This past weekend, my wallet went missing. This was unnoticed by me until Saturday afternoon when I tried to purchase a blouse at South Coast Plaza. In the 24 hours since I had last seen my wallet, I had been all over the place… Palms, Culver City, Marina Del Rey, Diamond Bar, and now, Costa Mesa. I had no idea if it was lost or stolen, or what had happened to it. I was very sad because that wallet was a gift that I love, and very upset at the prospect of canceling/replacing all of my ID’s and cards.
Sunday afternoon when I returned to my apartment, I looked all over to see if it had fallen out somewhere. I made calls to all of the places I had visited. I was frantic and upset, but also tired and in need of rest before my late night work shift. “Just rest” was what I heard. “Just rest.” So I stopped, crawled into bed, and tried to sleep, still feeling defeated.
I thought of the message I heard at Evergreen that morning. Freedom measured by the praise you give when your chains are the heaviest. “Rest in me.” Well, I can’t just say “I praise you God! I thank you when times are tough, just like the Paul did!” to prove that I praise him even when it is hard. I’m not into the whole formula for salvation type of thing. But I can say thank you. Thank you that I feel the freedom to rest right now, when I need it most. Thank you for peace. So I slept. And I felt slightly less defeated.
Later that night while I was at work I got a voicemail from my dad telling me that my wallet was turned into the Marina Del Rey Sherrif’s station. No money, but all of my ID’s and cards were still there. A transient brought it in, said he found it in a dumpster and brought it on by. I still do not know if my wallet was lost or stolen to begin with. But the deputy found my ID, saw that my Long Beach address, placed a call to the LB Police Department, and asked them to make a house call.
God is good.
