God is Good

Every once in awhile, we lose a material object and even though it seems like such a terribly selfish thing to pray for, we feel the need to ask God to help us find it.

On Monday, I lost my college ring. I have been so depressed since losing it. I couldn't imagine where it had gone. I was almost positive I'd put it on that morning, but had no idea at what point I had lost it. I didn't notice it missing until I' d gone to remove my rings that afternoon. I frantically searched the house for the remainder of the afternoon and even called the grocery store and Alex's school where we'd been earlier that day. When Bill called on his way home from work, I'd been crying and he could tell something was wrong. So after I told him about not being able to find my ring, he offered to go by the grocery store and look for it. And though it was getting dark by that point, he lovingly searched the store parking lot in addition to the store itself. But no luck.

Tuesday I did more searching of the house and racking my brain to try and remember when and where it could have been lost. I started wondering if I'd even put it on Monday. Maybe it'd been missing longer and I'd just never noticed it. I called the church to see if I'd lost it there on Sunday; I emailed my sister-in-law who lives across town because we'd been to their house on Saturday. Again, no luck.

Wednesday, the kids and I went out and retraced our steps from Monday. We went to the school where Alex has speech and searched the parking lot, the school and asked again at the front desk. Nothing. We went to the store where we searched the parking lot, the aisles, some of the shelves where I remember rummaging through food items, and finally asked again at the customer service desk. Nothing. I went home feeling empty and without hope of ever finding it again.

I talked with my mom today and she reminded me that at least it is replaceable. It wouldn't be cheap and of course, it wouldn't be quite the same, but I could have another one made. I felt better after our conversation, though I still couldn't help feeling that nagging desire to know what happened to my ring. I've had a relatively normal afternoon, still doing the occasional checking for my ring when a possible location would come to mind. But all in all, I've tried not to think on it too much. And then....

A little while ago, I realized Amy was in need of a diaper change. So, I went and got her a diaper and the wipes and popped open the wipes container to change her. When I pulled out a couple of wipes in preparation, there it was. I know on Monday I had put a new package of wipes in the container, and interestingly enough, I had thought of checking there and in the bag the new wipes had come out of, but did not see it when doing my check. And I've even been using this container of wipes all this time!!! I guess somehow it had gotten caught up in the wipes and I just never could see it or feel it until today at this particular daiper changing.

So as selfish and trivial as my prayer may have been, God mercifully let me find this simple material object that means so much to me. God is good!