Today I left my purse in a shopping cart.
I climbed in my car and drove away. I didn’t discover the bag missing until I arrived home. I wish I could tell you I prayed before I panicked. But that would be a lie. I panicked first.
I whipped my car back into the street and hurried back to the busy shopping center where I’d left the cart. Visions of missing credit cards, the stash of cash I’d just gotten at the bank for the weekend, and my personal identification flashed through my mind. The nightmare grew as I drove, every conceivable scenario filtering through my fertile imagination.
I prayed at stoplights and behind slow vehicles. I prayed at corners and around bikers. I prayed as my hands gripped the steering wheel to keep from honking at drivers getting in my way. I prayed as I drove into the busy lot where Memorial Day weekend shoppers whizzed by like ants on a mission. I parked in my original space and scanned the row of carts.
Empty.
Wiping the perspiration now dripping from my brow, I calmly parked the car, got out, and prepared myself for the worst. Since I’d left at the back of the store, I re-entered there. Only one cashier worked the area and customer traffic was lighter. He glanced up at me and I told him my problem.
He smiled. “It’s at customer service.”
“Praise God.” I hurried to the front of the store. Everyone around me gasped when I explained why I was there.
“Good luck with that,” said one man. “There won’t be any money left.”
The woman working at the desk made me identify the purse by its color and then had me prove it was mine by showing her my ID. A quick inspection revealed nothing obvious missing—even the cash remained intact. Relieved, I returned to my car and did a thorough investigation. Nothing was missing. God had heard my prayers.
James 1:17 (NIV): “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”
This Memorial Weekend, give thanks you live in a country where criminals may make the news, but good people still abound. A country where honorable citizens are everywhere around us even though they never get good press. And to that person or persons who found my purse and returned it to the store, I say, “Thanks!”
Have a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend.