Search for daughter's dress mirror spiritual journey

Many times in my life, I’ve realized that the angels God sent to answer my prayers were people who came into my world seemingly by coincidence.

But this once, he sent a miracle to me in the form of a dress.

My 16-year-old daughter, Celeste, needed a red dress to represent herself for an honor she had received, and she didn’t want it to be just any, old garment. She wanted something special.

My heart was troubled because I wanted her to be happy and I only had the budget for ordinary. That’s why we started our search in thrift stores and in our own closets.

We found two dresses that just about fit the bill. Either one would do in a pinch, but Celeste had her sights set on something so much more.

We searched together and separately, but we saw nothing that we agreed upon, and our time was drawing short.

Then one day, we were cleaning house while thinking about this problem, and we came upon a sack in a closet with an old, tarnished wedding dress inside.

The satin outfit had been my daughter’s friend’s Halloween costume three years earlier. The friend had come with us to a neighborhood party wearing that dress as part of her costume. When the festivities were over, she left the dress behind and we all forgot about its existence.

Now that we had found the ensemble, Celeste and I filled our minds with possibilities.

We held up the dress and pictured its delicate lace adornments in red. But we also studied dirt and grease marks left in the fabric for at least the time it had spent in the sack.

We decided that trying to get out the black stains and dying the cloth was worth the gamble.

We consulted an expert who told us we were wasting our time, but we stuck to our decision to try anyway.

I scrubbed the stains with grease remover and a washcloth, but all I could do was lighten them.

Then the two of us put on rubber gloves and stirred the dress in a pot of boiling red dye before dumping the whole mixture into the washing machine.

Excited, my daughter took the now-red dress out as soon as the cycle was done.

At first, she was disappointed. The boiling and washing had changed the nature of the satin. It was deeply wrinkled. She asked what we should do about that.

I said we should keep the wrinkles, because they gave the dress character and texture.

Celeste thought about that and came to agree.

But we now had a new challenge. Some of the lace on the bodice hadn’t accepted the dye as well and was pink. The dress had to be completely red.

We decided to find more of the lace that had taken the dye. I would dye it and place it over the pink area.

Studying the lacy top, I saw that someone had once loved this dress enough to carefully hand sew a satin panel behind a mesh bodice to provide additional modesty.

A trip to the thrift store for what I thought I needed started out discouraging. The only dresses with that type of lace were wedding gowns with price tags beyond my budget.

I walked over to a craft area, but found no lace there either.

And that’s when I decided to pray for a solution.

As I opened my eyes, I realized that adding a $6 piece of red fabric sitting right in front of me was the perfect way to finish the project. Following the pattern set by the first seamstress who had shown love to this garment, I carefully hand sewed the addition in just the right places.

When it was finished, my daughter was delighted. And her garment fit the occasion perfectly.

I was happy for her, and I felt a special joy inside as I realized how the fabric of my soul had been touched by this dress.

I had seen so many similarities between my own struggles and the changing condition of the outfit.

There were times when people had loved and cared for me, and times of celebration when I was on top of the world.

But there were other times when I was tarnished and stained by the circumstances of life.

Long before starting this project, I had experienced feelings as though everyone, including God, had given up on me.

But then he sent angels to tell me I was wrong about that. Through his infinite love, he had provided a means to rid me of the sins of the world.

And it seemed to be no small coincidence that the dirt and grease on the garment were covered by the color red.

It was through his blood that Christ washed away my sins and pain, so I could be new again. Like the dress, I had realized a new purpose, a new beginning, and I experienced a happiness available only to those willing to make a change.

The dress had shown me how I had been clothed in his strength and dignity.