THE MINISTRY OF LINDA L. JOHNSON

This past weekend I attended a wedding - a January wedding in Minnesota.  I wanted to look nice and go the extra mile so I was determined to find a nice dress for the occasion.  My son advised me he’d be attending a basketball game with a friend the Thursday night prior to the wedding, so I knew this was the only day I had to find this dress. 

I started off at an outlet mall after work.  After going through a couple of stores I didn’t find much, so decided to go to the Mall of America.  If you’ve ever been to the Mall of America, you know it’s the largest mall in the United States.  Surely I’d be able to find a dress in this mall fairly easily, right? Wrong! Now, if I was willing to pay $200 or more for a dress I would have found one easily, but I was trying to stay under $100 seeing that I’d only be wearing the dress for this one occasion.

I found some potential dresses in the first store, but after trying them on I discovered they did not look very flattering on me.  I then proceeded to go to every store I could think of to find some options, but couldn’t even locate dresses to try on!  At this point I was very hot with my winter coat and boots on, walking through a huge mall.  As I left Nordstrom’s Rack, I considered giving up.  I then decided to give Sears a try even though I doubted I would find anything there.  Everyone has their own style, but I’m personally not a Sears fan.  I think their clothes are for a more mature women and it was on the complete opposite side of the mall!  However this was my last hope as Friday I wouldn’t be able to shop and the wedding was on Saturday.

Therefore, I made my way into Sears, hot and exhausted.  It was now near the time for the mall to close, so I had been there searching the mall for at least 3 hours.  I walked in Sears and sent a text to a friend saying, “You know I’m desperate if I’m going into Sears to find a dress”!  I made my way to the dress section and couldn’t believe my eyes! I found at least 6 dresses to try on and they were all 70% off!!!! Wow!  I was able to choose the dress I wanted and browse the entire section in 10 minutes.  The deal was so great, that I was able to buy two dresses and stockings for $50! One dress was for the wedding and the other a casual winter dress!

God used this shopping experience to teach me two valuable lessons.  The first was to not look past anyone or anything.  I wasn’t going to give Sears a shot!  I went in there because I was desperate.  I cannot have that mindset going forward because you never know where your blessing will come from. God may use anything or anyone!The second lesson I learned was to keep going, persevere even though I was ready to give up.  The bible says in James 1:12, “Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because having stood test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him”.  Seeing that I had been at the mall such a long time, I was tired, I was hot, it was difficult to find a dress and the last store was on the other side of the mall, I was ready to throw in the towel and wear something I already had in the closet.  However, because I kept going despite all these factors, the Lord blessed me with not one but two dresses!  I hear pastors refer to it as the Lord blessing you with “double for your trouble”! 

I don’t know about you, but God has promised me many blessings an opportunities in this life.  However, he taught me to obtain these things, I’d have to continue to press to get them!In Philippians 3:14 Paul says, “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus”. God is developing us and proving us to be faithful servants.  If there is something you’ve been praying for and you do not have it yet, there is a reason for it.  However, this is not a reason to give up on your request for I believe God wants to bless us with the desires of our hearts.  In due time if we do not give up, he’ll do it!  He is a good and faithful Father.

Be encouraged brothers and sisters in Christ, you will win if you do not give up!
~By Sister Felicia
Sister Felicia serves as a blog contributor on behalf of The Ministry of Linda L. Johnson