Frodo and his search for lost ring

Wow! I have a had a whirlwind of a few days, but I love to stay busy, so that has been wonderful!!

I wanted to share a story of how God shows himself in the small, seemingly insignificant things of our lives. Last week as I was perusing Facebook, I saw this on someone's status:

My yard desperately needed to be mowed, and I could not find the business card for the guy who I had last hired to do the job. I just prayed that God would help me find that card today as I cleaned and organized. As I was sitting eating lunch, the doorbell rang. It was the yard man. He just dropped by... to see if my yard needed to be mowed! God is good!

And then this last week, my mom told me about their camping trip. My parents and sister were planning on meeting my brother and sister-in-law and sweet baby Lucy in Oklahoma to camp for a few days. Eric called right after my parents had left saying that they were having car troubles. My parents decided to just meet Eric in Tyler and camp at the state park there. Prior to leaving, my parents debated about whether to take the second seat out of the suburban and cram all the camping stuff in there or to take the trailer. They opted for the trailer, which seemed to be an insignificant decision at the time, but later allowed them to fit all of Eric and Sheryl's stuff in the trailer, so they could go camping. If they had just crammed it into the back of the car, there would not have been enough room for their stuff.

My mom is so great about recognizing these situations as an answer to prayer or God looking out for us. Today, I had the opportunity to experience God's grace as well. Thankfully, God gave me the foresight and sensitivity to realize that this situation was a time to put my faith into action.

Last night Anthony could not find his UNT alumni ring when he left my house. (This ring cost a lot of money, Anthony loves it, and it symbolizes all the hard work he put into school.) We assumed it was somewhere at his house, but when he got back home, he could not find it anywhere. I am very familiar with the feelings that follows after losing or thinking I lost something of importance. Panic, frustration, anger. As I was telling Anthony different options of where to look and to not freak out, I was also praying. I was praying that the Lord would give us wisdom where to look, peace so Anthony would not panic, and trust that God knew what was best in this situation. After much looking, Anthony did not find the ring last night. To be honest, I expected Anthony to be in a horrible mood this morning at church, but he wasn't. He had also said that he had prayed about finding the ring as well. (A man who puts his faith is in action is so attractive!)

Sometimes it seems like such a trite thing to ask, "Did you pray about?" My mom always asked me that while I was growing up, even now. I used to get frustrated thinking that well, God already knew about my problem or that it is such a small problem, I just need to figure it out myself. Shocker, Angela, God does know about all my problems, and, even though they may seem insignificant to me, He concerns Himself with my desires, needs, and wants. The thing He wants from me is to see that I trust Him. Completely. Even in the small things. He wants to know that I am humble enough to give Him all of my problems. Sometimes I wait to pray until I feel like it is the last option available. Wrong, wrong, wrong. It should be our first move, always.

Right after Anthony got home from church, he found his ring. It had slid down into the back of the couch. Right when he told me, I stopped what I was doing and thanked God for showing us grace and wisdom in that circumstance.

I have always wanted to have one of those stories of how God answered my prayer in such a tangible way. I am sure my life is full of them. I have just been too busy looking for my own solutions instead of searching out the Lord. Anthony did not find the ring because of our good detective skills, or exhaustive searching, or remembering where it fell out of his pocket. Even if we hadn't prayed, we would have probably found the ring. The only thing that would have been different is that God wouldn't be getting the glory, and we would probably have sinned a lot (worry, frustration, anger).

Thank you, Lord, for pointing us to you and reminding me how real you are, even in the small things.

Matthew 6:25-27 "For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more important than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor do they gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?"