'Leaf' It to God

A widow loses her wedding ring...but finds her faith

By Carol Gimbel, Earlysville, Virginia

Carol Gimbel

I dragged my rake through the leaves, thinking about how last fall Steve would have been here with me, helping out with Aunt Maudie’s yard.

It had been five months since my husband’s death from a heart attack.

I struggled to go on. I’d prayed and prayed for relief from the gray sadness I seemed to live in. But it seemed impossible without Steve.

Tired, I knelt down to pluck leaves from my rake. That’s when I noticed—my left hand, the hand where I wore the diamond ring Steve had given me, was bare. The ring must have fallen off while I was working.

I dropped to the ground and sifted through the pile of leaves, trying to stay calm and not start sobbing. I wasn’t sure I could take another loss right then.

Aunt Maudie asked her neighbors to help my search. One neighbor even walked the yard with a metal detector. We scoured the ground and leaf piles for hours. I knew for a fact that I’d been wearing it when I started raking. But the ring was gone.

Just like Steve, I thought, trudging into the house for dinner with Aunt Maudie, feeling more hopeless than ever. I took my place at the table, but I didn’t feel like eating.

Aunt Maudie was having none of it. “Dear Lord,” she said, praying boldly, “you know where that ring is and how much it means to Carol. I know you can bring it back to her if it is your will. Amen.”

We had gone over every square inch of that yard. Aunt Maudie had to know that her prayer was impossible. Yet here she was, after all the hopeless searching, still trusting that God could find it for me. If I had faith like that, I thought, I could even imagine going on without Steve.

After dinner I stepped out onto the back porch and looked out at the newly raked yard. Suddenly something flashed on the ground. What’s that? A bright twinkle, almost like…

I stepped into the yard and bent down. My ring!

Impossible? No, prayer is never impossible. It just took losing Steve’s ring for me to understand that even without Steve I am never alone.

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The reason I posted this message..... years ago I had gone shopping, needing an outfit for a special occassion. I went to several different stores and tried on clothes, but couldn't find anything I liked. When I got home, I realized one of my earrings was missing. Theses earrings never left my ears.. they were given to me many years ago by a loved one who has since passed on and they are very special to me.

I called the stores I had visited and naively asked the store clerks to look in the dressing rooms to see if they could find my earring. They grudgingly agreed, but all came back with a "no" to my earring. These earrings were a bit valuable, so I figured, even if found by someone, I would never get it back.

This bothered me for days. I know we are not supposed to be attached to material things, but it was the sentiment behind the earring that I was upset about. I prayed to God to forgive my selfishness, but if there was any way to get that earring back, I knew He could find it for me. I asked Him to either please help me find it or to take away this feeling of loss for me, so that I would not miss it. Within seconds, I looked down on my bedroom carpet, which just happened to be shag, and saw something shiney. There was my earring!!!

I realized it must have come off before I even went shopping that day, while I was changing my clothes! I could not have found that without God's help!!

The other little fact around that time was that I used to vacuum our bedroom often. I just didn't feel like vacuuming for a couple of days. If I had, and the earring had been there all along, it would have been gone forever.

This was "All God"

I was not one to pray to God for "little" things, like finding objects before. But I had remembered someone saying that God wanted our prayers for little things and big things, so I just prayed. I am so happy I did, because He heard and He helped me.

Nothing is too small or too big for our gracious God.

Praise God!