It's been quite a rollercoaster of a day, we could really use prayer!!! Here's just one of the wild rides we have been on today...
It started off pretty normal - well, normal for our crazy house I guess! We got all the kids off to school, and Vince and I both went to work. I spent most of my morning in a meeting at our office building, then went with two co-workers and had lunch at "Betty Jo's", which is a very cool little bar & grill that serves popcorn (I love places that do that!) Then I had an in-home therapy session with a child, and headed out to my next destination.
As I was driving I looked at my wedding ring, which for some reason looked strange. Then I took a closer look and realized why...the center diamond was gone. I pulled over and tried not to panic. I resisted the urge to burst into tears, and decided that I would re-trace my steps. I know it was there this morning, because I cleaned my ring. I also know it was still there when I was in the conference room at work because I took my rings off to put lotion on during the meeting. First I looked through my "perfectly perfect" purse, thinking maybe I had caught one of the prongs while digging for something. Nope. Searched through my car, nothing. I went back to the house where I had just left, and the parents both helped me search their living room carpet. They even moved their couch! Nothing. I spent about 10 minutes walking the sidewalk and street from their house to my car. In my mind I'm thinking "it could be anywhere...on the street, in the parking lot at work, anywhere in our building. This was like looking for a grain of sand on the beach. Impossible.
I called Vince and told him the news. My diamond is gone. His heart dropped to his stomach, but he composed himself and said "well that's what we have insurance for." I had already thought of that, but it's not the same. It would never be the original diamond that he gave me. You can't replaced that.
But for some insane reason I still didn't panic. On my way back to the office, I looked at the pavement as I drove. Have you ever really looked at the streets? Or even the sidewalks? They glitter. There are little shiney pieces of rocks (I assume it's rocks) that look like little spots of glitter here and there. Parking lots are like that too. It would be impossible to detect a little diamond amongst all of that. My heart sank.
As I continued to retrace my steps for the day and think of all the possiblities, I decided to stop at Betty Jo's where we had lunch. I went back to the table where we sat over two hours earlier, got down on my hands and knees, and for about 10 minutes I searched the floor. And as I did, I prayed "God, You know where it is. Please help me find it." I wasn't ready to give up yet, but I can't say that I was very hopeful either. It wasn't there. I decided I'd try checking the bathroom, and then was planning on leaving my name and phone number with the waitress just in case someone were to find it.
As I made my way past the front door, my eyes scanned the white tile floor, when I saw it! My diamond!!! I'm not even kidding!!! Right there by the entrance, where dozens of people had been walking for the past almost 3 hours. My mouth dropped open, I gasped, and picked it up as fast as I could. It was!!!! I held the diamond tightly between my fingers, raised my hands above my head and said "I found it! THANK YOU LORD"!!! Now that I think about it - I must have looked like I had lost my mind to those who didn't know what I was doing...crawling around on the floor, then raising my arms and smiling and exclaiming like a crazy person. (Then again, if you know me well, this may not throw you.)
To say that we were relieved and amazed would be a major understatement. After sharing the news with Vince (and showing him the proof!) I decided to take the rest of the afternoon off and drive immediately to the jeweler and have it fixed. And as I drove, I continued to thank God. This was not good luck, or a coincidence. It truly was a miracle, and no one will ever convince me otherwise. God knows that sometimes he needs to
slap me upside the head gently nudge me to get my attention. This was a very effective nudge. So I asked Him what He wanted to teach me through this experience. And He said this to me,
"You can trust Me with the smallest details of your life. Nothing is out of my sight. Every aspect of your life matters to Me."
How could I ever not trust Him? How could I think that He is not concerned for me and what happens in my life? This is not about a diamond. This is not about me finding something special that I feared would be lost forever. This is about God showing me ~again~ Who He Is. A God who knows all, who sees all, and can handle anything that happens in my life. And despite all the times He has revealed Himself to me and even rescued me, He is the God that I
still struggle to trust. This is how He chose to draw me back. And after the evening we just had, which I won't go into right now, I needed a miracle today.
