I was frantically searching through a box of clothes, trying to find myself. Would I wear this outfit more often, the career woman’s attire? This outfit with spit up still on the shoulder, to volunteer more frequently in the children’s ministry? My lounge pants to relax and enjoy an afternoon martini a bit more regularly (OK NO – I don’t drink martinis. But don’t you want to be the kind of person who does, sometimes?)

All of the outfits were too tight or were ripped and unusable. I even bought martini supplies and then returned them to the thrift store a couple of years later (True story! My inner James Bond didn’t emerge, disappointingly). The point? Ah yes, the point. Who am I becoming, and what is new, in this next season? A mentor suggested that I ask God this very question.

“God, how do You see me,” I asked. He showed me a picture of me in my daughter’s red gown, dancing again, free. Huh? I didn’t get it. The following week, my daughter wore that red gown when she was chosen as the Princess of the city, a City Ambassador.

This was the exact same title that I was given 30 years earlier. She was asked an impromptu question and the question was about… me! She had the same sponsor as.. me! There were several other coincidences. I brushed off the co-incidences though many people remarked about them.

God often speaks through co-incidences. “Could He be speaking here?” I asked a mentor. When she spoke, tears ran down my cheeks. She spoke of freedom, a belief in the possibilities over my future that I once had as a youth, that had been lost. She spoke of the freedom that I felt when I wore the red gown for a few minutes, remembering that anything is possible with a God who has dreams for all of us, even us – ahem – older ones – for all of us, even, yes for me.

I am older, yes, but if my heart is beating, then God has a vision for me that is stretched out so far into the horizon that I can’t see its effects. That is His way. Will I reach forward in faith, a blind person with arms stretched out in front to block obstacles? Will I let Him guide my arm because I can’t see what lies ahead?

Will I trust Him, to teach me to dance, with Him? Will I throw away the old rags of fear and complacency that I was wearing? Will I humbly bow before a God who asks me to stand, hold the scepter, and declare “Your Kingdom Come”? Will I step into the Princess robe? Will you?

Wake up, wake up! Pull on your boots . . .! Dress up in your Sunday best . . .! . . . Brush off the dust and get to your feet . . .! Throw off your chains, captive daughter . . . The Message

Lord, please take off the eye patches covering our eyes that make us unable to see the bright future You have planned for every one of us. Help us to believe, that just as you used stumbling clods throughout all of history, You can use us, too. Let us take our eyes off the filthy rags we have made for our own clothing, and have the courage to touch the silk gowns of promise that You hold before us, as we align our lives with Your purposes.

After a few minutes of thanksgiving, ask God “How do You see me?”