the story of today...

So, I realized yesterday when I was out that my wallet wasn't in my purse...it wasn't a major deal because I was on campus and so was Travis so he just found me and gave me money.  I figured one of the kids had pulled it out or something.

But, I couldn't find it last night when I got home either.  Yikes.

Now, this is not unfamiliar territory for me...I have misplaced my wallet before...maybe a few times?  But, only once was it never recovered, and that one time, it was stolen.

So, I may have a track record for losing it, but I also have one for finding it!  I began to retrace my steps and realized that the last place I remembered using it was at Costco last Saturday.

Ok--how I made it from Saturday to the following Friday morning without using my wallet or even realizing it was gone is an incredibly impressive and maybe a little scary. 

To show just how unshaken I was by the whole thing...I even got everyone ready to head out the door for a few errands this morning, shoes on, snacks ready, purse in hand, before I realized, Oh, I don't have my wallet still.

So what ensued was something I want to always remember.  We dropped all our stuff, I explained to the girls that Mommy didn't have her wallet and so we couldn't go to run our errands.  So for them, shoes came off and play continued.  But for me...I began to look everywhere.

The car, other bags, the bedroom, the car again, the double stroller, the backyard, the garage, and on and on.

I called Costco...feeling really silly...do you have a wallet in your lost and found that would have been left there almost a week ago??  Of course, they didn't have it.

Then I pulled the girls aside and said--ok, we have to wait on the Lord and ask him to help us find Mommy's wallet.  So we did,  we prayed and then we waited.  To be honest, I didn't get anything--

But Ellie did..."I felt like He said, OUTSIDE."

Ok.  So I went back outside.  Back to the car.  Back to the double stroller.  Back to the garage.

Halfheartedly looking at this point because I had already looked there--a lot!

Then I had the thought to text Kristen (who lives with us), who had been out of town since Sunday, but since I lost it Saturday I thought I'd ask if she'd seen it.  She said no, but she'd pray.

She texted back a couple of minutes later and said, "I felt like the Lord said...OUTSIDE."

So after that, I headed back outside with a little more conviction and determination...not to mention faith that yes, it was out there.  (I have to admit I was also thinking..."outside" could mean ANYWHERE, like in a parking lot, on the street somewhere.  But--I claimed that God is for me and was going to help me find it!

I go back to the car...then I look all around the front yard, back yard, side yard, around our trailer, back to the double stroller, and then my eye caught my single infant stroller that I hardly ever use...

But--I did use it at Costco.

I walk over to it, open it up...

And there sat my wallet in the folds of the top of the stroller.

I have to say that I was more ecstatic to go back inside and tell Ellie that SHE HEARD GOD than I was about finding my wallet.  When I got to her to tell her she kind of gave me this look like, "why are you so surprised, of course that's where it was, that's where God said it would be."

So today, she learned that YES she hears God.  (even though I think she already assumed that!)

But I also learned that...YES she hears God.

And I learned--I must have faith like a child.  To wait on God, expect Him to speak, and then believe with all my heart that His word is a promise.

And it's always true.  Praise God.

Really the whole morning was "wasted".  I didn't start my errands until noon (with peanut butter and honey sandwiches in hand and the promise of a celebration treat--popcorn!--at Target).

But I would chose to do it all over again.  I wouldn't have spent it any other way.

Thank you Lord for the way you work.  You always have our best in mind.  You are always training us, if we want it...even from the earliest age.

Ellie experienced first hand what it means to hear God's voice.

May it only get clearer and louder all her days.