Prayer and a Stolen Wallet

The night was supposed to be a calm and relaxing evening at a restaurant with one of my close girlfriends from Maryland. We decided to go into Washington DC as a fun half-way point -- Dupont Circle!  As I approached my friend I could already sense something was wrong.

Maria lives in the Washington DC area and enjoys going to church and serving in various ministries. She loves the Lord and hopes this testimony will help you remember to turn to the Lord in times of need.

-- the guy she was supposed to meet a little earlier, you could say, 'stood her up'.  I was trying to stay strong for a friend that felt beaten down by this guy -- she not being a Christian I told her (with a smile) I could introduce her to some amazing guys buuuut she would need to come to church with me - wink* wink*.

A few moments later as I thought she was feeling better she gets a call from her bank about fraudulent charges. She started immediately looking in her bag --- her entire wallet was gone!

Not a moment later she started to become hysterical (because her wallet was stolen in Baltimore about a year ago) and all I could do is try to stay calm and be the rational one for her. We remembered a gentleman that brush up against her chair to grab a drink but he never ended up getting a drink and instead just turned around a few minutes later and walked away -- which I thought was suspicious but maybe he was just angry he wasn't getting amazing DC service.

My friend and I felt violated that we were robbed right underneath our noses. This is not an awesome feeling as I started thinking back to a time in college when someone broke into my house and stole all of my wrapped Christmas presents as I returned from work one evening. In the back of my mind, I kept thinking what can I do? What should I do? I started to get a rush of insecurities and frustrations in which I contacted a few of my friends for support.

I started praying, 'Dear God just give me the strength.'

At this point, I calmed my friend and informed the staff and manager of the restaurant. They were very helpful and started taking down all her information, letting her use the computer to cancel her credit/debit cards, and created an alert since her Social Security card was in her wallet.  My friend came back to our table 20-30 minutes later feeling slightly relieved the restaurant had cameras and had called the police. The police came -- very nice men who not only took down all of our information but also walked us to the metro to look for the wallet (one of the charges was to the metro station).

After safely returning home, I sat in bed going over the entire night. I realized I was in a great state of peace and could only see how God answered my prayers in small but amazing ways --

1) We were safe

2) The staff of the restaurant were very receptive and helpful. Gave my friend access to their office computers instead of her hiking all the way back to Maryland

3) The Police were respectful, helpful, and gave my friend some relief about her wallet

4) Throughout the entire evening I was calm and rational to support my friend

Sometimes we think that when God answers our prayers they have to be the 'Big' ones. We should be "oh so thankful" for all answered prayers, even small ones. One of the friends I reached out to in need sent me this:

Philippians 4:6-7 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

I believe that when God answers prayers or teaches us a lesson we need to share it with everyone -- so here is my first attempt in spreading God's love.

Image By: Håkan Dahlström