Faith Fixed My Wedding Dress

There are things that happen in life, little things, that just reassure you that coincidences are not real and that God-winks are so real.My entire wedding process has been full of God-winks, and just when I think there won't be any more, He proves me wrong.I told you the story about my wedding dress - The Tale of Two Wedding Dresses - but the God-winks didn't stop there when it came to my favorite dress I'd ever wear.Before I tell the story, let's flashback to my days as a TV news reporter. Since I was just starting out, I did mostly feature stories and usually had to dig to find them myself.Someone sent me some information about a girl named Libby Hankins, a cheerleader at West Alabama who had cystic fibrosis and would undergo a double lung transplant. Long story short, I headed out to Hartselle to meet one of Libby's best friends, Caitlin Clardy, who was playing a huge role in the Lungs for Libby movement to raise money for Libby's surgery.I met Caitlin and her mom, Faith, at their house to do the interview and teared up as I heard her talk about the love she had for her friend and what an impact such a little girl had made. They were both Phi Mus at their school, and I was a Phi Mu, too, so I felt like we instantly had a connection.Caitlin and Faith made me feel so welcome and I just automatically felt Jesus and His presence when I walked into their cozy home.I got to hang out with them a second time when they visited the news station for a follow-up interview, and I kept up with them via social media. I felt like we were really great friends, despite only spending a short amount of time together.Flash forward to March, only a couple months before my wedding.I walked into the wedding dress shop for my alterations appointment, and as the seamstress walked out, I knew she looked familiar. She gave me a huge hug and it hit me.It was Faith.Faith would be altering my wedding dress, and we both agreed that God certainly arranged it.Just a couple weeks before my friend Caleb passed away from cancer only about a week before Libby went to be with Jesus, too. When I saw the news, I messaged Caitlin a few words of comfort and told her I understand her heartbreak completely.It was definitely a full circle moment as Faith pinned the parts of my dress that needed to be altered and got to chat with me and my mom.My next fitting was at her house, and I returned to that peaceful, cozy presence of Jesus in the living room just before Caitlin ran down the stairs to meet me. Just like her mom, she gave me a huge hug and I wanted to hug her a little longer for the way I knew her heart still missed her friend.We got to talk about our friends who had passed and how they made us better people while her mom hemmed my mom's dress. I snapped a picture to capture and remember a moment when God showed me His sweetness and His creativity - A picture of a living room full of people He placed in my life for specific purposes.Faith pinned and sewed and stitched and made my dress fit perfectly to my body, which made my heart flutter with excitement for the day I'd get to wear it to meet my husband.I also don't think it's any coincidence that her name is Faith - she radiates with the faith and joy of The Lord in everything she does, even as she stitches and sews.She so beautifully took the dress I picked out and cut and added and stitched to make it special and custom just for me. I had to go back to her house a couple times to make sure everything was just right, but I sure didn't mind getting to visit them in their cozy house.The way she performed her art taught me how Jesus sometimes has to cut and add and stitch to make sure what we already have is made perfect and custom just for us. Sometimes we get poked with pins or have to go back a second time for more alterations, but He is always there eagerly waiting to do whatever He has to do to give us exactly what we need, so that we are more than ready and so very excited for the day we will meet Him.He doesn't want us walking around in a dress that's too big or too small or just not right - He wants us to feel like royalty every day, and that's why He is always working to alter us and make us better.He used something as simple as my wedding dress alterations to remind me that He never leaves things the way He finds them. He uses his craftiness and delicate touch to add more beauty to something we thought was already beautiful enough. He blows us away and exceeds our expectations but constantly doing exceedingly abundantly more than we can ever ask or imagine.

Ephesians 3:20 - "Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us."

He turns beautiful wedding dresses into custom, special, breathtaking wedding dresses that bring a tear to your eye. He always goes above and beyond for His children, even in the simplest, most seemingly-mundane ways.God made my wedding dress even more special than He already had by giving me Faith to fix my dress and and giving me faith to follow Him down the aisle to my groom and along the aisle he lays before me on my journey to my Groom.