Where Is It?

When our newly purchased refrigerator stopped working, my husband and I knew we would need to contact the store for assistance. Before making the call, we prepared ourselves to answer any questions they might have concerning the fridge.

We realized that many of the answers we needed would be found on the receipt. We were on a quest to find the receipt. Surely, we had carefully put it away for safekeeping. We searched the kitchen drawers. The receipt was not there.

Where could it be? We checked the counter, and to our dismay, the receipt was not there. We checked boxes in the garage. We pulled items out of the shed and checked file boxes, but still, it was nowhere to be found. Where is it? I said to myself.

“Could it have been tossed?” I heard my husband yell from the shed. I helped him carefully put the items back in the shed while wondering where the receipt could have gone. We went inside and searched the office drawers with no success.

We desperately needed the receipt, but we could not find it.

Frustration was starting to set in. We knew it had to be somewhere, but where? I convinced my husband to take a break. When we had been in similar situations, we had learned that stopping and asking God for His guidance always helped.

So we stopped, said a small prayer asking God for His help, and then went on to complete another chore. Ten minutes after we had prayed, I heard my husband yell, “I found it!” I was giddy with excitement. Where had it been? Sitting in plain sight, in the very place we had already searched. It was not hidden by other items but lay on the very top of the basket. We were so relieved! But when we examined the receipt, we realized it was for another appliance. Nevertheless, we were encouraged by the events that had unfolded.

We paused and thought for a moment. Then I had a eureka moment: “It’s in the car.” “In the car?” my husband asked. I repeated, “In the car.” Sure enough, the receipt was nicely folded, sitting in the center console of the car. We were so excited it had been found! Today’s verse reminds us that with God’s patience and help, all things are possible.

Diantha Hall-Smith