Miracle

This story starts on Sunday.
I'm not a fan of diaper bags, so I usually just carry a diaper, wipes, snack, and toy or two in my large purse. Last Sunday as I was packing my purse with enough entertainment to last through church I had this quick remembrance of a conversation I was part of about two years ago during a Primary Presidency meeting. Amy M. said something about how she always takes her wallet out of her purse when she goes to church. (If I remember correctly she knew someone who had their purse stolen at church.) Amy's voice and this comment popped in my head as I was throwing fruit snacks and Cherrios into my purse, but I didn't think much about it.

Fast forward an hour and we are in Sacrament meeting. I had to take Emery to the mother's lounge and when I came back I could see that Ryan had been in my purse. Diapers, wipes, toy trains, and empty snack bags littered the floor and bench. When the meeting ended Jared scooped everything back up and put it in my purse for me, then we took Ryan to nursery.

Monday was President's Day and Jared had the day off from school. We took it easy at home just catching up on some housework, homework, etc. I had planned to do a bunch of errands on Tuesday afternoon but about the time I was ready to go Ryan fell asleep on his bedroom floor (he'd refused to take a nap at his regular time) and I decided not to wake him.

So, it's now Wednesday morning and I needed to go do my errands and I'd promised Ryan I'd take him to the library to check out a new Thomas movie. Emery was in the carseat, coats were on and we were walking out the door when I had this feeling to check my purse for my wallet. I dumped the whole bag out (great, I needed to clean my purse anyway) and the wallet was not in there.

I started panicking, coats came off and I searched but could not find it anywhere. So I said a prayer and immediately a picture came to my head. I saw the chapel bench we'd sat on three days before and I remembered that Ryan had dumped my purse and that I hadn't seen it since. I started freaking out because we are the first of THREE wards in that building, so if my wallet had been left, where would it be and who would have picked it up? The first thing I did was run to check my bank account to make sure no strange transactions had been made (none had). Then I called Jared and bawled to him about it. He's so good about staying calm and helping me feel better. We decided to wait until that evening (the church would be open because it was mutual night) and then he would go check to see if the wallet was there or if someone had turned it into the bishop. Amazingly I felt peaceful all day about this solution.

After dinner Jared went up to the church and was back within 10 minutes. When he walked in the door so soon I started worrying again (oh, no. It wasn't there.) because he was back so quickly. But he had the wallet in his hand! And it had been exactly where I had "seen" in my head after I said that prayer. Amazingly after three wards were in the chapel that day it was still under the bench, and had not been touched. Immediately I said another prayer, this time of THANKS!

I learned a few things from this experience. #1 If a thought comes to my head that *could* be a prompting, I need to act on it!!! (Remember the comment Amy made about never taking her wallet to church.) #2 God does answer prayers! I have no doubt it was the Holy Ghost that put that thought in my head of where to look for the wallet. #3 Jared totally trusted me when I told him I thought the wallet had been left in the chapel. I'm not sure I'm that trusting or have that much faith in other people's words.