I have been on the hunt for a wedding dress for about a month now. My son proposed to a wonderful young lady on the 28th day of February, and since then both her family and ours have been on a hunt for the perfect dress. She had bought one earlier but it just wasn’t what she wanted. A few weeks ago I had the privilege of going shopping with her and her family down in Tulsa and we looked in bridal stores all over the area and couldn’t find anything she liked. She even tried on a gorgeous $3000.00 dress that looked as if it had been hand crocheted and still, nothing was right. She had searched the Tulsa area over and not found anything she was in love with.  Her mother, and I myself, have searched the internet looking at sites of new and used dresses, trying to find “just the right one”, with no luck.

So when she informed me that she and my son were coming to Kansas City for a few days, I suggested (ever so gently) that we go wedding dress shopping. I knew what her budget was so I began calling stores, only to find out there was nothing on the rack at that price. So, I began to call consignment stores and was directed to a consignments shop just for weddings and formal wear.

Early Saturday morning we were at their door. They had tons of wedding dresses. Some preserved in the boxes, some hanging up; some with stains, some without; some had big giant bows in the back with long puffy sleeves, others had no sleeves at all.  Some were A-line skirt, others were form fitting.  Some were white and others were ivory. She had decided on a dress when, as we were taking our purchase to the front of the store, we found another rack with four more dresses she was interested in. So back we went to the dressing room and  she tried them on.

We ALL fell in love with one of the dresses: the price was right, the color was right, and the fit was almost perfect. The only thing it lacked was a train flowing in the back. I suggested we take it to my seamstress and have her add one. She also decided she really wanted a lace up back and so we thought the seamstress could add that as well. Before we walked out of the store, I already had an appointment with my seamstress and we went straight from the dress store to the material store to the seamstress.  By adding the few little touches she wanted to the dress, she is going the have the perfect wedding dress for a fraction of the cost.

This got me thinking: those dresses are a lot like people in this world. We are all different and we each have been through different experiences, just as those dresses have. We each have our own story to tell, just as those dresses could. Some of us even feel a little let down and abused; maybe we are a little worn out. If those dresses could talk maybe they would even tell us they feel like they have been abandoned.

But like every one of the dresses purchased at that consignment shop, when Jesus comes into our lives – we are made brand new. We are cared for and loved like never before. We have a new purpose! We may even get a new look because God, the designer and seamstress of our lives, mends us back together or adds just the final perfect touch that is needed. Just like the seamstress cutting out parts of my future daughter-in-law’s dress, removing and then replacing them with others, God sometimes does that in our lives when  we allow Him  to come into it. If we totally give our life to Him, He usually encourages us through life circumstances to let Him make a few alterations.

Oh, at the time we may not feel loved by our Heavenly Father; those changes may be painful that He does, but the changes will be for the better. I hope you know that, just as we wait with great anticipation to get the dress back from the seamstress, God is waiting for you to follow the directions He has given you. He is excited, because you are His bride and He loves you!