From matching hair bows right down to their matching Mary Jane’s, when the teens were little, I loved to dress them alike.
Since this fun (for me) has not occurred for several years (since they are darlin’ teens and have their own fashion sense and style) I was so excited when my friend Fran (who has five darlin’ children) asked me last week to help her complete a matching wardrobe for her little darlin’s. Fran dresses them alike for special occasions and they have a family wedding coming up soon which will provide numerous opportunities to dress up her little living dolls.
For one event she has green gingham smocked watermelon short outfits for the three girls and a gingham shirt for her youngest son. My helped was needed when she found the same shirt in her oldest son’s size on E-bay, but didn’t have an E-bay account.
I understood having a darlin’ outfit for one dear child
And wanting the other to match.
Fran and I are kindred spirits in many ways. We did not know each other when the teens dressed as I have them pictured on this post.
She sent the link and asked if I would do her a favor and bid for her. I was delighted to – it was almost as much fun as shopping for my own little darlin’s. The teens are enjoyable to shop with now; but I was certainly having a good time as I remembered their smiling faces and the sweet memories while they were clad in many of their matching outfits.
What I did not expect was the spiritual lesson the Lord would teach me. Fran gave me the ending date of the auction. With the instructions of being “willing to pay a total of $20.00 including shipping if I had to, but I’d hope to get it for a lower price. The beginning bid is $8.00. Can you help me?”
I was glad to help Fran. And I was having fond memories of shopping for matching outfits for Audra and Victoria Leigh. Such cutie pies…
I dabble with E-bay. We’ve sold a few items on E-bay and have purchased several too. I’m not a full time E-bay professional. Normally, I’m at home when I bid on an item in their auction style format. I have been known to set a timer and then place a bid at the last minute. In the final minutes of an auction, the bidding can be fast and furious.
When I checked the date of the end of the E-bay auction by my calendar, I had to look again. I was not going to be home during the close of the auction because it would finish about the time we would be singing the opening songs in worship. I was going to have to bid $8.50 and then put the maximum bid in and wait till I got home from worship to find out whether or not *we* had bought it for $8.50 or $20.00. Just being honest here, I was not thrilled about doing this auction this way. Which brought me to the realization that I like to control things. But this was going to require some faith. And it was not my money – it was Fran’s. Fran knows that I enjoy a good deal too. In my heart, I wanted to be able to sit at the keyboard and screen and wait and watch the final minutes of bidding and place the winning bid. Like I had some control over the auction because I was watching the screen!
But this auction was going to require me to enter the Maximum Bid *we’d* be willing to pay and pray and wait. It made me think of the Lord wanting my all, my whole heart, my willingness – every last bit of me – my maximum bid. Just like Abraham being asked to sacrifice Isaac, I had to be willing to pay the full price, even though I really wanted the $8.50 price. Abraham believed God. I want to believe and experience God too. I had to be willing to enter the maximum bid. So I entered $8.50 for the gingham shirt with the maximum bid as well, and sent Fran this e-mail:
“I’m in for you. I pray the Lord blesses as I leave for worship. Lord, give us this shirt at the lowest price. Can’t wait to talk to you Fran about the Trust the Lord is calling me to and how He’s even using this auction!”
I then turned the computer off and went to worship. With three different worship services, Fran and I are not in the same worship service and do not normally cross paths on Sunday morning. She was already at home when I left the church parking lot and dialed her to see if she had checked the auction’s outcome. She hadn’t, she was just praying and trusting. God has provided some amazing things for her family recently. She was making pancakes for her little darlin’s. We got home by 1 PM, but it was near 2 PM by the time we started clearing the lunch table and I was able to check the auction.
All praise be to the Lord, *we* won the auction for our opening bid of $8.50! I had nothing to do with it. I entered an opening bid. I had to put in the maximum bid or highest amount *we* would pay. Then I had to pray and trust.
Lord, thank you for this lesson in trust
To walk by faith, You say it is a must
I realize I like to control and manipulate the outcome
Life this way can be all labor and I miss out on joy and fun
Help me to leave all the many details of life in Your hands
You know the end of auctions and all of my well laid plans
Living a life of faith allowed me to worship today,
I must admit Lord, I like it better Your way
No watching the screen or planning my next move
Keep me Lord in touch with Your Spirit – in Your groove
Lord, while I was worshipping with Your people and soaking in Your Son
You gave me my heart’s desire in the auction outcome. Amen.
Loved your post! You write so beautifully and as always I come away blessed and I always learn something through what God has taught you. Thank you for praying for us! I started praying the verse you shared with me that you had been praying for my brother. 🙂
One more thing, your daughters are adorable, cute, then and now!
Love you!
Such sweet photos of the girls. So precious.
I am continually amazed that the Sovereign Lord of the universe cares enough about our needs to help us find bargain prices. Often before I shop I ask the Lord to help me find what I need and could it please be on sale?
Have a wonderful day.
Interesting Lora. My mother did the same thing to me and my youngest sister who was 2 yrs younger than me. I absolutely hated it. I wanted to be my own person with my own outfits. I’m so glad I grew up and didn’t have to match anymore. I had my own taste and it was NOT my mothers. I remember when I was 9 one of my teachers told me I looked great and that she liked my color coordination. She was shocked at a 9 yr old being that coordinated. It made me feel good. I will never forget that.
Your darlins look plenty happy in the pix. I’m sure as teens the do have their own fashion sense. I’m glad you had fun helping Frann with her darlin’s outfits.
Patty, thank you for your kind and encouraging words! Your words bless me!
Cindy, I ask for bargains too -before and when I’m out shopping. He is involved in every aspect of our lives – Praise His Name!
Kimberely, the days of hairbows have been exchanged here at our home. One of the *things* that just blessed my mother’s heart was when our youngest teen put her big pink hairbow on her current memo board. Every time I see it I think of her sweet little self on the soccer field. She would let me clip it at the top of her ponytail so I could easily spot her on the field!
And how sweet the words of encouragement your teacher spoke to your heart. Our youngest has her own style now too. She has the ability to put *things* together that I would not have thought would go together and they look great. That same flair pours over into anything she does -setting the table, writing a note, arranging flowers, painting, etc. She recently put red goblets on a formal table we set and I would have never thought to put red with the china we used; but it really just made the table quite lovely!
Just visiting. Your little girls were so beautiful as children, as they are now as teens. I enjoyed perusing your blog. I noticed the picture of Dr. Blackaby. What an inspirational author! Many blessings to you and your family.
In Christ,
Andrea
Our precious Lord never ceases to amaze me. He takes such good care of us all! Amen!
All of the photos are just beautiful!!!!
Thank you dear sister for always using “real life” to give us nuggets of wisdom and truth to draw us closer to our GOD.
I love you.
Welcome Andrea. The welcome mat is out for you to come back By The Lamp Light again. I’ll leave a light on for you. Thank you for your kind and encouraging words.
Lisa Shaw, I love you too, dear one. God is soo good to use my real, everyday life. On Sunday, during small group when I was relaying something God had taught me through a phone call that morning, a classmate said, “Do you feel like God is wearing Himself out teaching you?” I had to laugh! He is soo good!
You have deeply touched my soul this evening with your words and the beautiful powerful Scripture on my blog. Thank you for your obedience and love for our LORD and as a result your love toward me. My heart, my soul is uplifted.
I love you.
Lora,
I love this post. God is so precious to meet our every need. Thanks for stopping by and leaving me a note on the post about my girls. It is a bittersweet time. SHe turned in her application this weekend for her very first apartment nearly an hour away from home. :o( I’m happy for her, but oh so MOTHER in every other way. She is precious. My girls are close in age and always, always dressed alike and with similar hair styles when they were young. Now they are sooo offended when someone says “You look like your sister.”
I called my baby beauties my “Precious Moments” dolls. They were adorably cute. I drew them huge posters of the Precious Moments girls that I thought reflected their innoncence. They are huge posters. I should take that up again… Definitely. I love painting and drawing.
Blessings.