Way Number One

The Coat of Only One Color (but the right color...)

Last Friday night at Vespers, I ran into my friend Jessica. She mentioned that she was planning on going home to Indiana for break. She told me that her cousin's little girls were living with her (Jessica's) family because her cousin was on drugs and had basically abandoned them. I asked Jessica if they needed anything, and specifically if they needed coats. (I've been thinking about coats a lot lately, because the weather is getting colder.) She said that she would get back with me.

So Sunday night Jessica called and told me that yes, they did need coats. She said that Breanna is the oldest, wears a large, and likes girly things and pink and purple. Taylor is younger, wears a Girls 14-16, and likes blue and green. I wrote it all down and said a prayer over it.

Monday and Tuesday were super busy days, I had 3 tests and one of them was my nursing final. I was a little bit stressed out, because I didn't know when to work on the coat project. Jessica told me that she was leaving on Wednesday, so I needed to have the coats to her by then.

Tuesday morning, at our Southern Village Prayer Group Zeke, Sarah, and I prayed that God would help provide the coats. I started worrying throughout the day because I needed the coats soon, buy my Nutrition class on Tuesday doesn't get out until 8:40. By the time I could leave and head into town to look for coats, the stores would be closed. I kept praying about it that day, I knew God wanted them to have coats, and I asked Him to work it out. And work it out He did.

I got to Nutrition class, and my teacher informed me that we only had to stay for the first half of the class, so we'd get out at 7:00 instead of 8:40. I was so excited because I realized that this gave me time for the coats. As soon as class was over, I started heading towards Hamilton Place.

That afternoon, God had sent an idea into my head. I used to babysit for a girl named Kaylin who goes to Spalding Elementary. I'm good friends with her family. Kaylin is about a size 14-16 and God impressed me to call her mom to see if she had a coat that she didn't need anymore. I called her mom and she said that she'd be happy to look once she arrived home from work.

I headed into Hamilton Place and started looking for coats. Everything was either ugly, expensive, or the wrong size. I was starting to get discouraged. Soon, my phone rang and it was Kaylin's mom. "Kaylin has a coat here she doesn't need, you're welcome to take it, it's a size 14 girls." It sounded too good to be true, and I only had one more question for her: "What color is it?" I held my breath. "It's green." God is good. One down, one to go.

I went to Plato's closet, a really nice consignment shop and picked up some scarves to go with the coats. I didn't know what the coats looked like, and didn't even know where the pink one was coming from, but I just grabbed the scarves that looked like they might be the right colors and hoped for the best.

I went into JC Penny's in the mall to hunt down the missing pink coat. I found a beautiful, pink, girly pea coat, that seemed perfect. But it was too expensive. I decided to keep looking around.

Upstairs, in a small shop, tucked away on the back wall was a beautiful pink pea coat, that was half the price of the one in Penny's. Of course it was on sale. I snatched it up (legally, of course) and headed out. My excitment and my faith were both growing.

I drove to Kaylin's house, hoping that the green coat would be nice. I knocked on the door and Kaylin's mom let me in and held up the coat for me. I saw the price tag hanging from the arm. A beautiful green, puffy, brand new jacket. I looked at the tag. It was from Macy's. Kaylin's mom didn't think she would want it. God is so good!

I drove back to Southern, so excited I was about ready to explode. I took the green coat all the way upstairs in the library to show Zeke. I took it by to show Sarah, I showed Lindsay Holland and Katie Kaufmann and Jeff Harper, and Jessica, who was absolutely ecstatic.

Once I was back in my house, I looked at the little 3X5 card I had written the notes on when Jessica had made her request. Breanna: Large, girly, pink and purple, Taylor: 14-16, blue and green. God had answered my prayer just in time and so specifically.

What a loving God, who not only cares about the big things in our lives, but also the little things, the right size, the right color, the right price. He got me out of class, He impressed me to call Kaylin's mom. He did His thing.

In Matthew Chapter 6 Jesus says: "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on....so why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all His glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

This story made these verses come alive to me. God cares about the birds, the lilies, Breanna, , Elise, and YOU! Listen to His promise: "And my God shall supply ALL your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." Phillipians 4:19