Sunday, October 26, 2008

Welcome Home

I'm kind of a freakshow when it comes to turquoise. Brian knows this. He also knows that turquoise makes a great gift. Especially on our anniversary.

And so it was that for our last anniversary, I awoke to see my husband offering me a jewelry box, and inside lay a beautiful turquoise bracelet and necklace.

Naturally, I love(d) them. Muchly, in fact.

So it was with horror that yesterday I found that the bracelet had gone missing. I turned the house upside down (the cars too). I looked through all our luggage. I called my mother-in-law, and asked her to look around her place. I called my dad to ask him if he had seen it. I called Brian (who is out of town this ENTIRE MONTH), but he was unavailable because he was somewhere in the Rocky Mountains on a horse rounding up cows.

I've been traveling so much in the last month, and I kept imagining that I had left the bracelet in some airport bathroom, that some complete stranger found it and was keeping it for her very own. Showing it to her friends and saying, "Look what I found!" I imagined that I had taken it off at work the night I got laid off, and had left in such a flurry that I had left it there, forgotten.

My heart was burning over the loss of the bracelet. My mother (who is staying with me while Brian is away) saw my distress and suggested we pray about it. We did, but I was still anxious.

Later that night, my mom and I went to the adult session of my stake conference. While we were there, I suddenly became calm about the missing bracelet. In fact, I forgot all about it until we got out of the session. As we left, I remembered it again. I told my mom that I didn't know how, but I felt like the bracelet was coming back to me somehow.

The night came and went, the morning came and went, and there was still no sign or news of the bracelet.

In the afternoon, it just so happened that our dear friends, Mark and Bridgette, were passing through Oregon on their way back to California from Seattle. They stopped in for a quick visit and while Bridgette, my mom and I were in the kitchen, I said to Bridge, "Have you happened to see a bracelet around your house?" And she said, "Oh, Yes! Thank you for reminding me, I have it in my purse."

And with that, the bracelet returned home to me.

I know it was 'just' a bracelet, but this truly is a testament to the power of prayer for me. I don't usually wax religious on my bloggy blog, but I want you all to know that no matter what religion you are, you can ALWAYS turn to your Heavenly Father. Even if it's over something as simple as a bracelet. I know prayers don't always return the answers that WE want, but the thing I was most grateful for out of this experience was that calm feeling that came over me. I know someone was listening, someone knew that I was worried, and someone sent peace to my heart.

And, of course, I'm glad to have the bracelet back.

Welcome Home. I missed you so.

5 comments:

Chris said...

Amen. True. Reminds me of my sweater.

-Chris

Kimba said...

I'm so glad! I saw it at Bridge's and was going to send it with Caleb to give to Brian to bring home to you...but somehow I think it went better this way. :) So glad you shared this!

AND? Only...a few more days. I feel guilty he's been gone so long, for some reason. I know I won't be nearly as excited as you will be, but I'm going to feel SO much better when he finally gets home.

Tanya said...

what a beautiful bracelet. way to go brian. so glad it is back where it belongs.

Leslie said...

Great story Abbs. I love how sometimes the small things really make us realize that our Father in Heaven is there and listening. You are a great woman and so is your mom.
And I'm not sure if you would have gotten that bracelet back if you left it at MY house...JK. It is GORGEOUS! I want one!
Hope your hubby is coming home soon.

L Chang said...

That is awesome! It's amazing how simple a thing it is to pray and yet we like to leave it as a last resort...at least I find myself doing that. Silly.