Last Saturday, my husband instructed that we would be leaving the house at 9:30am on Sunday morning (Palm Sunday). Being that he holds a position in the church it is important that he be on time, so I use all my powers to sleep in till the very last second, then get everybody ready and in the car at 9:29 and 30 seconds. On my extra smart weekends, I pick out and iron everyone’s Sunday clothes to save time. Showers are done the night before, cereal bowls are set out, I have switched all my essentials from my Saturday purse to my Sunday clutch, I lay my good hair out…you get where I’m going. So anyway, this is what I did last Saturday night, and didn’t bother to clean our bedroom, junky from the hustle and bustle of the week, saving that task for another day. I figured I didn’t want to put in the work to clean, I was tired, it was a busy week, yada yada yada, and I went to sleep.  I woke up with a smirk, all “this morning is gonna be a cinch!”. (Do you hear the dreaded music….)

I could only find one shoe. I had laid out my clothes but hadn’t thought about the shoes. This is a problem my kids often have. Only one shoe, one glove, one whatever. I can not even count how many times I have stood, keys in hand, standing at the door, fussing, “How can you lose one shoe?! Shouldn’t they be together? Did you take them off in two separate rooms?”. It infuriates me! I’m all frazzled which makes them frazzled and we are all just frazzled, driving each other crazy and making each other late. “Keep up with your things!”, is the next phase of my speech after the missing item has been found. But this time, I lost the shoe. The kids were clean, lotioned, dressed, fed and then engrossed in games while I walked around the same rooms, searching the same locations, in my bra and panties (and my spanx), and couldn’t find my other shoe. I placed the one on my bed, and I kept looking back to make sure that one was there, still safe. That’s all I needed was two missing shoes. I put on my jewelry, then searched some more. I put on my shirt, then searched some more. I moved mounds of clothes and junk from one side to the other in search of that shoe. This whole entire time, I promise I prayed till the power of the Lord came down and nothing. “Lord God please show me where my shoe is! You know these shoes go perfectly with this outfit. Lord these shoes are the perfect bang to this skirt. Lord I need my shoe. Lord if you can part the red sea surely you can show me where my shoe is”. Meanwhile hubby is making suggestions, bless his heart, each one more idiotic than the last one. “Why don’t you wear this black shoe?” “Well what about this dress instead?” “Still haven’t found it, huh?”

And I’m just frustrated and sweating. At this point I’m all dolled up with no shoes on my feet. “Jesus if you helped Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, I know you are going to help me.” “Lord if you can make the blind see, the cripple walk, and Idris Elba than I know you can show me my shoe!”. I was bending over in places I can’t fit. I found a whole lot of other stuff, including lint and dust, but no shoe. I kept looking at the clock. The clock read “Now you don’t have your other shoe, or time to change clothes”. GREAT! I knew better than to ask the kids to help, for fear they might lose their shoes in the process, and the husband had opted to take a shower instead of getting snapped at by me. So it was just me, a mess of a mess, and no shoe. I stood quietly in the middle of the room. At 9:27 (I kid you not) the Holy Ghost quietly said “Move the box in the corner”. The corner I had visited many times in the past hour. But far be it for me to question. So I go to the corner. I move the box. And voila! My shoe!! With 3 minutes to spare!!

It’s a very simple story with a very real message. He may not come when you want Him to, but He is always right on time! I thought about my marriage and the way it was, a mess, much like the state of my room. In our marriage we did just enough to skate by. Just enough for appearances. We did not fully prepare or equip ourselves in Christ, just like I did not fully prepare Saturday night. I did just enough, and assumed that my shoe would be in it’s rightful place. In looking for the shoe, I made an even bigger mess! Just like in my marriage, trying little fix-it shortcuts like spanx or stuffing a sock in the drawers, (read my earlier post), made an even bigger mess! But then when I was down to the wire, needing the shoe and having NO CLUE where to start, I started calling on Jesus, with great expectation! Just like when times got so bad, Jesus became all I knew. And when 9:27 hit in my marriage, when I was at my wits end, sweaty and fat, praying and crying, when I looked up and husband was not there for me, and I was not there for him, and it felt like we were at death’s door, and I had no more fight,  Jesus said “Ok, here I am. I’ll fix it!”. He showed up, at the right time, and saved the day in a way that amazes me, and amazes the husband. He allowed us to sit in our mess, so that we would not only realize with heart-knowledge how much we truly needed Him, but also to realize His purpose for marriage!! We almost giggle at what He has done to us and through us. We are giddy at what He has in store for our future. And we know we’re going to be alright. We have both our shoes on!!

Write ya later! :-)