During lunch, Mike noticed my gold chain “hanging funny,” my gold cross gone. Our hearts sank deep. We’d spent the morning birdwatching at Moraine State Park. My beloved cross, a long ago gift from Mike, could be embedded in the soft pine needles we trekked through to reach the edge of the lake; the damp, spongy grass we stood in to admire the ducks; the crumbly gravel road I got out on to photograph the flickers and the swallows. It could be in the nature store we visited, the owner a friend and fellow bird lover. The possibilities overwhelmed yet Mike insisted we retrace our steps, said he somehow felt confident we’d find my cross. In that huge park? Doubtful, I said that I’d rather someone find it than have it lie hidden forever beneath who knew what — perhaps someone struggling, who needed to feel God near. Finding the cross would lift them up, I imagined; and the thought made me happy.
Still, with just a shred of hope in our finding my beloved cross, I prayed, “Show us your glory, Lord.” (I didn’t know at the time that Mike prayed the same words.) “Let’s start at the beginning,” Mike said as we got on the Interstate southbound, forfeiting our plan to head further north for more fun. He drove into the park to where we first stopped 4-1/2 hours earlier. “I parked right about here this morning,” he said. As I hopped out and took just a few steps, sad eyes down scanning the asphalt, I saw a dazzling-and-I-mean-dazzling sparkle — my cross! Found! In the first place we looked! And just a few precarious feet from the water. In that huge, busy park. Miraculously, within 30 minutes of discovering my cross missing, we headed north for more fun. Then, like a flash of lightning, it hit us. We remembered our recent struggles and our need to feel God near. Finding the cross lifted us up! He showed us His glory, indeed!
And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.
- Philippians 4:19
What a wonderful story Janet. And that cross will now be all the more special and filled with meaning for you. I have a similar story from losing my wedding ring on a beach. After retracing our steps and then returning to a point where we started, I kicked a sandcastle and astonishingly, the ring was revealed having been buried deep within the sand castle. God was so good to us on that day.
