Shoes, More Importantly, Walking in Them

Last January, I posted that my accessory for the year was shoes.  I was in need of shoes.  Shoes had been an area of my wardrobe I had sorely neglected.  Did you know that the shoes you wear to an interview can make or break the deal for your hiring?  I had no clue that shoes could say that much to other people and, to be honest, I didn't care.

This past year, shoes were added to my closet.  My dear friend (aka. Ethel!) bought me my first pair of new shoes for the year.  I posted them on the header of my blog, and (below) those shoes are a train track leading to who-knows-where... prophetically, that train track became my year.

In March, I bought some shoes for our daughter's wedding at a huge savings.  In the summer, I bought tennis shoes for my cleaning business.  In August, I bought wedding shoes for our son's wedding in Italy.  I also bought shoes to walk the cobblestone streets of Florence and Rome.

My first pair of shoes became my designer shoes. I would step into them before a meeting with a client.  Of course, my friend "the buyer" (aka.Ethel!) is also a designer, so I felt she was going with me when I stepped back into this business.

As I thought about my shoes from this past year and where they have taken me, I had to stop.  It wasn't the shoes that God wanted me to focus on, it was the lesson. I now have "walked in other peoples' shoes," understanding things I could have never understood before this year.

I have now walked in shoes of poverty.  I now know what it is like to find a charity in order to keep the electricity on for your family.  I now know what it is like to have food from a food pantry or government-provided assistance for food.  I now know what it is like to be at the receiving end from the wonderful Body of Christ...people who put their hands and feet to their faith. I now know what it is like to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread" and literally know that verse. I now know what it is like to be in such need that you couldn't imagine life ever getting better.  I now know what it feels like to want to walk away from your marriage, because it is all too much to handle.  I now know how to empathize, not just sympathize... because I have walked in other peoples' shoes.

More than the look of my shoes....interview or not, I have stood in my shoes before my Savior.  I have felt what others have felt. I know what it is like to go through a long period of financial hardship.  I know what it is like to see some light at the end of the tunnel, yet still wonder if the next thing coming will crush you.

I thought my shoes were to adorn my feet, but that isn't the lesson God had for me at the end of the year. My real accessory was for my heart.  God wanted my feet to learn how to walk in areas I had never been, so that I can minister to others in ways I never could have before.  He wanted me to meet Him in a new way... Jehovah Jireh.

I will never look at shoes in the same way.  I pray my interviewer (God) feels I am ready for the job.

Ephesians 6:15 ESV / 

And, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.