Let Thy Will Be Done

This blog is two testimonies that both involve a set of lost keys. Both incidents happened within a week of one another and both families involved were Christians. One set of keys were found and one set of keys were not found. Please read on to find out why.

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In the summer of 2015 I received a phone call from my sister who asked me for some advice. I gave the advice as kindly as I could and backed up what I said with what is written in the Word of God. My sister hung the phone up and I knew in my heart she was upset and did not appreciate the advice I had given. I really wanted to say what she wanted to hear but I knew that I loved her too much not to speak the truth, it tells us in Proverbs 27:5-6 ‘Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses’. The book of Proverbs also teaches us to choose our friends wisely Proverbs 13:20 ‘Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm’. The Word of God also teaches us to seek the counsel of wise people in Psalm1 (Link). 

The following day I was rushing around Kings Heath High Street in Birmingham (England). As always I was trying to do too many jobs at one time.  It was 1.15pm and the afternoon hospital visiting time for my mom was from 1.30pm to 2.30pm and visiting times were very strict and rigid because of the nature of the ward. That gave me a total of 15 minutes to get to the hospital, to get parked up and run across the grounds with my mom’s clean washing in hand. To my horror when I got to my car I could not find my car keys. I had to go back to the High Street and retrace my steps which meant going back to every shop I had been in before. Alarm bells started to ring when I was heading towards the final shop, because as yet the car keys had not been found. I was praying with everything I had that they would be found in the last shop but sadly they were not! It was now 1.30pm. I stood right in the middle of the High Street, lifted my eyes to the heavens and prayed with everything I had, I cried out to God to direct me to where the car keys were, but nothing, still no keys.

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I had to decide what to do next. I choose to run from the High Street to the hospital wearing the most unsuitable footwear, a pair of flimsy flip flops that kept falling off my feet as I sprinted through the streets. It was a painful experience both mentally and physically. I eventually got to the hospital with only 15 minutes of visiting time remaining.  When I arrived in my mom’s room, siting in the chair was my sister, the one I had upset the day before and I could see that she was not happy to see me. Then to top things off my mom started crying because I was late and she was anxious about her clean clothes, the ones that were sitting on the back seat of my car! Due to the nature of my mom’s illness it was difficult for her to understand the most simple of things, so trying to explain why her clothes were sitting on the back seat of my car proved to be very difficult. 

My sister could see the difficult situation I was in and even though I had upset her the day before, she managed to put her own hurt to one side and offered to take me all the way home to get my spare car keys. Initially I said ‘no thank you’ because I planned to ask my son to pick me up after he finished work, but she insisted on taking me. I was really moved by her kindness because I knew she was hurt from the telephone conversation the day before but she was willing to put her own pain to one side to help me out. The drive home and back was a difficult one, it took 40 minutes there and about 50 minutes back.  In wisdom we did not talk about the telephone conversation until we were nearly back at my car, she said that I had really hurt her and she had spent most of yesterday afternoon crying.

The long and short of it is that the keys were never found because God knew that we would reconcile our relationship by putting us together for nearly two hours. We said we loved each other and said goodbye with a big hug and a kiss. Praise God. On reflection I also learned the importance of not rushing around and trying to do too many things at one time. The Word of God tells us that God will never give us a load greater than we can bear Matthew 11:28-29 ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls’, it also tells us to enter God’s rest Hebrews 4:3 ‘Now we who have believed enter that rest’. The Word of God also encourages us to be still and know that I am God Psalm 46:10 ‘Be still, and know that I am God'.

Approximately one week after I lost my car keys, an Elder at our church and his wife gave this testimony: 

Our daughter usually calls us at least twice every day. She calls on her way to work in the morning, and on her way back home from work. On this particular day, having already called us as she was on her way to get a train home from work, she had told us that she would be going back out jogging after getting home. We were not expecting another call from her, so we were surprised that evening when she phoned all distressed and upset. The explained that, donned in her jogging outfit with flat keys in pocket along with her earphones and mobile phone she had returned to her flat and could not find her keys. She had frantically retraced her steps with no success and them called her husband who was not going to be getting back home for a while.  

We listened to her anguish, had a prayer time with her, then told her to go back and retrace her steps again.  We assured her to believe in faith that the Holy Spirit will illuminate the keys to her. A neighbour gave her entrance into the building where she waited for her husband to arrive telling him all that had happened.  Also telling him that she had spoken to us and what we had told her to do, he said ‘is there any point in going back to retrace steps again’, to which she replied by saying ‘I just feel I want to give it another chance to find them’, especially in light of the conversation she had with us, and was she was feeling much calmer now.
      
Well the next call from her was ‘mom, dad I found them!’ The keys had been placed on a wall outside someone’s house. Our daughter told us that she could hardly believe her eyes, she thought ‘are they really mine?’, and she was even hesitant picking them up. Another amazing thing was that it had been raining, but the little woolly dog on the key ring was not wet. He was smiling at her as if saying ‘I’m here I knew you would come back for me’.  Thank You Father, thank You Jesus, thank You Holy Spirit. Amen.   

In summary we have two similar situations, Two Christian families who both within one week of each other lost keys. Both situations involved prayer and faith. One could question why was only one of the sets of keys found? Did the person in the first testimony have less faith? The answer is no, God is awesome and he always works all things out for the Good of everyone; Romans 8:28 ‘And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose’. The first lost keys were not found so that reconciliation could take place between two sisters. The lengthy car journey taught them both the most important thing about their relationship and that is that they both loved each other very much, Praise God. The second keys had to be found so the daughter and son in law of the Elder and his wife would see the power of God and His Awesomeness due to the faith they demonstrated, and the absolute conviction in their voices when they told their daughter that the keys would be there if she retraced her steps.  Amen

Authors: Christina O’Neill, Herbert & Inie Jean

May God bless and enrich your life

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