Keys to the Kingdom
By Carolyn Tucker
Two Girls and a Pair of Shoes
On my way home from Missouri I decided to stop at one of my favorite shoe stores. Sometimes I’m just looking, but on this particular day I was shopping for a specific style: dressy black shoes with medium-height heel and open toe. It didn’t take long to find the perfect pair, but my size was AWOL. I grabbed a sample shoe and found Jesslyn, the sweet young clerk, and asked if perhaps a size 6 could be in the storage room. She smiled and courteously responded that everything they had was out on the shelf. We visited for a few minutes about how cute these shoes were and then she said something I’d never heard before from a shoe-store clerk: “They are really pretty shoes, in fact, I have a black pair and a white pair of them at my house that I’ve worn only once for a high school special-occasion evening. I’m pretty sure at least one of them is a size 6. Would you be interested in buying them?” I said, “Yes! If it‘s the black pair — I don‘t need the white ones.” Jesslyn told me it was actually time for her break, so she’d ask the manager if she could run home to get the shoes for me. She got the green light and off she drove.
I meandered around the store waiting and thinking about how this was evolving into a very unusual story. Very shortly, Jesslyn zoomed into the parking lot and walked in toting the size 6 black shoes that I’d set my heart on. We had previously agreed on a price, so I laid the money down and both of us had a win-win for the day! I couldn’t leave without a taking a picture of the three of us smiling, standing behind the counter. I told the girls they could be sure to find this story in their local newspaper — because it’s just too good and off-the-wall not to share!
I pray about everything, whether it‘s big or little. But I don‘t remember praying for a pair of black shoes. However, they were an insignificant secret desire of my heart. Over the years, the following scripture has proven to be true in my life: “Find your delight in the Lord. Then He will give you everything your heart really wants” (Psalm 37:4 NIRV). After experiencing several weeks of stress associated with totaling a vehicle, I think the odd blessing of finding these shoes was simply God’s way of reminding me that He cares about even the little things in my life.
You may think I’m an oddball; you may think I’m wacky. You may believe in coincidence; I do not. I see God’s fingerprints all over this encounter of the bizarre kind. It started with me simply asking, against all odds, “Do you have a size 6 in the backroom?” I already knew the answer, but something prompted me to ask anyway. And now you know the rest of the story.
There are definite perks that come to believers from delighting ourselves in the Lord. And many times God sends these unique blessings through people. These two girls were sweet as sugarcane but God can cause even grumpy people to give us favor. He knows the number of hairs on our head so He certainly cares about our desires, no matter what size they are. In my case, a 6.
The Key: God used Jesslyn and Donna to bring my heart’s desire to reality! I was still smiling as I drove across the Vernon/Bourbon County line.