Heeding the Holy Spirit

This is a story about heeding the Holy Spirit‘s direction.

People ask all the time, “how do you know God is telling you to do something?”

This is an example of what happened to me.

And since my friend wrote about how it affected her, you get “both sides of the tapestry.”

My friend Hillary lives in Sicily where she teaches English and works for Christian Associates.

She periodically asks me to buy something she cannot get in Sicily and I mail it to her.

In August, she asked for an object that required a large box. I saw no reason to “waste” the space, so I filled it with other things, like magazines, my latest book at the time (Prairie Summer Brides), a baby gift for a friend, and a variety of other lightweight odds and ends.

When we stopped at a local department store, I remembered Hillary’s birthday was coming.

I picked up some colorful socks but then paused at the maxi dresses.

An idea whisked through my brain: “You should buy her a dress.”

I fingered the dress. Would she want a halter dress like this? Would it be too long? What size?

I shrugged and moved on.

But then I came to a magenta-colored dress, completely different style and thought, “maybe that one would be better.”

But what size?

I moved on.

And came back.

I fingered the fabric, I imagined the color on her.

Hillary has dark black hair; she looks Italian though her skin is fair.

Nah.

But then I went back to the maxi dress.

Too dull.

The magenta dress.

Why did I keep coming back to it?

I laughed. “What do you think, Lord?”

No answer.

But I’d seen her wear a dress in that style.

It cost only $25.

I sighed and decided–if it doesn’t work or doesn’t fit, she can give it away.

So I bought it and packed it in with everything else and mailed the box the next day.

Meanwhile . . . over in Sicily . . . Hillary wrote:

A week before my birthday, I found myself at a shopping mall looking for a light fixture. As I passed by one clothing store after another, I had the following dialog with myself:

“I sure would love to have a new dress to wear to my birthday party…

Yes, but I don’t need a new dress nor should I be spending  money on one…

but I don’t want to wear the same dress I wore to the last party I hosted…

but I don’t have to wear a dress. Surely I can find something nice to wear in my closet… ”

…And so it continued until eventually the part of me in favor of buying a new dress resigned itself to my more practical side that argued the dress wasn’t needed.

My box arrived the day before Hillary’s birthday. 

She recognized a number of the items, but then her eyes grew wide:

Hillary continued:

To my surprise and delight, in a small bag with my name on it, was a beautiful, magenta-colored dress.

“Lord, you heard my conversation with myself about wanting a new dress to wear to the BBQ tomorrow night?!?!”

As soon as I saw the dress, I grabbed it and ran to the bedroom to try it on.

As I was slipping it over my head, I remember thinking:

“this dress is my size. I know without a doubt it will fit me perfectly. I am not trying it on to see if it fits, only to see what it looks like on for God would not go through the trouble of sending me a dress to wear to my birthday party only for it not to be the right size. If he knows the number of hairs on my head, surely he also knows my dress size!”

And, just as I suspected, it fit perfectly.

Not only that, it was me. The color, the style . . . everything.

Out of curiosity, I checked the postmark for when Michelle sent it.

August 4, four days before the idea had even crossed my mind about wanting a new dress for the party.

Isn’t that just so like the Creator of time and space to gently prove to us again and again He cannot be contained by His own creations?

Had Michelle waited just a day longer to send the package, it may not have come in time.

It arrived just in time.

So, how exactly did the Holy Spirit work in this story?

The Holy Spirit surprised me with an idea–I had not gone to the store planning to buy Hillary a dress.

The Holy Spirit prompted the idea with one dress, but when I discard it and wandered past another dress, pricked my imagination.

Even though I walked away from the magenta dress three times, the Holy Spirit kept putting the imagine in my mind.

The Holy Spirit reassured me there was a solution if my fears were warranted–it did not fit–and the price easily fit my budget.

It did not occur to me the Holy Spirit was behind the prompting, even though I mentioned my concern to God.

It felt right–and I laughed when I wrapped it up.

I did not second guess myself once I made the purchase.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, the Holy Spirit put a longing in Hillary’s heart–an unexpected longing for something she didn’t need.

And then he blessed us both when my response to the Holy Spirit’s prompting answered a desire in Hillary’s heart.

Thanks be to God.

What’s one way to heed the Holy Spirit? When YOU get a prompting from God, take time to examine it, ask him about it and then act.

Because you never know when a blessings for someone is staring you in the face!

Tweetables

A prompting, a dress and a happy surprise. Click to Tweet

What does it look like to heed the Holy Spirit? Click to Tweet

The Holy Spirit gives the desire and fills it! Click to Tweet