I am a very organized person most of the time. I am one of those, “A place for everything and everything in its place.” My house is not perfect, but I can easily find things as I am not a clutter person at all. It is a rare occurrence for me to misplace something and especially to not be able to find it after searching a little.
Many people keep their calendars up-to-date on their phones. I am not one of those people. I still like having a planner that I can write in. 2021 has already been a very eventful year for me. Because of the passing of five family members, most close to my heart being my mom and my nephew, as well as two longtime friends, I have made many notes in my planner.
A few days ago I couldn’t find it. After searching everywhere in our home and car, I contacted a friend who I had visited thinking maybe I left it at her house. She diligently sought for it, but to no avail. There was only one place left that I knew I’d been to, but I would have to wait a couple of days to find out if it was there.
That night I was struggling with sleep due to a headache. I had casually prayed about finding it before then, but about 3:00 a.m. in the morning I asked Jesus to please help me find it. I knew He knew exactly where it was. Immediately I felt He spoke to me and said, “It’s in the bottom drawer of your cabinet next to the kitchen sink.” That is one place I had not looked. The only thing I keep in there is an address book and a couple of old phone books. I know – obsolete!
I quietly got out of bed to keep from waking Jerry and there it was! After finding it, I remembered getting my spiral address book out of there to lookup an address, and apparently, when I put the phone book back, I also placed my planner in the drawer.
God spoke to me and said, “You searched diligently for your planner, even asking others to help you in your search until you found it. Remember the parable of the woman who lost a coin and swept the entire house and searched carefully until she found it? Or the story of the shepherd who left the 99 others to find the one?” (Luke 15:3-10)
By finding my planner, I was reminded how God cares about everything that concerns us. But also, we should care about the things that concern Him. When Jesus told the two stories – about the coin and the sheep – He was showing the extent He goes to bring people to Himself, no matter how lost they are or how much time and effort it takes to find them.
He cares about you and me that much! We should have the same compassion and desire to see the lost come in. If we will take that much time and effort to look for a material possession, how much more should we be giving ourselves to see God’s lost sheep come home!
Written by Bonnie Hammer.
