of the Lord God.

I await His intervention. I ask Him to lead me to pray for the impossible and see the glory of Himself revealed more and more in my life... TODAY!!!

Only Believe

I've gotta start blogging again. I need a way to express what God's doing in my life without spamming my girlfriends' in boxes. =) I know they don't mind... but this really is better!
I am so excited to be walking in obedience with Jesus and FINALLY at a place where my heart is open to Him, and willing to JUST BELIEVE and obey what He asks me to do.

Here's a little snitch I got the other day from Him... SOO encouraging!

I was really struck at the situation that occurred with Peter, James and John & the synagogue ruler & his wife in the room with the little girl. The story is from Luke 8... you'll have to look it up if you need the details..
Jesus told everyone BEFORE they went into her house "don't be afraid, ONLY BELIEVE, and she will be made well." In other words,
BELIEVE BEFORE you see how bad a situation REALLY is. Halleluiah!
The Greek word for believe here means to trust, and ENTRUST your spiritual/mental..... well being to Him. I felt like this was a word for me that all I need to do is BELIEVE. The Lord is "messing with" so many 'past hope areas' in our lives... like the little girl. When He told P, J &J and the mom and dad that she wasn't dead, only asleep.. they RIDICULED him and laughed in pain and bitterness, at the cruelty of this sortof a remark. They were obviously in pain, and it seemed like the craziest,meanest thing for a person of sound mind, and "supposed divinity" to question their ability to assess if someone was dead or not, and give them such a ridiculous call to hope.
He's saying... lean in and ONLY believe, I'm NOT MESSING WITH YOU. You have permission to fully lean into me, and entrust your emotions and spiritualwell being to ME........ I will raise the dead in these areas.