Small Thing, Mighty Miracle

A few weeks back (almost four now) we lost our keys. I say we because no one knows who lost the keys, although David knows it wasn't him because he was at work. We couldn't find them anywhere. I looked everywhere I could possibly look... the garage, the car, the bags from the store, suitcases, washing machine, refrigerator, bathroom, I was even tempted to take the girls for x-rays, all for nothing. I realized we had lost them two days after they were gone. I looked for three hours, top to bottom of the house. I kept praying and praying we would find them, but it didn't happen. I kept having these little hopes that we would find them here or there, but that also didn't happen.

After a week or so, we called to find out how much it would cost to get a new set of keys (this was after I flipped out thinking they had been lost outside and someone now had access to our home and we needed to get all of the locks re-keyed). I thought it would cost maybe $50 or so. Wrong. If you read the earlier post, it was going to cost us $400 dollars to get two new keys (as we lost the second one long ago in Alaska) and the unlock thing, which I now hear you shouldn't use. Really, $400 for a dumb set of keys??? Without the unlock thing, which is the only way I find my car most of the time, by the way (that panic button does come in handy from time to time), it was going to cost at least $200 and we had to have the car towed to the dealership, which is about 10 miles away. Stinky! I kept giving us more time. David just wanted to get it done. My poor mom was upset because she was the last one to have the keys so she felt bad and I felt bad that we were using her car like crazy. It hasn't been a fun time, believe me.

David prayed and felt like the keys were in the house or in the left side of the trunk. Interesting. After I had to climb through the back seat several times to unlatch the trunk from the inside (husband doesn't know his own strength and ripped off the trunk latch off of the floor a few years ago and the only way to get in is with the key), we looked in the left side. We didn't find the keys, but found a tape on Jesus Christ by Truman Madsen. We hadn't been looking, but it was great to find it, none the less. I kept having this feeling that if I just took down the tree, we would find them, but it was Christmas time and I was in no hurry to take it down.

Weeks went by and still no keys. By now I had found someone who would come to the house and make us keys for $225. Still a ton of money. Anyway, I finally decided to take the tree completely down last week. I still had the feeling that I would find them when I took it down because, I thought, they would be in one of the boxes in the garage. Well, I looked through all the boxes and no keys. I was completely disappointed. This is why I didn't want to take it down because I knew I was supposed to find them, but I had a great fear that I would not. It was overwhelming. I sat down on the floor and started to pick up all of the little stuff that had still been under the tree, cards, games, hair stuff, shoes, etc. I bent over one more time to get something under the couch, when I noticed something blue. I couldn't believe it. It was the keys, of course. They were hanging on a bolt, on the inside of the couch frame. What? We looked everywhere for those keys, and they were in the couch all along? I know we pulled the recliners out and looked back there weeks ago, but they were not there. And here were our keys, for three weeks, hanging under our couch, never to be knocked down by moving the couch, the girls jumping or running into the couch or any such movement.

This just goes to show me the power of the promptings of the Spirit. I knew I would find it, but I was too afraid, or not faithful enough, to follow through with the instructions I was given. How many times have I done this in my life, ignored the promptings because it seemed silly or scary or insignificant? How many opportunities have I missed out on, or allowed someone else to miss out on, because of my cowardice? It's scary to think about. All I know is that this is another example to me of how grateful I am for the Spirit and how much I need to work on listening harder and letting my mind be clear enough to listen. And, I am so grateful to the Lord for saving us all of that money and getting us back our keys. Not only did it give me my peace of mind back, but it also gave me a place to put my new keyring!