Girls in Dresses

“There are three girls at the door, and they are wearing dresses!” Said our older son, Grant the other day with a hint of alarm in his voice…Dan and I looked at each other with a big question mark hanging over our heads??? “What?” I said. “There are three girls at the door wearing dresses!” Grant repeated. As he finished his puzzling statement, we heard the door bell ringing. I walked to the door, looked out the side glass window and, indeed, there were “three girls wearing dresses” standing outside.

I opened the door and greeted them as politely as I could given the fact I was still kind of confused. (We don’t get many people knocking at our door around here, let alone “girls wearing dresses” : )

At any rate, one of the girls, a gorgeous 14 year-old, was the one talking while the two younger looking ones stayed a few steps behind. She was visibly nervous, but mustering as much valor as she could draw from inside herself, she proceeded to give me a track and to invite me and my family to the local Baptist Church around the corner. While her hands shook and her voice faltered a bit, she explained about their Homecoming festival and how much fun that would be. The other girls reminded her to mention the hours and that there would be games and food too. The whole time I was just standing there in my doorway, admiring God’s amazing ways unfolding right in front of me.

I listened to them and responded with as much love as I could express. We said good bye, I closed the door and I went to talk to Dan about the exchange. I told him they came to invite us to their Church’s homecoming festival this Sunday and I also told him how nervous the spokesperson was. Then I said that I tried to be as nice as I could. Dan understood what I meant, and he reassured me that I had been very nice to them. (If you don’t know me…I am not particularly known for my gentleness and kindness : )

These girls were so precious, they were God’s little lambs, and I was hoping I had treated them as such.

Then I thought about their bravery. How much courage it takes for them to come into an unfamiliar neighborhood, knock at strangers’ doors to invite them to come to their church as a way to tell them about Christ. WOW…I thought some more about the encounter and I became truly convicted. There is NO WAY I could have done that at 14…or now…

Sigh…

A few days later, in my devotional, I read a verse from Zechariah 4: 6, “So he said to me, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty.” Then the commentary said something like: “The power to be victorious comes from realizing the vow God has already made to us when He gave us His Spirit and His Word.”

Victory in our Christian life doesn’t come from the promises we make to God. The power to walk victoriously comes from the vow He has made to us! The power comes from His promises! And He promises that we can do all things in Christ who gives us strength (Phil 4: 13). He promises that what He commands us to do is not too difficult because it is tailored made for us. (Deut. 30: 11) He promises that He is with us always, that He walks right beside us, and that He will even carry us when we falter. He promises that with Him, anything is possible!

Our ability to be victorious does not depend on us. It depends on Him! He is victorious, and in His victory, He makes us victorious. But we have to trust Him.

That’s the miracle of the three girls wearing dresses. They were fully dependent on Christ and Christ alone. They trusted that He would walk beside them. There were no cars waiting for them down the driveway. They were walking by themselves, but never alone. He sustained them even in their nervousness. He gave them the words, even when the words would want to get stuck in their throats. He moved their arms to give me the track, even when the arm did not want to move.

That was probably one of the most difficult things those young girls wearing dresses had gotten to do yet. But they were victorious as they put their faith in God, not in the world. The walk to my doorway was probably the most intimidating steps they ever took so far in their young lives, yet they took them, for they knew Christ was leading the way…that’s when fear disappears…that’s when promises are fulfilled.



May God bless those girls wearing dresses, just as they blessed me.