Usually, I tell stories about my childhood and my brothers, or the fun extended family. But I had the most amazing experience in the past month that I feel compelled to pass on. Here we go.....
The first several years of our marriage, my handsome half was in the military, and his job kept him circumnavigating the globe for weeks at a time. On one of his trips through Japan, he dropped in to Yokota Air Base, and as was his habit, he went off base to do some shopping. Sometimes when he left home, I sent him with a shopping list. That's why our decorating style was "Early American Military Airlift Command." But on this particular trip, he took it in his own hands to look for and pick out a beautiful pair of pearl earrings with which to surprise me. He managed to keep track of them until he finally arrived at home, and it meant so much to me when he told me the story of his time spent being educated by the pearl merchant before picking them out.
I got a lot of wear out of those earrings for over 35 years. Until about 2 weeks ago. I had been out a good part of the day, and when I was taking my earrings out and getting ready for bed I saw, to my horror, that I still had the stud in my ear, but one pearl had fallen off. Sad, sad, day. I was just heartsick.
Of course I prayed about it. I can't tell you how many things I've been able to find after asking the Lord to direct me to them. But this was so small, and I had been to so many places. So, my prayer went something like this: "Lord, can you help me find that pearl? Is that even possible?!?" Yeah. Not one of my prouder moments. I honestly didn't believe it would ever turn up again and they couldn't be replaced, at least not in the same way I had gotten them originally.
A few days later, I picked up a set of 3 pairs of pearl earrings mounted on a piece of cardboard. They were only $4, and even though there was a "little voice" in my head telling me I shouldn't do it....not give up so easily, I went ahead and purchased them. So now I had 3 1/2 pairs of earrings, but only a single earring had a neat story attached.
Well, 2 days ago, my handsome half set a black bag in front of me. And inside was a black box. And inside of that was another black box and it was hinged. See where I'm going?
He had purchased another pair of pearl earrings to replace what I had lost. But his didn't come on a piece of cardboard off the sale rack! I was so humbled that he would do such a sweet thing. So now I had 4 1/2 pairs of earrings and the newest set also had a sweet story attached.
But the story wasn't over....
On the same day that my husband gave me that beautiful replacement set of pearl earrings, I got a text from a friend. Her home is one of the places I had been the day the pearl went missing. And the only thing in the text was this picture.
This little pearl had survived the vacuum and a family of 5 for 2 weeks. And she found it quite by accident. As soon as I saw the picture, I knew. She had found the pearl I had lost and thought I would never see again. And I immediately thought back to the prayer "Can you even do that? Is that even possible?!?" And I could almost hear the Lord's voice saying "Yeah. I can." And I think there was a tinge of sarcasm there too! The Lord knew where it was all along. And even though I prayed with hardly a hint of faith, He gave it back. I started out with one sweet pair of pearl earrings. Now I had five complete sets.
So. The "moral" of the story? Pray. Plain and simple. Whether you believe He can or not. Pray. Because He hears your voice and knows your heart and just wants to hear from His children. It's not about the amount of faith you bring to the table, it's about a gracious God Who cares about His own and what they're concerned about. He is completely trustworthy.
The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.
Matthew 13: 44-46
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