The Miracle of the Shoes. - Sundays Thoughts.

Lately I have been making an effort to start my mornings with a prayer and in it I ask that I may be blessed to receive promptings and that I will be brave enough to act on them. Yesterday Kennedy and I went to Idaho Falls to do some shopping and have some dinner. He dropped me off at the mall while he went to do some "secret" Christmas errands. Afterwards he asked me if there was anywhere else I wanted to go. I decided that I would like to go to TJ Maxx.

Once we got there Kennedy decided to stay in the car, so I went inside alone. Shopping with Kennedy is fun but there is something so luxurious about shopping alone; I feel like I can really take my time going through each aisle and taking in all the merchandise. Typically I don't spend very much time in the shoe section of TJ Maxx, I had never found anything worthwhile there but yesterday I found two pairs of shoes in the clearance section that I liked. One was a pair of camel pumps for $20 and a pair of strappy coral shoes for $7... yes $7.

I found a little stool and took off my boots and decided to try on the coral shoes first. As I was doing this a mom started to walk by me. With her were her two daughters; we'll call them Jane and Sarah. Sarah was around 18 months and Jane looked to be in Kindergarten. As they passed Jane looked at me then down at my coral shoes and said proudly "I already tried those ones on!" My heart melted a little, I little girl with an affinity for shoes. Just my kind of kid.

The shoes were a little big but they were surprisingly comfortable and easy to walk in. I tried on the camel shoes and they were a disaster so after putting my boots back on I walked over to the clearance section. Jane was over there with her mom and she was wearing some serious high heels and I was impressed with how well she was owning those heels, she will be a pro by the time those shoes actually fit her. I put the camel shoes back but decided to hold on the coral shoes and think about it. Jane and I looked at each other, she looked down at my shoes, then back up at me and smiled.

Over the next half an hour I crossed their paths a few times and each time we had the same exchange, she'd look at me, down at my shoes then back up at me and smile. I could tell she really loved those coral shoes. 

A little while later I was at the far end of the store when I saw Jane alone, she looked a little panicked and I wondered if she had lost her mom. She ran by me and when she turned the corner I heard her start yelling for her mom. She came back around to the end of my aisle and started crying. Another girl started to approach her but I thought this girl is scared and we love the same shoes. So I started to walk towards her and I asked her if she was lost. She immediately ran towards me and hugged my leg. So I told her it would be okay and that we would find her mom together. Then an employee came over and told me she worked there and she could take care of the little girl as soon as she clocked in. She asked Jane to come with her and Jane quickly wrapped her arms around my waist and dug her head into me and shook her head profusely; my heart melted. So I told the associate that we would wait there for her to clock in. The associate went into a back door and then Jane asked if I would hold her hand. So we held hands and then upon her lead we started walking. Jane was crying and I made some silly little jokes about accidental hide-and-seek that I like to think made her feel a little better. After a few seconds passed we heard her sister Sarah crying and so we started jogging. Soon her mom was insight and Jane broke away from me running and hugged her mom. I don't think her mom even knew she had been missing because she seemed surprising. I smiled at Jane and turned around and left.

I'm sure if I hadn't been there someone else would have helped her but I was so amazed that a simple pair shoes gave this little girl someone she could trust and feel safe with. I decided I had to buy the shoes and now every time I wear them I will think of little Jane and how our Heavenly Father made sure that there would be someone in TJ Maxx she felt safe with, for her to run to, when she felt alone and lost. Heavenly Father answered my prayers and I'm sure the prayer of her mother who would want Jane to always be safe.