Here are two stories. One is how the Lord gave Leonard a tuxedo. And the other is how God locked a door for me.
I try to remember this story when things are not going as planned. When I don’t have a job, or I don’t know what’s coming next, or when I am waiting for something to happen and I want it to happen on my timetable, not God‘s.
I had a friend who went to college in Tahlequah, Oklahoma when the school there was still Northeastern State College. She was in a sorority and she lived on a sorority floor of the dorm. If there weren’t enough girls who wanted to live on the dorm floor, they had to let other people live there. At the time, many of her sorority sisters were married and they didn’t live in the dorm, so some girls they didn‘t know well came to live on their floor.
My friend makes friends with one of the girl because they liked to play music together.
But this girl, and I’m sorry I don’t remember her name but let‘s call her Leslie just to make things easy, was what my friend considered a fanatic Christian. She said that if you gave Leslie a cookie she didn’t say Thank you, she said Praise the Lord.
Anyway, there was a dance on campus, and someone asked Leslie if she was going. She had a boyfriend named Leonard, and she said If the Lord gives Leonard a tuxedo. Well, everyone waited until she left the room and laughed their heads off. Oh, yeah, sure, God’s going to give Leonard a tuxedo.
Well, the afternoon of the dance, Leonard was sitting in his dorm room, and there was a knock on the door, and Leonard goes to the door, and there is one of his frat brother standing there with a tuxedo in his hand.
This boy’s mother had surprised him by purchasing a tuxedo and delivering it to him. But this boy had already rented and picked up his tuxedo for the dance. He and Leonard were about the same size, and he knew Leonard needed a tuxedo.
The Lord gave Leonard a tuxedo.
Who buys a tuxedo as a surprise gift? Some woman who probably doesn’t even realize that she is listening to God.
This story reaffirms to me that God is an active partner in my life.
We were working at Lone Star Park, but we were living at my mother’s house, which is about thirty minutes away. My husband’s boss got us a room, because there were days when one or the other of us needed to be there either all day or late at night. We didn’t move a whole lot in, just an air mattress and a little fridge and a microwave. And since there was room for it, my husband had stored some old stereo equipment in the room.
I used the room a lot more than my husband did. We’re in Texas in June and July, it’s really hot. So I was using the room frequently to take a shower, take a nap, just cool off, have lunch before heading home or running back to the barn, and I had accumulated a lot of extra clothes and a couple of pairs of shoes, and I decided it was time to cart a bunch of it home.
So I walked out of the room with my purse and a bag on one shoulder, another bag on the other shoulder, a pair of shoes in my right hand and another bag in my left hand. I got to the car and realized I didn’t have my car keys out. So I put the shoes on the top of the car, dug the keys out of my pocket, opened the car and got in.
Drove home. Got out of the car in front of my mother’s house, and arranged everything in the same way. Purse and bag on one shoulder, bag on the other, pair of shoes in one hand, bag in the other. Went to the front door, and realized I had put the keys back in my pocket. So I am standing there trying to figure out how to get the keys out of my pocket, and I thought what did I do to get in the car. I put the shoes on top of the car. Oh. What did I do to lock the door of the room…..
I didn’t lock the door of the room.
The door didn’t have a door knob. It just had a dead bolt that you either had to lock with the key on the outside or flip the bolt on the inside. I tried all night long to convince myself that I had rearranged those bags somehow and locked that door, but I didn’t. I know I didn’t or the key wouldn’t have been back in my pocket.
What I was really worried about was someone getting in there and taking my husband’s stereo, and I was never going to hear the end of it.
So I prayed, I prayed really hard. “Please, Lord, don’t let anyone take that stereo. Lord, please, please, please.” And somewhere in there, I said “You know, You could just lock the door for me.”
So the next morning, I leave early. I drive like a crazy person, I park my car and I run to that door.
And…. you know what I’m going to say.
It was locked.
It’s just possible that God did that for me, so I could tell that story to you.
That is why I tell you to have faith that you have already received whatever you pray for, and it will be yours. Mark 11:24 [God's Word]
I try to remember this story when things are not going as planned. When I don’t have a job, or I don’t know what’s coming next, or when I am waiting for something to happen and I want it to happen on my timetable, not God‘s.
I had a friend who went to college in Tahlequah, Oklahoma when the school there was still Northeastern State College. She was in a sorority and she lived on a sorority floor of the dorm. If there weren’t enough girls who wanted to live on the dorm floor, they had to let other people live there. At the time, many of her sorority sisters were married and they didn’t live in the dorm, so some girls they didn‘t know well came to live on their floor.
My friend makes friends with one of the girl because they liked to play music together.
But this girl, and I’m sorry I don’t remember her name but let‘s call her Leslie just to make things easy, was what my friend considered a fanatic Christian. She said that if you gave Leslie a cookie she didn’t say Thank you, she said Praise the Lord.
Anyway, there was a dance on campus, and someone asked Leslie if she was going. She had a boyfriend named Leonard, and she said If the Lord gives Leonard a tuxedo. Well, everyone waited until she left the room and laughed their heads off. Oh, yeah, sure, God’s going to give Leonard a tuxedo.
Well, the afternoon of the dance, Leonard was sitting in his dorm room, and there was a knock on the door, and Leonard goes to the door, and there is one of his frat brother standing there with a tuxedo in his hand.
This boy’s mother had surprised him by purchasing a tuxedo and delivering it to him. But this boy had already rented and picked up his tuxedo for the dance. He and Leonard were about the same size, and he knew Leonard needed a tuxedo.
The Lord gave Leonard a tuxedo.
Who buys a tuxedo as a surprise gift? Some woman who probably doesn’t even realize that she is listening to God.
This story reaffirms to me that God is an active partner in my life.
We were working at Lone Star Park, but we were living at my mother’s house, which is about thirty minutes away. My husband’s boss got us a room, because there were days when one or the other of us needed to be there either all day or late at night. We didn’t move a whole lot in, just an air mattress and a little fridge and a microwave. And since there was room for it, my husband had stored some old stereo equipment in the room.
I used the room a lot more than my husband did. We’re in Texas in June and July, it’s really hot. So I was using the room frequently to take a shower, take a nap, just cool off, have lunch before heading home or running back to the barn, and I had accumulated a lot of extra clothes and a couple of pairs of shoes, and I decided it was time to cart a bunch of it home.
So I walked out of the room with my purse and a bag on one shoulder, another bag on the other shoulder, a pair of shoes in my right hand and another bag in my left hand. I got to the car and realized I didn’t have my car keys out. So I put the shoes on the top of the car, dug the keys out of my pocket, opened the car and got in.
Drove home. Got out of the car in front of my mother’s house, and arranged everything in the same way. Purse and bag on one shoulder, bag on the other, pair of shoes in one hand, bag in the other. Went to the front door, and realized I had put the keys back in my pocket. So I am standing there trying to figure out how to get the keys out of my pocket, and I thought what did I do to get in the car. I put the shoes on top of the car. Oh. What did I do to lock the door of the room…..
I didn’t lock the door of the room.
The door didn’t have a door knob. It just had a dead bolt that you either had to lock with the key on the outside or flip the bolt on the inside. I tried all night long to convince myself that I had rearranged those bags somehow and locked that door, but I didn’t. I know I didn’t or the key wouldn’t have been back in my pocket.
What I was really worried about was someone getting in there and taking my husband’s stereo, and I was never going to hear the end of it.
So I prayed, I prayed really hard. “Please, Lord, don’t let anyone take that stereo. Lord, please, please, please.” And somewhere in there, I said “You know, You could just lock the door for me.”
So the next morning, I leave early. I drive like a crazy person, I park my car and I run to that door.
And…. you know what I’m going to say.
It was locked.
It’s just possible that God did that for me, so I could tell that story to you.
That is why I tell you to have faith that you have already received whatever you pray for, and it will be yours. Mark 11:24 [God's Word]
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