The Mysterious Missing Clothing

Three items: one dress, one skirt, one jumpsuit. These were the pieces I
wanted to sell at a consignment shop. If they sold, the store owner would
earn a profit, and I would also walk away with some cash.

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I located a consignment store and arranged to sell my items there. Then I
called the store once a week to check if they had sold. Each time, I
learned they hadn’t. After a few weeks, nobody answered my calls. I finally
spoke to the manager, who I’ll call “Iris,” and she informed me that she
had decided to cut back on store hours because profits were low. I didn’t
understand but agreed to contact Iris later about whether the clothes had
been purchased.

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After a couple more weeks, I passed by the shopping center, only to
discover that the store was shut down and completely bare. I don’t know
what happened to the clothes I tried to sell, but I never saw them again. I
was frustrated and didn’t know how to fix the problem. Though I might have
wanted to make Iris pay for what she’d done, I also wanted to consider how
God would have me approach the situation.

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Having a relationship with God is possible through Jesus. He died and rose
again so that we could be forgiven from all our sins. I had put my faith in
Jesus, and that meant He had something to say about my mindset in these
circumstances. Jesus taught His followers to be merciful and to pray for
those who mistreat us, as God is merciful to us even though we all do wrong
against Him. As His children, we have been set free to forgive others and
let offenses go because God has forgiven us, and we can trust Him to carry
out perfect justice. In the end, I chose to let those pieces of clothing
go, acknowledging that God was still good even in this loss.

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As God’s children, we can trust Him to show us His kindness even when
people mistreat us. As we follow our merciful Savior, He helps us be
merciful to others. • Allison Wilson Lee

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•How could remembering that God has shown us mercy make it easier for us to
show mercy to others? Consider taking a moment to pray for someone who has
wronged you.

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• In certain situations, it’s important to pursue justice (the righting of
wrongs), especially when someone has been hurt. If you’ve experienced an
injustice, who is a trusted adult you could talk to?

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“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” Luke 6:36 (NIV)

Read Verses:

Luke 6:27-Luke 6:36