Food for thought

Last fall, I was at my community college for school. I was taking a piano course and had gone into an extra classroom to practice. I’d left my purse there by accident.

I went to class and grabbed for my purse and it wasn’t there. I got up hurridly and began to search the classrooms, eventually going back to the room I had been practicing in. The door was locked and my purse was gone.

It isn’t a hard purse to miss. It’s neon green. My Aunt gave it to me for my birthday (or Christmas?) one year, and it was one of my favorites. It had my driver’s permit, my money (all $40 of it), my cell phone, and my social security number.

I was very freaked out and almost in tears. I’m assuming you would be too. I searched the building again for people, but it was empty. It was the dead part of the day at the campus. I left the building and began the long walk back to the student center where I called the security guard.

While I was walking, I got my head back on straight. I prayed and told God that whatever happened was His will and I’m sorry for freaking out and that I knew I’d be ok because He would take care of me but please please please let me find the purse.

After I asked the security guard at the lost and found (he didn’t have it) I started on my way back to the building I had been in, because my daddy was going to pick me up there. I was supposed to call him but I didn’t have a phone. I figured I’d just wait until he showed up.

Well he did show up because he did get a call. A lady who was a customer at our store and a teacher for the school had found the purse and put it in her office. She’d found the phone and called my dad and said she’d found my purse. She hadn’t been able to find me, though, because I was searching the building madly and trying not to worry too much about my identity being stolen by some freak.

When daddy told me the whole story I relaxed and went to get my purse. She smiled and I thanked her for taking it.

When I got home, I thought for a while. What really mattered in the whole situation, and what did I learn? What really mattered was my heart. I learned that my reactions need to be different. Yes after a while I got my head back on straight and trusted God, but that wasn’t the initial reaction. I learned that my trust isn’t wholly in God and it needs to be. God looks at the heart more than our actions. Where was my heart when I freaked out? Where was my faith and my trust? It was in me, and my own ability to keep good track of my things. That was wrong.

I bring this up because we talked about these kinds of situations in our morning Bible study at home. We had some good discussions. We always do, with six people who are both Christians and sinners (and a brother who thinks too hard about everything ;D). But this one struck me as special.

And along the same lines, on Monday night my daddy got in a car wreck. It wasn’t serious, nobody was hurt, and the car won’t be too expensive to fix. But it was like a wake-up call. It was like God was saying “Hey, I hope you realize I can take everything away from you at the drop of a hat.” and we were saying “Oh yeah, You’re right. Thanks for not doing that.” Where was my trust when mommy left the house? This time it was in God. I knew God would take care of us and him. I wasn’t panicked at all.

Trials don’t come slowly. They come quickly and unexpected. So when you’re in a trial, where is your hope? Who do you trust to take care of you? What does your reaction say about that?

Just thought I’d share.

~H