The Wedding Dress

I've been laughing at little things God has been telling/showing me lately. It amazes me that he knows exactly what I want, even when I don't.

It reminded me of shopping for my best friends wedding dress. Going into the first shop, she wanted nothing to do with strapless dresses or anything that had beads or ruffles or lace or really any detailing. She wouldn't even try on these dresses. She knew she didn't want those things. The one thing it did HAVE to have was a bow on the back of the dress somewhere. I was really afraid that this dress did not exist and we were in for a long, LONG dress shopping experience with one of the most indecisive people I know (LOVE her, but she's indecisive, and she knows it :)). After trying on about 10 dresses that (somewhat) fit these descriptions, she had settled on one with a bow on the back. The only one with a bow that we had found. I could tell that she didn't love it, but because of the bow on the back, she was convincing herself that this is the one she wanted.

Dont get me wrong, this dress was pretty. And she looks great in anything she wears. But, her mom and I convinced her to go to another shop to try on dresses. I mean, you only get to try on fabulous wedding gowns once in your life, why not have fun with it? So she reluctantly put the first dress on hold, got in the car and we went to the next store. The whole way there she was talking out loud about everything positive thing she could come up with about dress #1. I knew she was still trying to convince herself that dress was THE one. Because of the bow.

We get to the second shop. She picks out AMAZING gowns. Gowns that I knew she would NEVER in a million years actually walk down the isle in: full lace, beading, colored accents, huge ballgowns. Some were in her price range, some were so far out of her price range it was funny. She was having fun putting on all the dresses. And her mom, sister and I were having a great time watching her. Then she put on the last dress and came out into the fitting area. She was in a dress that was straight strapless, had layerd ruffles, was shimmery and had no bow. We all cried. This was the dress she would walk down the isle to Patrick in. It was nothing like the dress she thought she wanted. But it was perfect. Absolutely stunningly perfect.

God does this with every aspect of our lives. He lets us dream up what we think we want, try to convince ourselves that that is actually what we want, and then he reveals to us his amazingly perfect plan that he had all along. And we realize just how great His love for us really is. Sometimes that bow we have to have turns out to be not as perfect as we thought it would be.