Tan Sweater Miracle

Abe always laughs at how much I pack for trips, so last weekend I deliberately tried to pack just the bare minimum.  After I picked out all my clothes, a quick thought ran through my mind, "Pack that pretty, tan sweater.  You're going to need it."  It seemed kind of weird that I would need that sweater  because I already had all my clothes set out.  I almost didn't pack it; but because the thought was so specific, I threw it in anyway.

Friday and Saturday were wonderful days.  Sunday we went to church in Ohio where we knew nobody... except for a few fans of Abe's music group.  We were all sitting quietly listening to the service.  I was hugging baby Jayden tight.  My nose was stuffy from a cold, but I thought I smelled something odd.  I looked down and saw he had an explosion of his diaper all up his shirt and down his pants.  I quickly took him out and went to the mother's room.  As I stripped his clothes off, I was in shock realizing that he had exploded all down the front of my shirt too.  Wow!!

I wiped Jayden down, walked back into the chapel holding Jayden who was wearing nothing but a diaper, handed him off to Abe with his spare clothes, grabbed the keys, and headed for the van.  I didn't bring an extra dress, and I had no idea what would match with my bright red skirt.  As I walked out to the van, I decided I would probably need to just wear my coat and zip it up all the way.  I opened my suitcase, and my pretty, tan sweater was sitting on the top.  The sweater was so front and center at the top of my bag that I could have sworn it was singing too!!  :-)

I didn't know where the other bathrooms were, and I was anxious to get my saturated clothes off of me.  I quickly returned to the mother's room and changed into my sweater.   A sweet woman was in there and graciously turned the other way while I stripped down.  Then I returned to the chapel.  There were a few people laughing with love after witnessing first a naked baby (with a diaper) and next my change of apparel.  They knew!!... but they didn't know that I only had a decent change of apparel because I had listened to a small but specific prompting to pack the only sweater that would have matched this bright red skirt.

I pondered more about this experience.

*If I hadn't listened to the prompting to include the extra sweater, I probably wouldn't have even remembered that the prompting had come.

*God smoothed over an ugly (and stinky) situation because I listened to even the smallest of promptings.  My life's course wouldn't have been altered if I hadn't listened, but my heart was filled with love and just a bit more of an understanding of God's ways because I did listen.  That was definitely worth it!  How often do I miss those promptings that would make life just a tad more bearable?

*Because the Holy Ghost gave me a prompting about my sweater, I'm even more positive that HE is giving me promptings about the things of an eternal nature.  There are so many times that I wonder if my deeper concerns are being heard.  God hears every concern and is working even greater miracles in our lives than just a matching sweater.

*Looking decent was important to me... therefore, it was important to God.  Don't those who love us do  things for us that they themselves don't really care about, but they do it for us because they want us to be happy?  For example:  Abe doesn't really care about romantic movies, but he rents them for our important dates because that's what makes me happy.  Hmmm... I should probably slow down once in a while and watch more sports with Abe because that's what's important to him.