The Dollar Store
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Welcome to the Dorie's Stories {devotional} Blog!
It was a sad day. It can't be true. They all said it would happen eventually. It was inevitable.
The definitive dollar store is gone.
Now everything's ...
$1.25
It's only a quarter, they say. $1.25 is the new $1, they say.
This next devotional story is a callback to an earlier time, a simpler time when dollar stores actually sold everything for an exact dollar.
From my book, Hope Looks Good on You!: a Comedian's Joy-inducing Daily Devotional for Women
. . .
Chapter 6: The Dollar Store
So, I’m at the dollar store...the real dollar store where every item is actually one dollar. I’m a frugal person and this is my paradise. I walk around like I own the place.
I throw items into my cart with such confidence knowing that I can buy anything in this store — and I do.
I could bankrupt my family at the Dollar Tree®.
Not so much at Macy’s® or Nordstrom® because I won’t even go into stores like those. They are just my gateway to the mall. I almost run through them so I don’t accidentally break something and have to pay for it!
But not so with the Dollar Tree®.
I always stay in the dollar store too long. I seem to think it’s some kind of requirement to go up and down every aisle. Sometimes I’m in there so long, I know the store employees are thinking, ‘she is definitely stealing stuff.’
Although I have never actually stolen anything from a dollar store, some of the deals feel like a steal! Portable soap dishes, ‘silk’ flowers, potpourri, discontinued make-up, 1000 staples and mini stapler sets, rain ponchos, multi-colored chip clips...for a dollar?
How are they making any money on this stuff?
Okay, I admit that I haven’t bought potpourri in years. I’m not sure why they are still selling it.
My favorite, though, is the as-seen-on-tv section. I love infomercials, but I wait to buy the products at the dollar store...because that’s when you know they really work.
It was there in the middle of one of my lengthy dollar store shopping trips that I felt God speak to my heart and whisper something like:
‘Why do you walk with confidence through the dollar-store-level issues in your life, but when it comes to the Macy’s-level issues, you still walk in so much fear? Don’t you know I am big enough, my shoulders are wide enough, and even your biggest problems look small to Me?’
Only God would know to speak to me with a shopping metaphor!
It was the truth. I had been able to trust Him with the small stuff...the things I could almost handle on my own.
I had easily navigated through minor illnesses, everyday bills, and the ups and downs of my teenagers’ emotions, but I found myself struggling with anxiety when it came to the big stuff and the uncertainty of the future as if God doesn’t have what it takes for those types of things.
In this season, my son had turned seventeen and my father had turned seventy and I realized that neither would be young forever. I was exiting one stage of life that I felt like I had just figured out; and I was entering a new stage of life that I didn’t feel ready for.
I was waking up morning after morning with anxiety and fear to the point that my chest would hurt and feel like there was an actual weight on it.
Maybe since I hadn’t been spending much time in prayer those mornings, God had to meet me in the dollar store!
He was trying to show me that I didn’t need to walk around in fear — that no issue was too big for Him, no burden was too heavy, no part of my future was unstable. I could walk freely through even the hard things of life with confidence knowing that truth.
I also read a verse in Proverbs 31 that became my motto during this struggle. I generally avoid this chapter in the Bible because the Proverbs 31 woman makes me look bad and I don’t agree with some of her philosophies...like rising early!
But then I came across verse 25; truthfully, it was on a mug that a friend gave me or I would have never seen it:
“She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future.” Proverbs 31:25 NLT
How could she laugh without fear of the future? It’s not as if Old Testament days were care-free back then or that there wasn’t plenty she could worry about. They didn’t even have ibuprofen. Her future could be bleak.
Maybe God met her in the dollar store, too.
She hadn’t even read the verse in Romans 8:38 yet, but God must have known we would struggle with fears and worries because Paul includes fears for today and worries about tomorrow in the list of things that can’t separate us from God’s love:
“And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.” Romans 8:38 NLT
I don’t know how I missed that all these years. I had even learned a song and memorized that verse, but never noticed the part about fears and worries.
God is so faithful. He uses dollar store trips and mugs and Bible verse songs to teach us truths about His character and who He is.
I think that the reason that the Proverbs 31 woman was able to laugh without fear of the future was because she knew God.
She knew His character. She knew He is love. She knew He cares for her.
She knew He is big enough.
She knew He held her future.
The more we know Him, the more we will trust Him and the more we will walk with confidence through anything our future holds.
“Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7 NIV
Maybe I will go back to the dollar store to see if God wants to chat some more...and I’m out of potpourri.
Reflect & Journal:
What “big stuff” can you start trusting God with? Take a few moments to list them out and then write over them: “Laugh without fear!” . . .
I hope you enjoyed the devotional excerpt! Feel free to share it with someone you think would enjoy a devotional story involving potpourri and how we can laugh without fear of the future because of God's faithfulness.
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With hope & joy, Dorie Mclemore
P.s. next time, I’m planning to post another brand new devotional story I wrote for my next (currently unnamed) book! Make sure you are subscribed to get the notification in your inbox! P.p.s. If you want a copy of the full devotional book, Hope Looks Good on You!, use the button below!