prayer

my mom lost her bracelet yesterday. we had just gotten home from dinner when she noticed her bare arm. i hate that moment when you realize something is missing. i mean, it could be missing for days, and it makes no difference to you until that moment when you notice that it's missing.

i was already dressed for bed when i saw her make her way to the door committed to find that darned bracelet. i knew the bracelet wasn't a particularly expensive one, so i was a little annoyed by her focused energy at finding it, and honestly, i was in no mood to get dressed back up to go with her on this silly scavenger hunt. but even i am too polite to let my aging mother hit the town alone looking for a needle in a haystack.

we started with "bealls", our favorite discount store where we had spent a few post dinner moments trying on various clearance items. we crawled around the store scraping the floor in search of a blue bracelet while a few scattered hard of hearing, near sighted retirees stared on convinced we had lost our marbles. even the ladies at the check out desk smirked when we asked if anyone had turned the bracelet in.

my mom was devastated. she's not one to lose anything, and despite my reminding her that a fake bracelet means little in the scheme of starving children and hopeless people in the world, she closed her eyes and set out praying.

we had almost made our way back home when something prompted me to call the restaurant where we had eaten dinner. now i was sure the call was useless but i figured i had little to lose in making the call. i was apologetic to the restaurant as i explained the reason for my call, and was astounded when they stated that they in fact had the lost bracelet.

my mom was ecstatic as she affirmed to herself how much Jesus loved her and had answered her prayer.

at first i chuckled.

but as i think about this story today, i'm struck by how much deeper my mom's prayer life is than mine. there is no prayer request that is too little for our God, and there is no need that is too trivial. if you don't ask, you won't get. and if you ask, do it in faith. God hears. God cares.

Go ahead. do it. you may just find that bracelet you think is lost.