Found it!

For about a week now, I wanted to find my packet of Bible verses that I had started memorizing awhile back. I had tried to look for it before, but it was a failed attempt. Today though, I really really wanted to find it and after searching for about an hour, I came across a bookmark that had inscribed on it: "Your word have I hid in my heart that I may not sin against you" (Psalm 119:11). It gave me a little extra cheer to keep looking. Quickly inserting it into my Bible, I was back again on my hunt.  The last time I remember seeing it was that it was in one my purses, but I had checked EVERY bag I owned... twice. So I was okay, hmmm, what to do. Should I pray about this? I have a strange problem because I feel like praying little prayers are useless, but I tried it anyway. I was like, "God, help me find it! Please!" And about fifteen minutes later, in a basket of random things in the basement, God answered my prayers, I found it!

Through it all, I first learned that I can ask God for anything. He will answer, either no, yes, or wait. I don't need to feel like the things I present to God all have to be super grand or super visionary. He calls us to be faithful in the little things, and so why not pray about it? Pray for God to be present while I drive, while I eat, while I talk to others -- every moment of my life. Reminded me of this verse (that has come up three times this week now): "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart" (Psalm 37:4).

Second, I was reminded of Jesus's parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son. (Luke 15) "Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep." "Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.""Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found." I'm no shepherd, and honestly, a packet of cards isn't really that valuable. But what a relief when I found it!! Imagining that feeling triple-fold, one-hundred fold... Can I even grasp what God feels when when one lost sinner repents and returns back to Him? He searches, pursues each one of us so persistently when we wander and fall away. But every time we return to Him, we not only experience love and joy, but God does too -- as a matter of fact, all of heaven rejoices! And the only reason why we can come back to God is because of Jesus. It is Jesus Christ, the perfect Lamb, who was slain and sacrificed to save us from eternal separation from God. It is Jesus Christ, the perfect Son of God, who conquered death for us so that we can have an eternal relationship with God.