Intimates please...Intimates...

I recently got a little part time job working in a department store where I love to shop in an effort to save some money. I only work about three evenings a week so it's not too bad. Since I was going to get a part time job though, I figured it should be somewhere I would get a discount. :)

Normally, I work in the children's department or home. Either of those two are fine. I love folding all the little kids clothes and thinking about who I can buy clearance items for. (Which defeats my goal of saving money working part time but you gotta live...right?)

I never dreamed when I accepted the job that I would be forced to work all night in the dreaded department of intimates.

There are SO many different types of bras! I've learned A LOT that I never wanted to know.

There are strapless adhesive bras, convertible plunge bras, minimizers, maximizers, undercover slimming bras, extra coverage, smoothing, body caress underwire bras, ultimate lift and support bras, natural boost push-up bras, ultra light lace with lift spacer bras and 'This is NOT a Bra' bras...to name just a few!

It's overwhelming. I'm not even going to talk about the panties I've seen. It would be a whole other blog post!

It is mind-boggling trying to clean up the fitting room. People try on bras, pull everything off the hangers and leave them laying all over the dressing room floor. Some don't even make an effort to put them back on the hangers.

When I see my name on the schedule and it says Intimates underneath...I sigh. I dread it. I don't like that department. I don't want to answer all the questions about bras and undergarments that customers expect me to know the answers to and I'm completely clueless.

About twice a night or so, someone pushes the customer service button. A computerized female voice announces over a loudspeaker, "Intimates, please...Intimates..."

I groan and sigh while slowly making my way over to help. Inside, I'm hoping that it got pushed on accident and when I get there nobody will be waiting.

But usually someone is there, waiting for me to assist them and the questions have ranged from, "Do you have a Triple G in this style?" to "Do you sell hosiery?"

Hosiery? Do you mean...pantyhose?

How did I end up in this department? Why am I being forced to learn about intimates? I have to admit that it is good, physical exercise. I can spend fifteen minutes walking around with one bra trying to figure out which rack it goes back on.

Heaven help me when I get a call from the check outs and a customer is questioning a price. I must have looked frazzled the last time it happened because as I made my way to the front toting a bra from the clearance rack to confirm a price, the manager saw me walk by and asked, "Are you okay, Melinda?"

"I'm surviving..." I answered then he went on to offer the names of a couple of co-workers who were more familiar with the department that I could ask for help if I needed it. (I heard he won't step foot into the intimates department. You didn't hear that from me, though.) Tee Hee

As with pretty much everything in my life, God used this experience to remind me about Him.

"Intimates please...Intimates..." I hear Him speak softly to me instead of the computerized female voice calling me over the loud speaker.

This is what He wants from His children.

But as with the awkwardness I feel working in this dreaded department, it can also be awkward being completely intimate with God.

Like the many different items we can buy to make our bodies appear better looking than they really are, I also want to hide my imperfections before God. Using everything imaginable to make myself look better. 

Allowing Him to see the part of me that I'd like to keep private and hidden underneath what I allow others to see is sometimes hard to do. But God sees underneath that anyway. He already knows how I feel, what I think about, my attitudes and my true heart.

O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. Psalms 139:1

Little Sister...

I have a little sister.

She used to drive me crazy. She was spoiled. At least, that was my perception as the older sister of four years.

We shared a room for most of our childhood and also shared a full size bed. It wouldn't have been so bad if I wasn't a light sleeper and she hadn't been a thumb-sucker. It made me crazy trying to fall asleep listening to her smack on her thumb. Sometimes, I had to get up and sleep in another room because of the noises she made and my inability to tolerate it enough to fall asleep.

Then there were the occasions when I'd wake up soaking wet because she peed the bed. I can not tell you how much these things irritated me and made me angry at her.

But there were moments when we enjoyed each other's company. I remember drawing on each other's back as a game we'd play when we were trying to wind down at night to fall asleep. One of us would lay on our stomach and the other would draw with our finger "something" on the other's back and we had to guess what was drawn. A tree? A flower? The sun?

When the imaginary picture was figured out, we'd erase it with our hand like our backs were big chalk boards and start over with a new piece of artwork. That game was relaxing and I'll remember it forever.

I distinctly remember a time when we were at the hay field playing on the bed of a pick up truck while Dad bailed hay. I was showing off my skills walking around the top of the truck bed like it was a balance beam. Of course, I slipped and fell off. When I hit the ground, the breath was completely knocked out of me. I was breathless and struggling to inhale just a small breath. Anything!

It was such a horrible experience not being able to catch my breath. An older brother, I can't remember which it was, held me and told me I was okay. Eventually, I could breathe again but it seemed like it took forever when I couldn't breathe. All because I was showing off for the smaller kids which included my little sister. Ah, the memories from childhood!

We FINALLY grew up as we longed to do. She was a bridesmaid at my wedding and cried through the entire ceremony. In almost every picture her eyes are swollen and her nose is red. I think she might love me or she just always cries at weddings. :)

Now, we're in mid-life with grown children and she has grandchildren. (I'm still waiting...lol) We've lived some life and had some heartaches. We've had a LOT of joy, too! I'm thankful for all of my brothers and sisters. But my little sister is special. I guess because we were stuck in a room together for so many years trying to tolerate each other!

This has been a difficult year for my little sister. She's had the wind knocked out of her with the reality of life and can't catch her breath.

So, my prayer for her is this:

God, please breathe. 

Breathe Your powerful breath over my little sister's life while she can't catch hers. Pick her up off the ground and help her. Hold her until there's air in her lungs again. 

Heal her broken heart and crushed spirit. I know You are close to us during these times. Show her how mighty Your works are even when she doesn't understand the pain she is going through. 

I love her and admire her strength. Thank you for making her my little sister.

In Jesus' powerful and mighty name, Amen.


He is close to the broken-hearted. He rescues those whose spirits are crushed. Psalm 34:18