the little red dress.

I’d always heard God is good. But did I really believe it? Did I really know it at the core of my being? 

This year, time and time again, God has showed me the essence of his heart and told me exactly how he feels about me. 

He is a good, good father and I am the apple of His eye. 

He’s an adoring dad whose heart leaps when he looks at his little girl. And I’m the little girl, twirling around the living room. Sometimes God gives such good things I almost want to ask, “Why? What did I do to deserve this?”

Nothing. He says. You can’t earn anything from Me. Just accept the gift I picked out for you. I delight in your smile. 

God reminded me of my own dad. And a particular story. 

I’ve shared this story as a testimony in front of groups of people throughout the World Race, and I’ll share it again and again because God has spoken to me so much through it. 

One day in college, my family was out shopping. In a boutique, I found a beautiful red dress with flowers on it. I tried it on and twirled around. I loved it. But I put it back on the hanger and walked away. 

A bit later, my dad disappeared. He came back later with a bag in his hand. He handed it to me and I looked inside.

The red dress! 

And not just the red dress. A matching belt he’d picked out too. 

I’m a daddy’s girl at heart, but this kind of a thing with presents didn’t happen very often. This was something special and I was so giddy.

I remember this story and smile. Thank you dad that my whole life your love for me time and time again has painted such a beautiful picture of how my Father in heaven feels about me.

I did nothing to deserve the gift my dad gave me. And I didn’t ask for it. My dad just knew my heart. And his heart was to love on his daughter. 

I think God’s a lot like that. 

Here in Shkoder, Albania yesterday, God reminded my teammates and I how much he loves giving his children good gifts. He didn’t buy us red dresses, but He showered us in love for an entire day. And let me tell you, we were giddy.

Read more below if you want to hear the story!

“If a son asks you for bread, will you give him a stone? Or if he asks for fish, will you give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him.” – Matthew 7:9-11

Today on the World Race we called a “Faith Day.” My teammates Erica, Joe and I left our hostel with no money, no food, no water, no map, and no plan. Our goal? To trust that God would provide for all of our needs and order our day; to walk by faith that whatever happened would be an adventure with Jesus and would be completely in His control, not ours. So we left our hostel and started walking.

When we came to a turn, we asked God, “Left, or right?” We talked about how Jesus said, “Ask and you shall receive.” So we asked our Father for the desires of our hearts. Erica asked to be a blessing to others. I asked to see the castle. Joe asked to sit at a lake. We were all hungry and asked for food to eat.

Eventually, we found ourselves in a shaded park and we sat in the grass. No one was really around but Joe said, “I’m going to pray for someone for us to talk to.” Not one minute later, I opened my eyes to an Albanian man named Elvis with a huge smile and his little cousin standing over us! They asked us to take their picture; none of us realized we were about to spend the next six hours together on an adventure around Shköder that we could have never planned ourselves.

Turns out, we must have met the man with the biggest heart in all of Albania! He just told us to follow him. So we did. The next thing we know he’s buying us vanilla ice cream cones; a bit later, he picks up a watermelon, buys an exacto knife to cut it and continues telling us to follow him. We meet some friends along the way, and end up sitting down…at the lake. We eat watermelon and have so much we hand it out to the people around us, including an elderly Albanian couple begging on the streets I got to sit and pray with. We didn’t stop there. We couldn’t communicate because none of us speak the same language, yet the whole day it somehow felt like we were all having great conversation. We kept following. And following. Until we realized where he was taking us…the castle.

Our friend continued surprising us. Without asking, he paid for our tickets into the castle and then handed each of us a bottle of fresh water. We explored the secret tunnels, climbed the walls, and marveled at the view from this top. The three of us were so giddy! We couldn’t believe it! We were taken aback and in awe of everything. After a long walk home from the castle, we reached our hostel. We started to say bye but our friend looked sad! Clearly, the adventure wasn’t over yet. He led us to a garden cafe. We sat down and he ordered in Albanian. Five minutes later, out came pieces of tres leches cake and cappuccinos!

The three of us hung out with Elvis and his little cousin for the next two hours, cracking up, joking, playing, and learning about each other’s lives and families, somehow making wonderful conversation still despite the fact we spoke different languages. By 7 o’clock we had to go. We prayed over our friends, thanked God for their kindness and said we will never forget them. Truly, I won’t. Today, it felt like I had an Albanian big brother, but mostly it felt like I have a really big God who loves me like crazy, who has big plans, who hears my prayers, and longs for me to walk in that much faith every day of my life.