I don’t throw the word “miracle” around lightly. I searched for a biblical definition of that word and eventually landed on one from theologian Wayne Grudem.
“A miracle is a less common kind of God’s activity in which he arouses people’s awe and wonder, and bears witness to himself.”
Let’s just leave it there for now rather than getting into a deep discussion of the pros and cons of it.
This will be a two-part blog series because it is so much bigger than a one-week run. Today, I’ll tell you the story. And word of warning, it’s longer than usual! Next week, I’ll share the lessons God has taught me through this.
One of the difficult decisions we widows must work through is what to do with our wedding rings and our husbands.’ I’ve already decided to keep wearing my own until it seems right to take it off. In over three years, I haven’t reached that point. Dale’s ring has been in one of my jewelry boxes since that fateful day in October 2017.
Recently I had an occasion to combine the metal and gems from several rings into one and that caused me to debate using the gold from Dale’s ring in this mix. A good friend suggested that perhaps the jeweler could take the design portion of Dale’s ring and make it into a pendant. Brilliant idea!
So, the picture you see is the result of that suggestion. I picked it up a couple of Tuesdays ago and absolutely love it. Made me feel like I was carrying Dale’s ring close to my heart.
Fast forward to that following Saturday. I put it on before my early morning trek to the grocery store and, because it’s a pretty small clasp, I gave it a little tug to make sure it was attached – and off I went.
I came home, unloaded groceries, sent a few emails, made lasagna for that night, and then visited the bathroom before a scheduled Zoom call at 8:30. As I glanced in the mirror, I was HORRIFIED to see that the pendant was gone!
But it was 3 minutes before my call, so I had no option but to get on that and put off the massive search until later. And that’s exactly what I did as soon as the call ended. Over the next hour or so, I literally crawled on my hands and knees all over the house – twice. I practically crawled under my car with a flashlight in hopes of finding it. Used the same flashlight to check every nook and cranny in my car. Other than the grocery store, I hadn’t been anywhere else.
It would be an understatement to say I was devastated by this loss so soon after getting the necklace back. I was in tears for hours, grieving the symbolism of what this meant to me. How could God really do this??
The next logical step would be a trip to the grocery store parking lot and a retracing of my steps inside the store. That was my plan once I could pull myself together enough to go out into public.
Then my friend Angie called and I tearfully shared the tragedy I’d just encountered. As we talked, she recalled an incident of her own where she had frantically dug through garbage to find a lost item. And she pondered the wisdom of us humans and our tendency to go crazy with situations like that and do everything we possibly can to fix them ourselves. She went on to suggest that maybe, just maybe, I should leave the rest of the story in God’s hands.
She said, “God knows where it is, and I believe He will bring it to you.”
Let me just say that Angie and I are BOTH take-charge kind of people and would normally race off to that grocery store to essentially tie up everything WE possibly could.
But her comments deeply and immediately resonated with me, and I felt God saying to me, “Stay put.” EVERYONE I talked with after that conversation said that I absolutely should go to the store. I responded to them all, “I know this doesn’t make sense, but I believe in my spirit that God is telling me to trust Him with it.”
So did I? Well, I did stay home despite those pleas to the contrary, but did I really trust him with it? I can tell you I tried, and that was my prayer. But deep down, I questioned if this was really God’s voice. Would he really “come through” for me? But I hung onto that still small voice inside of me telling me to let go, and leave it in His hands.
I continued to grieve and pray for the remainder of Saturday and most of Sunday.
On Sunday afternoon, I took Angie’s dog, Lola (who, by the way, is the reason we are now friends), for a walk because they were returning from a 2-day soccer tournament that weekend. A few hours later, Angie is standing at my front door with my cell phone in her hand because I accidentally left it at their house.
So let’s back up a few hours so I can tell you what was going on with Angie. Despite her earlier suggestion that we needed to leave this search in God’s hands, as they’re driving the 3+ hours back home, she is now getting a sense that she needs to go search that grocery store parking lot.
Her plan was to drive there without telling me so that she wouldn’t get my hopes up if she didn’t find anything. But when she walked into her house and saw my phone, of course she would have to deliver it back to me. That inkling has now become a STRONG sense of God’s leading.
I’m watching the KC Chiefs game when my doorbell rings and it’s Angie with my phone. She tentatively tells me about this new-found urging to return to the parking lot. I’m thinking, “Really? Well, whatever…” and proceed to try and explain where I parked.
Then she asks, “Do you want to come with me?” After a second’s hesitation I say, “Sure.” I think I’m just going to help out by showing her where I parked that early morning.
Let me remind you of the timing and circumstances. It’s now Sunday late afternoon, approximately 33 hours since I was there. And, of course, it’s over the busiest days – Saturday and Sunday. Not to mention the snow we had that morning.
We park across from where I was on Saturday and I tell Angie, “I’m going to start looking a car or two before where I think I parked.” We both get out of the car; Angie heads one direction and I walk DIRECTLY TO THE PENDANT!!
MIRACLE REVEALED!!! It’s lying on the ground between two cars, minus the chain, but otherwise in very reasonable condition.
Even as a writer, I have no words to adequately describe this next scene! A couple of ecstatic maniacs screaming through our COVID masks and garnering lots of inquisitive stares from the busy parking lot. I’m pretty sure Angie even jumped into my arms!! Can’t you just picture that scene?
Who cares if the chain is missing? What if that was the ONLY thing I found? The pendant is mostly no worse for wear. I am in AWE of the God who orchestrated every moment of those few days. The song that kept playing over and over in my head that night was “Indescribable.” I think the lyrics of this song say it all. Enjoy!
Chris Tomlin – Indescribable (Lyrics And Chords) – YouTube
“Awestruck we fall on our knees and we humbly proclaim, ‘You are amazing, God!’”
Stay tuned next week for a slew of lessons God has taught me, and Angie, through this!