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.
WOW!!!!
It’s crazy because I’ve been thinking about that too! Praising God in the midst of the difficult, oppressing times. Thank you for sharing that Es…*muah