{"id":10940,"date":"2014-04-29T08:04:21","date_gmt":"2014-04-29T12:04:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/?p=10940"},"modified":"2016-08-25T05:07:19","modified_gmt":"2016-08-25T09:07:19","slug":"pair-ugg-boots-taught-prayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/pair-ugg-boots-taught-prayer\/","title":{"rendered":"What a Pair of UGG Boots Taught Me About Prayer"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Susan Stillwell<\/em><\/p>\n

My daughter Sarah has an affinity for boots. When she went away to college, I noticed a lot of her cute coed friends wearing UGG boots, so I decided to surprise her with a pair for Christmas. I found a beautiful pair in a style I hadn\u2019t seen before\u2014camel colored, tall profile \u201cBailey\u201d boots that had roll-down tops and cute buttons on the side. I paid more than I\u2019d planned, but I knew she\u2019d love them.<\/p>\n

That is, until a few weeks later when she emailed me a link to the boots she wanted: chocolate brown, short, and plain. Not even close to the ones I\u2019d already wrapped with shiny Christmas foil. I consulted with her dad and brother who, like typical men, told me to give her the ones I bought and not worry about it.<\/p>\n

Yeah, but what parent wants to give their kid the wrong gift?<\/p>\n

The internal debate continued as Christmas drew nearer. To return them, I\u2019d have to make a day trip out of town. Before the holidays. In iffy December weather. So I took the guys\u2019 advice, kept the Baileys and hoped for the best.<\/p>\n

\"What<\/a>Christmas morning arrived and Sarah ripped into her big shiny box. Digging through the tissue paper, she froze when she saw them.
\n\u201cBAILEY BOOTS?\u201d She squealed, \u201cHow did you know I wanted BAILEY BOOTS?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut you asked for something else!\u201d I fussed, \u201cWhy didn\u2019t you tell me you wanted the Baileys?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause Baileys are expensive and I thought they cost too much. But they were the ones I really wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n

I wonder if we don\u2019t sometimes pray that way. Too many times, really. We aim low, afraid to tell God the true desires of our hearts because we think we might be asking too much.<\/p>\n

But is there such a thing as \u201ctoo much\u201d for the all-powerful, all-sufficient Creator and Sustainer of the universe? The reality is that even when we aim as high as we can imagine, it doesn\u2019t even come close to what He can do. What He might want to do.<\/p>\n

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us\u2026<\/em> – Ephesians 3:20 (ESV)<\/p>\n

As Paul penned those words, I wonder if the Holy Spirit brought to mind the words of Jesus. 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<\/em> (Matthew 7:11)!<\/p>\n

What if we expanded our prayers to sound like,
\n\u201cLord, You know I have this specific need\/concern. I\u2019m dreaming of [insert your big dream here]. But I trust You to provide for this in the very best way, and in a way that\u2019s unmistakably YOU.\u201d<\/p>\n

Open-ended, audacious, and expectant. We might end up with some really cool boots of our own.<\/p>\n

\"Susan<\/a>Susan Stilwell makes her home in the Virginia mountains and is a member of Word Weavers Online. This Hokie majored in Computer Science and spends too much time on her devices. Family and friends make her life full, and that spills out into her community.
\nBesides wandering in the mountains, she teaches, speaks, writes, and dreams about her next trip to Israel.
\nConnect with Susan on Twitter<\/a>, Facebook<\/a>, or SusanStilwell.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My daughter Sarah has an affinity for boots. When she went away to college, I noticed a lot of her cute coed friends wearing UGG boots, so I decided to surprise her with a pair for Christmas. I found a beautiful pair in a style I hadn\u2019t seen before\u2014camel colored, tall profile \u201cBailey\u201d boots that had roll-down tops and cute buttons on the side. I paid more than I\u2019d planned, but I knew she\u2019d love them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":10942,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1551],"tags":[1609,67,57,1600,1607,1608],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhat a Pair of UGG Boots Taught Me About Prayer - Inspire A Fire<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What a Pair of UGG Boots Taught Me About Prayer, Inspire a Fire, Susan Stillwell, Ugg Boots, Prayer, Praying, Prayers, Bailey Boots\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/pair-ugg-boots-taught-prayer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What a Pair of UGG Boots Taught Me About Prayer - 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