How S.H.O.E.S. came about

Hebrews 13:2

² Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.

Good Blessed Evening Friends!  I am so glad that you have stopped in here to take a minute to read and my prayer is that you leave this evening with a feeling of joy.  As I stated yesterday in my first post I would share with you how the acronym for my blog came about, so here goes.

I hope that you read the scripture that was posted at the beginning of this evenings post.  What a powerful scripture that is.  How many times have you shown hospitality to strangers?  Many times that I can think of that I have and I can say that long ago I always thought I was just being nice.  That's what I was raised to do...be nice, be respectful, help others when needed and so on.  However God has shown me in the past several years that even though I have helped someone I have no idea at the depths of his work in it.   You see all those times that I thought wow, I really feel like I'm supposed to go over there and hug that person (crazy I know), was really all the while God nudging me in that direction.  I just thought, I was being nice and that was kinda fun...especially seeing the look on the random persons face that I just hugged. 

You see, I had not realized that all that time God was talking to me, to use me.  When he brought this to my heart I decided ok Lord, use me.  I will be the vessel that you chose to use and be completely obedient in what you are asking of me.  Trust me guys, this was hard to do at times, especially when being concerned with what others might think of me.  Some people I'm quite sure of had thought I had fallen off my rocker, I even thought I had a few times.  So during this time of God teaching me, he used me one powerful day.  He took me down a road that was needed to be traveled and had one stranger on the road that was Destined to be in my Destiny that day.  He designed it, orchestrated it all and brought to fruition something beautiful.

The year was early 2010, steady rain was falling, it was 30 degrees out this day and Caden was 2 attending a Mother's Day Out program at West Erwin Church Downtown Tyler.  This one particular day I had already dropped Kara off at school and was headed to drop Caden off.  For by reason of God's plan I had decided that this day I would take the kids to school in my jammies (had to swallow some pride for this one), hair pulled back, probably had some mascara under my eyes too as I find it difficult to want to remove my make-up in the evenings and Shoes on my feet.  Now considering I had on jammies I thought why wear real shoes.  So this day I put on those Isotoner slipper things and then a hard sole pair of house shoes, hey they were pink, had some bling on the top and were super warm with lined fur.  This was odd for me people, one I hardly ever wear jammies to drop the kids at school, much less wear 2 pairs of shoes.

Here I go driving down Front street and all of a sudden I was told to look to my left.

  Lo and Behold there was a young woman walking on what was a remnant of a sidewalk.  I was then told, look down....this woman had no shoes on her feet.  Not only did she not have shoes on, it was raining, it was freezing, she was walking as fast as she could to get to a warm place and the only thing to cover her feet were a pair of mens oversized socks that were black and saturated with water.  How could this be I thought??!!  My mind starts to race thinking what in the world and there he was.  Calling me, He said turn around Krista and give her your shoes.  I know at that moment I thought to myself, Lord that is just plain crazy.  Have you not seen what I'm wearing??!!  I'm not prepared for this today!!  So I kept driving...bad, this was bad.  He quickly called me again and said give the girl your shoes Krista.  I answered that call and said "Yes Sir", as I turned my truck around I saw her go into the Laundry Mat.  I pulled in, saw her sitting in a chair with her head down and I also saw about 5 other people in there. At that moment I said "Lord, sorry not today, there are other people in there, and I look NASTY!"  Pride, my pride was getting in the way of his work.  I pulled out of that parking lot and proceeded to take my little man to school.  The Holy Spirit instantly convicted me of my disobedience and I asked "God why today?"  His reply "Go give the girl your shoes."  So with an upset stomach, hurt pride and a quick U turn, I was obedient and back on my way to the Laundry Mat.  I got out, walked into that laundry mat on a mission.  God's mission that day and regardless of my pride that girl was getting my shoes.

This young woman looked up at me as I entered and this is what he had me to say. 

 Hi there, I know that what I'm about to do may seem crazy, in fact you might think I'm crazy and that's ok too, but......God has asked me to come here today to give you my shoes.  You should not be out here in this freezing wet weather with no shoes to cover your feet.  You are supposed to have these shoes and for whatever reason you need them and he wanted you to have them, I hope that you are tremendously blessed by them.  I took them off, set them on the floor beside her and as looking up at me with tears in her eyes......she put them on.  I turned to walk out and as I was getting in my truck she came after me to ask my name and just say Thank You.  I have no doubt that she was blessed and I have no doubt that I was too.  I left that laundry mat with my isotoners (realized those had holes in them...embarrassing) and tears streaming down my face. 

One year after this divine appointment, God implanted in me what he was teaching me all this time.  That this life is about His plan.  Peoples destiny being fulfilled, God calling people and them realizing their calling.  That day was not just about a pair of regular shoes.  It was about S.H.O.E.S., Simply Helping Others Everyday Somewhere.  So what he taught me was that in complete obedience to his calling, we are not only putting on our shoes to get from point A to point B, we are putting on his......S.H.O.E.S.  If we can all go out with that mindset and listen for those gentle nudgings that he gives us, we are helping him to fulfill the destiny he has designed for them.  So tomorrow when you go out think of my story if you will and picture this. Even though a pair of pretty, smoking hot high heels might seem more exciting and what might make you feel good that day,

For some crazy (it will seem it at the time) reason you feel like you're really supposed to wear these banging hot pink house shoes,

put them proudly on your feet and go.  Maybe you are fulfilling your destiny or somebody who may end up wearing your shoes are realizing their very own God's Designed Destiny through Hot Pink House Shoes.

God Bless and Thanks for sticking with me through this lengthy post.   May you realize the Destiny that God has designed especially for you and you live in it.