Me... and a Key

God thunders marvelously with His voice; He does great things which we cannot comprehend.
For He says to the snow, 'Fall [on] the earth'; Likewise to the gentle rain and the heavy rain of His strength.
He seals the hand of every man, That all men may know His work.  Job 37:5-7


 This is a story about losing a key twice, and how God is faithful and cares even about little trifles like losing keys, especially ones that are quite expensive to replace. You see, I have two keys for two cars on the same key ring. A couple months ago, somehow part of the chain that carried the key for the smaller car became separated from the main ring. That key was for the little car, but I was driving the big car that day and did not realize the little chain came off the big one. The next time I looked down, I realized part of the keychain was missing and with that the expensive car key for my little car. It was on a Sunday and I took my Mom to church that day.

I think it was a day or two later when I noticed it missing so I tried to backtrack in where all I had been since then, calling the diner where we had breakfast and the church. No one was at the church at the moment, but I did get hold of the pastor at his home number. I asked him if anyone had turned in some keys or if he had found some but he reported no. I told him thank you and told him not to make a special trip out there to look for it, as the weather was not the best that day.

I put a little note on my facebook with a small request that prayers could be made to find it, even saying it was a dumb request. Many wrote they were praying, and that it was not dumb at all to ask for prayer for such a tiny little thing as a lost key.

Though I thought the key was a goner, when my cell phone rang it looked like the number I called before. The pastor called,  he kindly went out of his way to go over and look for the key and found that it had fallen off my keychain just where I parked the car on Sunday morning. It was just laying there in the gravel and had my husband's tag on it, so there was no question it was mine. He gave it to my son, making a special trip to their house to give him the key. I thanked him profusely when I saw him the next Sunday and breathed a big sigh of relief.

You would think I would have learned my lesson, then, when I got my oil changed the other day and had to take the key for the little car off the ring.  Even though I could almost here a little voice saying, "You'd better put it back before you lose it," I put it off. I decided to ask my husband to do it because it is hard with small fingers to get that thick key back on the ring. I even put them out so he would see them, but forgot to ask him.

The next thing you know, I had to run an errand and needed to look for something in the little car before leaving in the big one. ] I looked for my item and then put the single key in my jacket pocket because I needed to leave. Little did I know but the key slipped right out of my pocket into the space between the driver's seat and the console.

Yesterday, when I realized it was gone, I went out into the bitter cold and looked everywhere in both cars for the key. It was so cold I could not stay out there long but finally my husband said to come in, that was enough looking though.  I stewed and stewed over the loss of the key until finally I realized I should just commit it to God.

 After I thawed out a bit, I again asked facebook friends to pray a second time, a few months later,  for that same lost key. I was so touched that many people responded and told me they were praying. Indeed, a friend from a writer's conference wrote out a beautiful prayer to God right then and there asking God to directly lead me to the key so that I would be able to go and do the things He would have me to do. I was touched by her taking the time to write that out and her faith that God would answer.

This morning, my husband again encouraged me not to worry. I put on my clothes to face the elements to look a second time and I decided to pray the same prayer silently that my friend had written on facebook.

 And then God came through, just like we asked Him. I climbed in the driver's seat, looked down in the little space between the chair and the console, and saw something black. I forced my hand down and the item moved, so I knew it was not part of the seat itself. I scrounged my hand around and picked up a very cold black car key.

I thought about it a bit. Here I put my dilemma out for so many to see on facebook. I thought that maybe when God answered, it would not only be for my sake but for the sake of others too. For my friend prayed specifically and God answered specifically. Not because I deserved or earned it, but because He is in control of all the details of our lives, even our stupid mistakes.

He showed me and my praying friends He is Immanuel, right there with us in all the little details of our lives. He not only answers the big requests but also the ones due to our own carelessness. After all, He is the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our distresses.

'Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.' Jer. 33:3