The following was submitted by one of our readers, Vanessa Kay. She writes:
Miracles Big and Small, and God’s Timing is not our own
Some days, out of the blue, a miracle hoped for comes true. Today was one of those days.
Last October I lost my wallet. It was a big bummer, not just for the obvious reasons (replacing ID and ALL the cards is a time consuming pain in the butt), but that was especially painful because I had a couple hundred in cash, several gift cards given to me by my late best friend and a $700 cash card with at least $550 balance on it that was not replaceable.
I knew within a day that it was missing, and I wracked my brain as to where I last saw or used it and the last thing I could remember was taking it out of my purse in a doctor’s office to grab my insurance card (I was in the Dr’s room because they came in and asked for it because the copy they made at the front desk didn’t go through).
Checking the office
That was my last memory of holding my wallet. So of course the first thing I did after searching my purse and my car for a second time was to call that office. The receptionist hadn’t seen anything but promised to ask all the staff and let me know if anyone else had or it turned up.
I did all the things one normally does when they’ve lost an important item… I asked all the kids if anyone had seen it, I said a prayer, then I systematically began tearing my house and car apart, bit by bit. By the next day it still wasn’t found so I drove 30 minutes back to the Dr Office to make extra sure it wasn’t there. No luck.
Doing the “trick”
Only then did I remember the little “trick” I have learned years ago that has helped me find so many missing things – I sat real still and imagined seeing the wallet in my hands, and feeling the joy and gratitude and relief of having it in my possession again. I imagined calling some of my best friends (who of course had heard all about my lost wallet) and excitedly letting them know that what was once lost was now found!
And then I wrote a journal entry, sharing all about my experience of finding the wallet and the deep relief and happiness I was feeling as a result. From that point on I just KNEW that I would find my wallet, to the point that I didn’t even bother ordering new cards or a new driver’s license.
Following Promptings
I would listen for promptings or spark ideas that might lead me to find it or to run into someone else who had found it. Time after time, those prompting came up short.
In December, after having experienced the extreme inconvenience of flying without ID in late October and faced with another flight, I finally ordered a new ID and debit cards. But I still held onto a deep faith that I would find my wallet with all the missing funds and gift cards, in spite of several people telling me that it almost certainly had been stolen or found but not returned and I would never see it again.
In February, my friend Rebecca came to help me prepare for a future move and clean out my house and my garage. I looked forward with excited anticipation that we would find the missing wallet during that time. We spent an entire week cleaning things out and each night I went to bed slightly disappointed that it hadn’t been found (I was hoping to treat my friend and I to a fun experience when we found it). But when doubt and fear came up, I chased it away quickly.
I slowly began to think less about the wallet, and my little bursts of looking looking everywhere subsided. But about a week ago I decided to thoroughly clean my room and immediately had the anticipation again of finding my lost wallet. I felt again within me the gratitude and excitement that I felt when I first visualized finding it. The room is mostly cleaned out now, and nope, it didn’t turn up there, either.
Pick this one up
But today, just after getting home from morning barn chores, I got a phone call from a number I didn’t recognize. I usually don’t answer those because it’s usually someone trying to sell me something. But something told me to pick this one up.
On the other line was a receptionist at a law firm asking me if my full name was Vanessa Amber Kay. Sounded kind of like a collection call initially, and I’m now wracking my brain, trying to think if there’s an unpaid debt somewhere I don’t know about. But it turns out she introduced herself and then told me that she thinks she has my wallet.
9 months later
I was stunned. This was not how I was expecting to get my missing wallet back. I had never even heard of this law firm or been there before and how in the world did they end up with my wallet now, 9 months after I had lost it? She gave me the address and I was on my way (they were even open on a Saturday, how often does that happen?)
When I arrived, I brought my ID and she handed over the wallet. Sure enough, that was my missing wallet and all the cash and cards and everything just the way I left it.
Missing keys
I asked how she came to come into possession of it and she said that the mailman came to deliver a package today and the keys were missing to open the mailbox. So she started digging through every drawer in all the desks trying to find it and along the way she found my wallet buried in a forgotten drawer. She had no idea how long it had been there, but she was determined to find the person it belonged to.
She first called two of my banks to try to get my contact information but they were closed b/c it was Saturday. Then she just looked my name up online, found my photography business and called my phone number. Lucky for me I picked right up. She thinks that someone found it many months ago, turned it in, and then it got shuffled away (this office wasn’t too far from my Dr’s office and I may have dropped it in the parking lot).
Perfect timing
The funny thing is, while I was certainly desperate to find the wallet back when I lost it, mostly for convenience reasons, this month I REALLY needed that money, because my ex just happened NOT to pay child support for all of June and my main lesson horse was injured so I wasn’t able to give about $600 worth of riding lessons this last week, and I had been counting on all that income to pay my bills.
So, while the missing wallet didn’t show up when I asked for it, and when I hoped to find it, it showed up right when I needed it most (because heaven knows that money would have been spent long ago if I had had it – it was going to be Christmas shopping money).
God knew when I fervently prayed that I needed to get this money back – but He also knew WHEN I would need it the very most. And the kind receptionist at the law firm who found it today, was inspired to find it – and then find me.
Just as I pictured it
All the gratitude and relief I felt in advance way back then – and the very fun experience of calling all my friends and saying “GUESS WHAT!?!?” happened just the way I pictured it. It just reinforces the philosophy I learned from my friend Leslie Householder to “Keep calm and watch what happens.”
It works out every. Single. Time.
Warmly,
Vanessa
Vanessa Kay is a Mindset Mastery student and Genius Bootcamp alumni. To learn more about what Vanessa is up to, visit www.vkayphoto.com.
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