HOW A LOST CREDIT CARD STRENGTHENED OUR TESTIMONY OF PRAYER
On Tuesday, August 7th 2018 I was preparing the kids for the first day of school that would happen 2 days later and everything seemed to be going wrong. Mya broke her toe at a youth activity to Clark's Hole, I got locked out of my car at the grocery store which made me late to take Hunter to meet his Kindergarten teacher and on top of all that I had lost my credit card while getting gas at Safeway. I was feeling disappointed by how hectic life seemed to be going at the time.
Later that evening I talked with Jim about what to do about the lost credit card. We decided to pray together as a family including the kids for help in finding the credit card. We asked Heavenly Father to help us find the credit card or if we were unable to find it, we prayed that it would be safe until we could cancel the card. After the prayer, the kids were very excited to see if their prayers would be answered. They began looking thru the car, my purse and other placed that it could have gone, feeling certain that Heavenly Father would help us find it since we prayed. To their disappointment, that did not happen. Almost 2 weeks went by without finding the credit card. We had cancelled the card, school had started and we slowly began to forget about it.
In the meantime, within those almost 2 weeks of the card being missing, Jacob had a very difficult Sunday at church on August 12th. During Sacrament that day a scripture had come to my mind. I looked it up on LDS tools and screen-shotted it then put my phone away, not giving it any further thought. After church when we all got in the car Jake was tearful. Jim and I both asked him what was wrong and he said he wanted to talk about it at home privately because he "knew we weren't going to be happy". Coincidentally, he also told us that he had been assigned a talk in Primary on the topic "Heavenly Father hears and answers my prayers". When we got home we brought Jake into our room where he tearfully told us that he just didn't think that church was for him. Simply put, he didn't like going. It felt long to him, he got bored and he had a difficult time sitting still. He was very emotional because he felt that expressing these things (which Jim and I already knew) would make us disappointed in him and hurt us. After listening to Jake, I remembered the scripture that had come to my mind in Sacrament meeting and I shared it with him:
MATTHEW 17:20 "IF YE HAVE FAITH AS A GRAIN OF MUSTARD SEED.... NOTHING SHALL BE IMPOSSIBLE UNTO YOU"
Jim and I testified to Jake that we know that Heavenly Father, who created him with all of his strengths and weaknesses, was aware of his feelings. We asked Jake if he believed that Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers - he said yes. We asked if he believed that the Scriptures were true - he said yes. We asked if he believed that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was true - he said yes. Then we told him that he has a great testimony! We explained to him that his concerns with church sounded less like they were about "church" and more about physical/temporal discomfort. Jake agreed. We told him that if he could have the faith of a mustard seed that Heavenly Father would help him with this struggle. We finished our talk with Jake by saying a prayer where we asked Heavenly Father to help Jake with his struggles and to give him testimony building experiences that will help strengthen him and increase his desire to go to church.
4 Days later on Thursday, August 16, 2018 I received a message on Facebook from a young man named Xavier Charles. He was messaging to let me know that he worked for the City of Roseville and had found my lost credit card in the center divide on blue Oaks Blvd while working (how it got there I do not know). He asked if we would like to meet him and he would return the card. I told the kids that we needed to get in the car because someone had found my credit card. They immediately made the connection that Heavenly Father had answered our prayer! We met Xavier and I got my bent and wilted credit card that had been roasting in the hot summer sun for several days. Before we left we told him that we prayed as a family that the credit card would be safe and I thanked him for being honest in returning it.
As I pondered over the events that had taken place over the last 2 weeks or so I see Heavenly Father's hand in each and every step. He was connecting small pieces of a puzzle that from perspective I could not make sense of, revealing a bigger picture of how his small workings in our lives brings forth miracles.
I see that had I not lost my credit card, we would not have prayed as a family to find it.
I see that had we not prayed as a family, we would not have made the connection that Xavier was an answer to our family's prayer even though we still had to replace the card.
I see that the lord answers prayers on his own time frame and in his own way and that his ways are much greater than our own. At the time, I just wanted my credit card. By Heavenly Father witholding the desire of my heart at that time, I was blessed with something much better and of much greater value in the long run!
I see that that experience took place in perfect timing before Jake's talk that he was assigned to give the next Sunday on how "Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers".
I see that receiving the answer to our prayer about the credit card gave Jake an immediate and personal testimony of Heavenly Father hearing and answering prayers which he could share in his talk in Primary.
I see that Jake being given this experience and the opportunity to share it was ALSO an answer to our prayer for Jake, in providing him with a testimony building experience that he could share at church. He looked forward to church and giving his talk for the next several days. Jake gave his talk on Sunday August 19th on how our prayers were answered and held up the wilted credit card to show the primary.
I see that Heavenly Father used the small and insignificant experience of losing a credit card to bring forth a miracle for our family! I trust Heavenly Father's plan for us and I trust that he is all knowing. I truly DO know that Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers.
