I was working as an Executive Assistant some years ago, when I received a phone call from my boss, Jane, who was vacationing in Germany. Sounding frantic, she told me how her pocketbook was stolen in a restaurant off the back of her chair after she stepped away. The purse not only contained cash and credit cards, but most importantly her passport.
Jane and her husband were scheduled to return home in two days. Without a passport, they would miss their flight. Because it was a holiday, the American Embassy was closed. She asked me to make several calls to see what I could do, and to also call the credit card companies.
I instantly thought of the many times I’d wasted hours looking for my misplaced car keys or something else I needed, only to resort to prayer when my own efforts failed. I always ended up finding the misplaced items, even if it took a while.
“Jane, I’m going to pray you get your pocketbook back. The thieves probably only wanted the cash. They probably dumped the purse somewhere.”
She was very pessimistic and dismissive about the possibility of ever seeing her pocketbook again, let alone her passport. But once she hung up, I bowed my head and whispered, “Dear heavenly father, you know where Jane’s pocketbook is, and that she needs her passport to return home. Your word says what is impossible with man, is possible with God. I pray you would return her passport to her and use this as a witness to Jane that you do answer prayer. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”
She called me several times over the next several hours, checking on the status of things. I just finished lunch when she called again.
“I’ve got my passport back,” she exclaimed.
“How?” I asked.
“The concierge in our hotel called to tell me that someone from a local church found it in one of the pews. Because I kept our hotel’s business card in my purse, they called me here. The only thing missing was the cash.”
“See, God does answer prayer,” I said with excitement.
Jane wasn’t convinced. To her it was a matter of good luck.
Philippians 4:6 says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every thing by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
God wants us to pray about everything! We don’t have to accept certain negative or bad things that come our way as ‘that’s just the way it is, and there’s nothing we can do about it.’ We don’t have to give up hope. We have a heavenly father we can go to in our time of need, and not just as a last resort.
What we all need is just a little more faith.
Mary Therese Hutchinson 