Thoughts #3: I Shoes You ? I Shoes You Not.

Have you ever been suffering from mental anguish due to not giving in to your wants? You have been trying so hard to stop yourself from making that purchase because..

a. you don't need it

b. it's beyond your budget 

c. you still have other things you can use

d. you can live comfortably without it

I must concede that yes, I am guilty as charged. :( 

However, I am happy and felt a sense of achievement that before the weekend ended I freed myself from the mental anguish I have been suffering since yesterday. It is all because of the grace of God. He freed me from unnecessary anguish. 

Here's the story.. 

Yesterday afternoon I was strolling around High Street. When I went past Staccato (the picture above) I peeked and went in trying to check out if it has the pair of shoes I have been wanting to buy. Ohhh... to my surprise there is.. Here's the shoes that I wanted since I threw my worn-out-but-has-fully-served-its-purpose pair of Gibi shoes. 

Unfortunately, they didn't have my size. The only available size was 35 and 37. 37 was too big for me. I tried the 35 but they were a bit tight. The staff, however, told me that the shoes will stretch after several use since they were made of authentic leather. I agreed with what she said, and another thing is, they were on sale. The original price was 5K but now it's 2K. Wasn't it a steal? Since I was in doubt, I told the staff that I needed to sleep on it before I could make up my mind. The staff responded that I could actually reserve it for two days. And I replied, "Good and please do so." When I came home, that pair of shoes was still bothering me. I tried to distract myself by reading the book of Chinkee Tan's Till Debt Do us Part. This book made me more confused and super guilty. It talked about how to properly handle your finances and we should be good stewards of the blessings God has entrusted upon us. As a good Christian, we needed to be responsible in our spending. By the way, below is the picture of the book. I recommend this book, guys if you want financial freedom and to be knowledgeable about handling finances. Do check it out. 

I like that sentence, the highlighted one at the bottom. 

This was lent to me by my friend and I was glad she did. I would like to buy my own copy. :)

Then, today, when I was on my way to church, I prayed to God to enlighten me and give me wisdom in every decision I make. I attended the 4 p.m. service with Pastor Rev coz he's one of my favorite pastors in Victory The Fort. The message today was about PRAYER and how to properly PRAY. This was part of the REDEFINED series. During the worship time, while I was singing praise and worship songs, in my mind I was talking to God to please enlighten me. I didn't want to make a purchase that I would regret later. One of the lines in Pastor Rev's preaching was "Your will be done" which was one of the most difficult things to follow because more often than not, it's hard to say NO to ourselves and we had the propensity to be impulsive and follow our whims. 

After the service, I headed to High Street for a late afternoon stroll. I went to Staccato and tried on the shoes again. I tried to move my toes but they could hardly move. But it felt a bit tight and I was afraid that I would hurt my feet or would have blisters once I wore them to work. Then, I decided against it. I told the staff, "I wouldn't force myself that would hurt me and made me feel guilty if I couldn't use it well." I went out of the store, felt so light and guilt-free. I thanked God that the desire to have it disappeared. I knew it's not because of me but it's because of God's grace. Thank you Lord for removing the desire and for freeing me from mental anguish. God is so great!!! 


THOUGHTS:  


How about you, my dear readers? Do you have a similar experience? How do you walk away from temptation? Can you say NO to yourself? Please share your thoughts and comment below. Let's help each other especially those who are suffering from 'shoppingitis.' (P.S. I learned this word from Chinkee Tan's book and I tried to incorporate it in my sentence.)