Wear Your Holy Sweater

Wear your purple sweater today, a small, calm voice inside of me said as I got out of bed to get dressed for the day. "But, that sweater is kind of on the dressy side, and today is my day off - I don't want to be dressy on an off-day; I want to relax," I replied. Wear that purple sweater today, the voice chirped again. I sighed and argued back, saying, "I work 6 days a week in sales, and I HAVE to dress up those days. Can't I at least have a day off and wear my comfortable clothes?" Wear your purple sweater, I heard for the 3rd time.

I recognized this voice as God speaking to me, prompting me to do something that I didn't really understand or want to do. Don't get me wrong - I value and.seek God's guidance everyday for help with deciding not only the big things in my life, but the little things as well. God cares about our concerns, no matter how trivial they may seem, and, yes, I DO consult him about what to wear some days. But THIS day, I wasn't particularly interested in what the good Lord wanted me to wear. I had my own wardrobe in mind, and comfort was my main priority.

My mind went back to another time that God had prompted me to wear a particular shirt to work. This past Fall, I woke one morning, a few days before Halloween, and God nudged me to wear specifically my orange Charlie Brown Halloween shirt. That was not such an unusual request; it WAS the week of Halloween . . . so what if it was a few days early. I loved that shirt, too, so I happily obeyed the instruction that morning.

Later on in the afternoon, while at work, I made a trip to the ladies' restroom. As luck would have it, our store lost all power while I was still in the stall! There are NO lights or windows in that bathroom, so, needless to say, I was in the pitch black darkness all by myself. I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face. I began to panic until I looked down and saw the words "Happy Halloween" all aglow across the front of my Charlie Brown shirt. I had owned that shirt for years and never knew that it had glow-in-the-dark lettering on the front. Talk about relief! It was such a comfort to see those words all lit up in the opaque blackness of the restroom.

"Now I know why you wanted me to wear this shirt today," I had said thankfully to God. "You knew I was going to need to see the light, so to speak, and I really appreciate you looking out for me!" What a big lesson I learned that day about obeying the voice of God.

Here I was again, hearing that same little voice, telling me to wear my purple sweater, and upon remembering that incidence back in October, I knew that there must be some important reason I needed to wear that sweater this particular day. So, what did I do? I went to my closet and pulled out my deep purple sweater. My answer as to "why" came quickly. After I put the sweater on, I noticed two jagged holes, each very visible at the bottom front of the garment. "Oh, no!" I whined out loud. "My sweater has holes! How on earth did this happen? They were not there the last time I wore it."

At that moment, I understood exactly why God had wanted me to wear this clothing item that day. First, he wanted me to discover the holes at a time when I was not under pressure to be somewhere, like work, where putting on a "holy" sweater might make me late for getting to my destination.

Second, he wanted to me to trust that he always has my best interest at heart when he asks me to do something. He knew I was tired and needed to feel comfortable that day, and because the sweater he prompted me to wear had become worn out, it then fit the category of "comfortable clothes." I put on another old button-down shirt over my new "holy" sweater to cover up the defects and I was set for my day of relaxation.

God reminded me that He truly wants all of us to have our heart's desires, and he knows better than we do how to make those desires come to pass, as long as they are in accordance with his will.

We may not always understand what God is asking of us, and we may not even like his instructions at first, but, if we obey his commands, we will always gain peace and even come out on the very top in some situations.

There is always a blessing on the way in due time when we follow the Lord; all we have to do is trust God. As the old hymn states, Trust and obey; for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus - but to trust and obey.

AND, wear your holy sweater!