I hate shopping.
But when I noticed that I was showing up in the same white top over and over, in either one of two blazers, I became self-conscious.
Save for Cliff and a close friend, I told no one.
One day, an IG follower offered me clothes she wanted to clear. Though touched, I declined- our styles didn’t match.
A week later, another IG follower reached out, “I felt God wanted me to give this dress to you to preach in.”
I looked at the photo, heart swollen with gratitude. But I declined, unsure if it’d fit.
“OMG, that’s like my favorite brand,” a close friend said. “Do you know people camp & queue for their clothes?”
Last weekend, Cliff came home for lunch, a picture of bewilderment.
“So I was at the mall, and a lady told me she follows your IG, and uses your posts as devotionals for her kids. As she talked, Esther-Praise fell and started bawling so I hurried off. But she followed me to the carpark. I was a bit rude and told her I couldn’t chat as I had to change EP’s diaper but she told me to wait, ran off and hurried back with this for you.”
I opened the gift and there it was, staring back at me, a handwritten note and a gift voucher from the same store.
Gosh, but where’d I find time?
Uncannily, a babysitter who availed herself for Cliff and I to have a date the next day gave me a chance to visit the store. No queues! Only God could have orchestrated it all.
Tears filled my eyes as Psalm 23:6 hit me- all month, as I prepared for my upcoming sermon this Sunday, I’d been praying for God to reveal its full meaning to me- “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.”
In Greek, “follow” means to pursue.
And pursue He did. He knew my deepest needs, my frustration with online shopping, He handpicked the store, He provided the timing and the babysitter.
I left, eyes with tears. To the lady who ran after Cliff, who took the trouble to convert her dress into vouchers even after I declined, who was praying for a chance to pass them to me, who carried them with her when she went shopping, ran after Cliff… to God, who orchestrates moments like these…
THANK YOU. For showing me how God pursues.