Lost Luggage

Stepping Out in RED Shoes!

 - Day 122 -

Stay Calm, Cool and Collected!
God is in control.

After only three and half hours of sleep, I was up and out the door in my RED shoes, headed for Tampa airport.  Time to fly to Colorado for my son's wedding!  Everything went smooth as silk.  Got to the airport no trouble.  Parking was simple.  Checked my bags with ease.  Security was a breeze.  They didn't even make me take my shoes off!  Then, it started to rain.  Every plane was grounded indefinitely, including mine.

No worries!  I had prayed all the way to the airport in the car.  I was floating on cloud nine.  Because I do so much of my work remotely, the airport was just a new and exciting place to plug-in.  I had my chai beside me and Hillsong singing to me through the ear buds.  It would be sometime before I'd been boarding, so out came my laptop -- time to blog -- that was until I heard my name over the intercom.  They were calling me!

Apparently, I was going to miss my connecting flight, so they changed planes on me.  Assured that my luggage would get to Colorado, I followed their instruction and moved to another gate.  Even still, I had to wait another two hours before take off.  What to do?  I decided to start an electronic prayer line, right there in the airport, to pray for people -- remotely -- during this unexpected interlude.

I did finally arrive at Denver airport, but you guessed it, my luggage didn't.  They were sure it would be on the next flight, so I hung around a couple more hours, only for that not to happen.  Then they told me it  "might"  be on the next flight, in two more hours.  It was quite interesting because all of
the  attendants were telling  me completely different stories, and when I called them on the phone number I was given, no one answered.  I must admit, my glee turned to weariness, and by the early evening I was getting a bit perturbed.

Then she said it!  

"Please... there's no reason to raise your voice." 

Yikes!  Okay, maybe I was a little more than a "bit" perturbed.  The good news is that I didn't  lose it.  I didn't make a scene.  I didn't say anything I shouldn't have.  I just raised my voice a little, and when she said that, I took a breath and lowered it.

Here I was getting ready for my son's wedding 

and my dress was in a bag, somewhere, 

but no one knew if we'd ever see it again.

What was I to do?  I could feel the concern rising within me, but I also knew that there wasn't a thing that I could do, regardless.   I left the airport with the hope that my bag would be delivered to my hotel before I woke up in the morning.

Just yesterday, I was reading a book a friend gave me, and for whatever reason, I was struggling to get through it.  I'd read three chapters, and only one thing jumped out at me.  Not only that, it seemed to be such a small, random thought that the author made.  She found herself in an unfortunate situation that wasn't going the way she anticipated it would.  It struck me that she was so confident that God would come through for her.  She stood on Deuteronomy 31:6 --  "I will never leave you nor forsake you."   

She knew, without a doubt, that God was 
with her and that if it didn't happen 

the way she thought it would, 

God had to have a better plan.

Sometime around 1:00 in the morning, my cell phone rang.  The front desk was calling to tell me that my luggage had in fact arrived.  Ahhhhhhh!  Now I could relax.  I turned to reposition myself and go back to sleep when the LORD nudged me.  He wanted to talk.

"Don't you remember how I sent you to that one specific store for your dress.  Remember how I told you it would be there?  When you entered the store, you  looked up, and there hanging on the display was the dress.  You pointed at it and said, "I'll try that on!"  It fit and you bought it.  It was a done deal!  You praised me all day for that miracle!  Why would you ever think I would do all that, and then allow it to get lost?  You didn't need to raise your voice.  Just like the author of that book, you need to stand on my Word and trust that I'll always come through."  

He wasn't angry.  He was actually very gentle 

and loving in His correction and instruction.

Oh how I yearn to do this right!  To walk confidently all the time -- especially when everything isn't working!  I don't want to read other people's stories of doing that.  I want it to be MY story!  One day it will be!

Stepping out in RED shoes isn't just about where you go,
it's how you act as you go.

Gail