New Shoes

Yesterday i was in town with Alex and Joshua and i was looking for new shoes to wear... So we walked around and to cut a long story short, Alex and I ended up in Taka at the Royal Sporting house in the basement.. They had an assortment of shoes there on the shelves and i was looking for a pair of sneakers that were not too expensive. The attendant drew our attention to this simple looking pair of high-cut vans sneakers that were on sale for around 30 bucks... and when i saw the price i wanted to buy it cos it was so cheap.. the thing is that it looked so simple and i wasn't sure if i should spend some money on a pair in the first place... i told myself that i'd just take a trip down 77th street and get a pair of white shoelaces to make that simple shoe look more interesting.. but anyway, i went to ask God whether i should buy that shoe or not.. and i felt that i shouldn't...

Anyway, we walked down to Far East and went to 77th street... i ended up buying the white laces there but guess wad.. i still wasn't sure whether to buy that pair at taka... i've been looking at shoes all day and somehow i just coudn't really find any that caught my attention (you know those kind that when you see it, you'll know it's the one to get...) Alex had to go off so i accompanied him to the bus stop and i went back to taka thinking and praying if i should still get that shoe... cos deep down inside i wanted it cos it was cheap and i wanted to get a pair but somehow, i still felt that God was saying no... Yeah i know it's crazy for me to but the white laces without first having obtained the shoe..

So i went to taka to that shop again and the shoe was still there.. i looked at it, i scrutinised it and i hanged around it, still hoping for that little check, that little inner witness in my spirit saying that i should go ahead and buy it.. but somehow i still knew the answer was no.. i was still hoping God would say yes.. so guess wad.. i struggled and i prayed some more.. i sat down to pray about it but deep down i really knew that God didn't want me to buy that shoe though i wanted a new pair... so i decided to make my way home...

As i was walking from taka, i was still not sure cos i really really wanted to get myself a pair of shoes and the ones that i saw were quite cheap though they were only mediocre.. so i stopped walking, sat down again for a while and contemplated it all but guess wad.. the answer was still no... then somehow, i felt a prompting to go to the adidas shop at wheelock and check out the shoes there...

i had my doubts about going to one more adidas shop cos i've been to adidas shops the whole day.. at bugis, at cathay and at taka.. and none of them really carried what i was looking for.. moreover, adidas was kinda ex and i'd rather not spend so much on a pair.. and the one at wheelock was so small.. surely even if they had a selection, there wouldn't be much to choose from?? cos i've been to the bigger adidas shops and they didn't carry the kind that i wanted.. so i doubted that a small one like the one at wheelock would... but despite all that, there was still no harm going.. so iwent t check it out...

When i entered the shop, i didn't see anything that caught my attention at first... among the sneakers that they carried, i've seen most at previous shops which didn't interest me.. then i popped by the tennis section and i saw this pair of tennis sneakers.. i looked at the price and it wasn't very picey! I tried it on and very soon, though i wasn't completely sure whether to get them or not, i decided to buy them anyway.. the voucher that JK gave me got me a further discount so i only had to spend slighty more than 55 dollars on that pair.. and i think it was a good buy...

After i got that pair of shoes, i went on my way and i was going like "ok God... should i have gotten that pair?? Maybe i should have saved that money instead?? ok God.. if really i shouldn't have gotten that scold me now..." But strangely enough, deep inside me, i felt a peace that bypassed my mind.. it's like the peace of God which transcends all understanding.. it was almost like a confirmation that i did get the right shoe... and from this incident, i learned several lessons from Him...

-that many times, we think we want something but God has something better for us
-that many times, we look for what we want in the wrong places instead of allowing God to show us
-that many times, our desires lead us to the wrong place where in fact God has something better waiting for us elsewhere...
-that sometimes, God needs to work a death in us.. that we die to our own desires so that when we follow Him, we can lay hold of the better things that He has in store
-that sometimes we don't immediately see that it's better, maybe cos we're looking at the wrong things or at the wrong place but when God aligns our perspective, we'll see it too
-that many times, our over-religious mindset can blind us from the good things that God wants to give us and more than that, prevent us from enjoying them if we've already gotten them
-when God says no, we can either become bitter or better, we can either choose to disobey and suffer the consequences of obey and reap the exceedingly great benefits
-that God wants to deal with our minds and break the mindsets that we have that prevents us from experiencing Him and His blessings to their fulness...
-God can give us increasingly and abundantly beyond all that we can ask or imagine (Eph 3) but it only comes through obedience.. obedience prepares us to receive the blessing.. :)

God bless! :D