god cares for our smallest need

Recently my wife was very upset.  She was working in our guest bedroom and while taking off her sweater she felt an ear ring come loose from her ear and she heard a "click" as it fell - somewhere!  She immediately began to look but in the shag carpet she couldn't find it  This ear ring was very special to her - it had been a gift to her from her mother many years ago.  She looked and looked, and I looked and looked, but it seemed to be nowhere.  After several days she was just about to give up hope (we needed to vacuum as company was coming) but then she decided to pray one more time.  Then God showed up...

She got a flash light and instead of just looking in the carpet and under the bed, she decided to shine it behind the bed frame, right next to the wall.  As she did, she saw something shiny.  Her ear ring (as small as it was) had actually "logged" itself between the bed post and the wall - it had never reached the floor.  She retrieved it and came to me in tears, "God helped me find my ear ring."  We considered it nothing short of a miracle.

There are several lessons from this experience:

​First, persistence does pay off.  Kristi's search for this ear ring reminded me of the parable of the Woman Searching for the Lost Coin (Luke 15:8-10).  In the story we are told that the woman "lights a lamp, sweeps the house, and searches carefully until she find it."  Then we are told, "When she finds it she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.'"  Only this time it was an ear ring.  She refused to give up after one or two searches.  She was persistent in her effort and prayerful that God would guide her.

Second, prayer matters.  Imagine, with wars raging in the Middle East, and people undergoing serious health crisis, still God has interest and time to hear our prayers about ear rings.  Of course I think that the bulk of our time should be focused on prayer for world peace and the health of our family and friends.  But no matter or concern is too small for us to seek God's help.  What a comfort that every problem, big and small, can be turned over to Him.

Finally, God cares about even our smallest needs.  Some might say, "It's only because Kristi looked for so long that she eventually found the ear ring; it had nothing to do with God, it was bound to happen."  Well, I don't think so.   You can live by that philosophy if you want, but I don't buy it.  I've seen too many times when God has shown up at just the right time and in just the right way, to put much faith in coincidence.  No, I believe that God is intimately involved in even the smallest needs of our life.  And if God can lead my wife to a small ear ring, lodged between a bedpost and a wall; I believe there is no limit to the wonderful things He can do for us each and every day.