I Said 'Yes' to the Dress

By any chance, did you read my post yesterday?
Do you remember me mentioning my tendency to re-tell a good story about saving money?
I trust you also know how I love re-telling good stories about prayer.
Well, here I go again!
And this story is extra good, because it ends with me getting my dress for Elizabeth's wedding.
*cheesy grin*

See, the wedding is only 53 days away - so I knew it was time to get serious about finding a dress for me to wear. I mean, I had done some half-hearted looking over the past couple months, but none of it resulted in anything more than mild disappointment at not finding the right dress.
It was time to get down to business.
And, for me that always means beginning with prayer. So I drove to my first choice in stores (Ironically called, Second Time Around.) and asked God to show me if the dress was in there. I found a cute dress, the price was right, and I thought it might be "the one" - until I tried it on. Uh, nope!
On to the second store. God, will you show me if it's here?
It wasn't.
So I drove to the third store - which wasn't open on Tuesdays. Why???
And kept right on going to number four. God, will you provide the dress for me if it's in this store?
Once again, I thought I might have found it. The price was reasonable and the dress looked good.
On the hanger. *ahem*
Moving on...
Finally, I landed at the fifth store (The last one I could think of trying.) and I prayed in the parking lot, God, if the dress is here, will You please show it to me??? I didn't have a good feeling about finding the dress at first, because I just wasn't seeing nice dresses. Everything was so casual. It was all cute - but too casual. And then, when I had nearly given up hope...
I'm just having fun now, playing up the drama.
Truth is, though, I really was about to leave the store.
Along the far wall, I saw a few "nice" dresses on a rack. And there, among them, was a purple dress with a little bit of sparkle on it which was formal-enough but not-too-fancy, and it was my size.
BUT, there was no price tag on it.
So I picked it up and walked around until I found a sales associate. She did some checking and discovered it was a $110 dress. Uh, no! Which was marked down 60%.
A little bit of math convinced me the price just became right!
So I tried it on and loved it, and decided this must be the dress. *smile*
And I went out to find a little jacket or sweater to go with it, because it's sleeveless. (Which may be perfect on October 13, or it may not be.) I hunted down asked the sales associate for her opinion and we decided a light gray, non-textured sweater would be lovely. Problem was, the ones we were looking at weren't gray, and her computer didn't show any in stock. But her associate said, "What about the ones over there?" and I walked over to check them out. Just in case.
Just in case there might be one light gray, non-textured sweater, in my size hanging on the rack among five or six black and brown textured sweaters. You'd better believe I grabbed that sweater and walked over to my new friend with a great big smile on my face. Until I looked at the price tag, that is.
I said to her, "Um, I am not wearing my glasses. Does that really say $54?" "Uh, yes, it does," she replied. "But that 'limited quantity' sticker usually means it's on sale." So she ran her little scanner thing-y over it and, guess what? It was marked down 50%.
Yep. That price just became right, too!
And I? Had a little party in my heart as I considered how God had ordered my steps and led me to the right place at the right time to get the right dress for the right occasion. At the right price.

And, yes, I fully believe God is involved in every little thing. I believe it is reasonable and valuable for us to pray about everything - even mother-of-the-bride dress purchases. In fact, I believe we ought to pray about everything. Even the things which we feel like we can rationalize and decide upon ourselves. His thoughts are right. His plans are perfect. His ways are the best. And I don't want to wander from them - so I ask Him to lead.