Lost and Found

Yesterday I lost my cell phone. It was a very frustrating experience.

Normally I'm very careful about where I set my phone. I only ever put it 1) on top of my chest of drawers, or 2) in one of the 3 bags I take places. Because of this I usually know exactly where my cell phone is. In the last year since I acquired it, I have never lost it . . . until yesterday at approximately 8pm.

I noticed that my phone was gone when I arrived at ward prayer last night. During the summer we have ward prayer outside, next to the volleyball pit. I got to ward prayer just a few minutes before it started and reached in my purse to turn my phone to silent.

It wasn't there.

I cursed myself for forgetting my phone at my family's house and decided to go back after ward prayer to retrieve it. There was just one problem: It wasn't there. I called it at least five times, scoured my room, and checked both cars that I had driven. No phone.

At this point I was starting to feel a little panicked. My apartment complex just cut off our phone line about a week ago. How's that for rotten timing? I was now unable to contact friends or family, other than by email (assuming that my tempermental internet wouldn't disconnect unexpectedly in the middle of an email or instant message).

As I continued searching, the thought came that maybe I should pray to find my phone. I hesitated at first. Did I really need to pray about something so trivial? It was definitely inconvenient not to have it, but in the eternal scheme of things, wasn't a lost cell phone pretty insignificant? As I pondered, I felt a reassurance that it would be okay to pray for help. I decided to check my car one last time, and if the phone still wasn't there, I would pray.

As expected, the phone was not in my car. I came back inside and prayed for help. I explained that it wasn't a huge deal, but that it was very inconvenient not having my phone and that if possible, I would like to find it soon. Then I fell asleep.

This morning I was barely awake when my sister, Janel, showed up at my door. She had my phone in hand. Upon questioning her, I learned the details of how she had come in possesion of my phone:

Janel had received the email I had sent to my family, explaining that I had lost my phone and could only be contacted by email until it showed up. She decided to call it and see if anyone would answer. To her surprise, someone did. Apparently the phone had fallen on the ground near my apartment parking lot, and just as Janel called it, a girl happened to be walking by, heard the phone, and answered it. She arranged to give it to Janel and Janel brought it back to me.

Was it just a coincidence? Some people might think so, but I disagree. When I prayed last night, I knew that I would find my phone. Maybe if I had prayed sooner I would even have found it last night. Who knows?

Either way, I'm just grateful to have my phone back. The Lord does hear and answer prayers. Miracles happen every day.

Even in the form of a pink cell phone.