The Perfect Fit?

Gorgeous, beautiful, Style, were a few comments below the post when I shared this photo. I smiled when I read those comments and said to myself “they don’t know the story” so here goes!

A sweet daughter of mine gifted this lace fabric to me. It has been with my designer for probably a couple of years and I forgot about it. It seems every time we would settle on a style something would come up and I would postpone it. Recently he reminded me about it so I sent him a few styles and we settled on one (or so I thought!) and I left him to do the magic.

The dress was delivered and I opened the bag only to realise I had received something that was no where near the style I asked for!

My fellow sistas, you know how that feels! I was sorely disappointed to say the least and put the dress away. However before I went to bed I decided to try the dress anyway and voila! It was a perfect fit! And standing in the mirror, I had to admit to myself that it looked good on me. After all, my hubby had also smiled approvingly when I showed it to him!😄

That style was not my pick of the day but then I decided to embrace it and rock it all the same! And hey, see how it turned out! Even made me look slimmer, hiding my Covid indulgences!😄😄😄

This taught me quite a lesson upon reflection…

Sometimes life doesn’t suit us up the way we planned it to, we would have loved to have some ruffles on our sleeves or a shorter/longer dress etc but we get served something totally different and it doesn’t feel right for us.

Like me, you have the fabric of your life and know exactly how you expect it to be styled to suit your desires for your ideal home, husband, wife, job, career, business etc but often it doesn’t pan out the way we want at the time we want it! And that’s when our reality falls short of our envisioned perfect fit!

We can resist, we can complain, we can moan and whine about it but that doesn’t necessarily change anything. Alternatively we can embrace the change and choose to make the best of it and perhaps we will even realise that it was the right fit for that season or occasion!

God says to us that “For I know the plans I have for you, plans not to harm you but to give you a future and a hope” Jeremiah 29:11.

He didn’t say I know the plans you have for yourself, or your mother, father, spouse, boss, etc have for you. He said the plans I have for you.

Sometimes the path He leads us on seems treacherous. But if we trust Him, He will bring us to the other side. It may look like “Lord this is not what I planned on! I wanted some more/less frills, this isn’t right”! Be still child of God, what at first may not be your exact first choice may end up being the best fit for you in that season! God knows what He’s up to! Trust Him to work it out for your good!

Think of Ruth who returned to a foreign land with her mother in-law Naomi; gathering fallen heads of grain from the workmen in the field was probably not her idea of a new life in Israel.

“So Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Please let me go to the field, and glean heads of grain after him in whose sight I may find favor.” And she said to her, “Go, my daughter.” Then she left, and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers. And she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.”

Ruth 2:2-3

It was not the best fit she would have wished for after leaving her homeland. Some of us would have been sitting at home looking at Naomi’s face, waiting for her to provide or perhaps would have run back to Moab. But not Ruth! She had already made a vow to stick with Naomi and there was no turning back. For her, if the dress life had for her at that moment was a servants apron, she would wear it with humility and make the best of it! And oh she did! As the story unfolds we see that working in that very field under the scorching sun was the doorway to her breakthrough and elevation! That “dress” and the dignity with which she wore it won her the admiration of Boaz and when the opportunity came for him to be a Kinsman-Redeemer he was more than eager to step in and acquire the virtuous woman that Ruth was in addition to the inheritance of her dead husband!

Beloved, Ruth started her life in Israel as a commoner, living off field hand offs for survival but her story didn’t end there, her status changed to the honoured and treasured wife of a prominent and wealthy gentleman. It doesn’t stop there, she also gains mention as the grandmother of King David and therefore an ancestor of Jesus Christ! If Ruth had discarded the lowly garment that she was required to wear in that season of her life; she couldn’t have qualified for the the “wifely” garments that becoming Boaz’ wife placed her in.

What about Jospeh? Joseph started off with a regal coat of many colours, but that was abruptly taken away from him and he took on the robe of first a slave, then a prisoner until in God’s own time he was clothed in royal robes as Second in command to Pharaoh! Joseph did not envision the hardship that would culminate in the fulfillment of his dream but he embraced it, endured it, stayed true to his covenant relationship with God. He wore the garments of a slave, steward of Potiphar’s household and even a prisoner with dignity, thereby winning favour even in prison! In the end Joseph saw God’s purpose in his journey and could say to his brothers, the same who sold him into slavery that;

“And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.”

Genesis 45:7-8

So what style are you wearing today? Planned or unplanned, don’t let it steal your joy! Wear it with pride and be awesome where you are! Use your gifts, hone your talent. Remain true to the Lord. How well you rock that dress, i.e. play that role, can determine your next level! Enjoy the current outfit and rock it with pride and dignity knowing that the future is full of promise!