A Speedy Answer

Before they call, I will answer, and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.

~ Isaiah 65:24

It was a long, hard trip through Wal Mart. Due to the oil boom, Williston went from a sleepy city to an overcrowded metropolis almost overnight. Choked with traffic, saltwater trucks, trailers - even squatting in the Wal Mart parking lot itself, it's a major undertaking to navigate the once simple trip.

The exhaustion must have gotten to my traveling companion. To avoid embarrassment, we'll call her "Plom". After already standing in line with me for some time, she left her cart with me and dashed to the restroom. Moments after returning, she grew pale. (If a resident of northern Montana can actually grow any paler this time of year.) "I don't have my wallet." She looked her cart over in 1.7 seconds. "Be right back."

Of course, I immediately began to pray. There was even a neat little section in the Prayer Warriors books where some of our heroes misplaced the wallet with all the money and passports for the entire family, and it was protected by an angel in response to their prayers. "Dear Father, please protect Plom's wallet. Help her to find it, and intact, too, if it's Your will. Oh, and watch over everyone at the mission, and wow those Pillow Pets are cute! That cake pan looks like loads of fun, too. Twenty dollars? Well, not today, but it's still nifty."

Sigh. It's hard to be a prayer warrior in Wal Mart.

Pretty soon, Plom came back. No wallet. "Oh, that's right. Lord, please help her find her wallet, and be with my family, and boy am I ever thirsty. I hope one of the lines has some water in it..." After a couple more trips back and forth to the restroom, I suggested checking the trash cans, in case someone had found it, taken the cash, and dumped the rest. 

While she was gone, I prayed again. That time, I made it all the way to "amen". Turning around toward my cart, I found myself looking down at a familiar object. It took a moment to register. Quickly, I dialed the phone. "Um, Plom, I'm looking at your wallet right now."

"Where was it?????"

"In my cart. Ha ha ha, isn't that funny?"

Plom's heart started again, and her blood pressure sank to something approaching normal. "Yes. Ha ha. If you'd only called 15 seconds sooner, you could have saved me digging in both trash cans."

Not wanting to be one of the 9 ungrateful lepers, I immediately thanked God for answering my prayer. He had indeed posted an honest, reliable person to watch over Plom's wallet from the moment it was lost, till the moment it was found again. A person who would turn it over to the rightful owner as soon as it was found.

I just didn't know He was going to use me!