Prayer: What to Do When Something Important is Lost…

Prayer.

It’s a pretty powerful thing, y’all.  Prayer is our direct line of communication with our Heavenly Father.  We can take all of our needs and requests to Him in prayer.  And, sometimes, if we listen hard enough, we can hear the Father speaking back to us during our prayer time, too.

But, do you know what else is really great about prayer?

Well, two things, actually.

1. According to 1 John 5:14-15, if we ask anything of the Father according to His will, we can be confident that He hears us.
2. Answers and solutions come when we pray.

Have you ever lost something extremely important?  And no matter where you look, you just can’t seem to find that super important thing?

Come on.  Tell me I’m not the only one that misplaces stuff all the time? 

I just can’t seem to find it…

Several years ago (I’m talking I was still a teeny booper… so this was ages ago), I heard my pastor’s wife testify about how she had lost something important that she just could not seem to find.  But, after stopping her search to pray about it, the lost item showed up in one of the places she had just looked.  I remember sitting on my pew and thinking, “Well, huh.  Never thought to pray about missing stuff before…”

Why it never occurred to me to pray about things like that is beyond me.  I mean, scripture clearly tells us that the Lord cares about all that concerns us.  So, why shouldn’t we take it before the Lord when we’ve lost something and it’s bothering us because we cant find it?  

Let me tell you what happened last week in the Wilson house concerning a missing item.  I’m in a season of learning.  And that answered prayer was just another lesson (or two or three) to be learned.

Picture it:

It’s a Thursday afternoon and I’m taking my afternoon nap (no judging, y’all.  Afternoon naps are almost mandatory for this old lady.  Naps are precious.) when suddenly I get a text from my sister asking if I was up.  At this point, I had just woken up, but wasn’t quite ready to get out of the bed and conquer the rest of the afternoon.  Soooo, I didn’t actually read all of the texts that she had sent.  I just saw the important one (or so I thought) that said something like, “Momma’s lost her purse.  Check the closet to see if it’s there.”  (Actually, y’all, I’m not real sure if that’s even what the text said…?)

So, I head to my parents’ closet and sure enough, her bright blue, paisley Vera Bradley was sitting on the closet floor right where she had left it.  I sent a quick text back and said I found it and then got busy washing some dishes.

Let this be a lesson to everyone: Don’t text me something important while I’m napping and expect me to be coherent enough to respond to everything as soon as I wake up.  Because it wasn’t Mom’s purse that was missing.  But, her bank card.

Yep. Of all the cards that could have been missing, that bank card is prettyyyyy important.

Stop. Drop. And Pray.

While we’re still imagining, picture the frantic search that took place when Mom and my sister got home fifteen minutes later and realized the card was still missing.  As Mom dumped ALL of the contents from her purse and her work bag onto her bed, I finished up the dishes and took the matter before the Lord.

“Lord, what is lost will be found.  Show us where the card is.”

Pretty simple prayer, right?

I found Mom outside searching her car and confidentially told her that her card would be found in less than fifteen minutes.  And I also told her that if it didn’t show up, then it wouldn’t be a bad idea to just get online that same night and cancel the card.  (This is all important, y’all.  Remember this for later.)  Mom gave up searching her car and went back into her bedroom where the contents of both her bags were still scattered across her bed.

Prayer is our direct line of communication with our Heavenly Father. Click To Tweet

So, as mom was sifting through her receipts and glue sticks (she’s a Sunday school teacher, y’all.  She’s not strange, I promise. ;-) ), I picked up her Vera Bradley purse thinking maybe the bank card had somehow gotten lodged in the liner.  Spoiler: it didn’t.

A few minutes later, I picked up her work bag, knowing good and well that her bank card was most likely not in that bag… considering what was in the bag was now in front of me on the bed.

“I’ve already looked in there, Cassie.  I dumped everything out of it,” she said.

Have a little faith

Guess what was laying as pretty as you please right inside the bag?

Yep, the bank card.  And the receipt from the ATM that was also missing.

And for the record, the card was found in less than fifteen minutes.  Praise.  The. Lord.  Can I get an amen?

Remember when I said it’s been a season of learning for me?  Grab a pen and takes notes.  I learned a few things from this incident:

1. God really does care for all of our needs.

Even the simple things we think aren’t too terribly important (I mean, a missing bank card is important, but you know what I mean).  So, why is it we don’t take the time to take the small needs to Him?  Those small things can add up over time and turn into something bigger and far scarier than we intended.  That doesn’t have to happen.  Take the little things to God in prayer, too, y’all.

2. When we go to God in prayer, we can be confident that He hears us and He’s working things out for us.

We don’t need to devise some back up plan or take matters about situations into our own hands.  Back up plans aren’t necessary.  Remember how I said I suggested to Mom that she should consider canceling her card?  Kind of dumb of me to even suggest that, especially since I was so confident God would answer my prayer and that her card would show up.  God’s got us, y’all.

3. The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which is lost.  Luke 19:10

Lost souls aren’t necessarily the same thing as lost bank cards.  Lost souls are far more important.  But, they do have one thing in common: being lost.  Praying for both a lost bank card and a lost soul makes a huge difference.  I mean, the bank card did show up in a place that was already thoroughly searched.  Don’t give up in praying for your lost friend or family member.  Your friend may look hopelessly lost to you, but God works in mysterious ways.  Be confident in knowing that God knows exactly where they are.  You can be sure that He is dealing with their hearts and creating an opportunity for them to find the light.

Prayer is powerful.  Prayer changes things. Prayers get answered.

What about you? Ever lost something, prayed about it, and found it a short while later?  Tell me about it in the comments below!

P.S. Don’t forget to subscribe and get your copy of my free 5-day devotional and this month’s scripture reading plan!  Click here!