Those Stories

I had always wanted one of “those” stories. You know the one where you can’t find your car keys and you look everywhere and then you stop and say a prayer and right after you look in the spot you already looked and your keys seem to magically appear there! But I didn’t have that story. I had lost things. I had prayed to find things. I had found things. I sometimes never found things. Nothing so obvious that I could call it “that” story. 

My 2 year old has a “puppy”. It’s a puppet puppy- the color of dirt- and it is itself really dirty. This puppy sleeps with him every night. His whole body instantly relaxes when he is holding puppy. Last night we couldn’t find puppy. 

Now this wasn’t too unusual for us to search the house for puppy at bedtime. I muttered how I’ve spent way too many hours of my life looking for this puppy. However I didn’t remember seeing puppy that day. I had previously looked for him that afternoon in hopes my boy would nap and never found him. We had gone on 3 walks that day. Twice to school and once around the neighborhood and to a park. I knew he didn’t have him on the last walk home from school and we walk the same path that we did to school so we would’ve seen him. He had his hands full of 2 Spider-Man stuffed animals and superhero masks when we went on our leisure walk. I don’t remember puppy being in that mix. But if he did have him I would’ve seen it fall. I had seen it fall out hundreds of times before and picked it up. My husband hadn’t seen it fall out when we were in California a year and a half ago so this “put-see” as my 2 year old calls it is actually round 2 put-see. I couldn’t be the one who lost puppy this time. My pride wasn’t allowing that to be a possibility. 

So here we were, past bedtime and no puppy. There was a slim chance my little guy would fall asleep without puppy and we for sure could guarantee a wake up cry in the middle of the night because we had gotten those several times in the past when he simply couldn’t find puppy under the blankets. 

So I got out a headlamp, put on my helmet and started pedaling my bike on the path we had walked. As I passed the elementary I uttered a prayer for help but it was just routine, I didn’t  really have faith. I thought about my previous seemingly unanswered prayers to find lost objects. I wondered why I hadn’t had a “that story” moment. Then a softening inside me came and I knew it was because I didn’t really have faith in my prayers for those lost objects. So I began another prayer. 

I asked my Father in Heaven for his help. And this time I really believed he could help me. I knew he was the only one who knew where puppy was. He was the only one who could help me. I told him I was aware that it was a little stuffed animal but it meant a lot to my boy and because of that it meant a lot to me too. I asked him again to please help lead me to puppy.

I kept scanning the area left to right, right to left with my headlamp, slowing down in the areas where it was darker. I was only about 1/5 of the way on the path we had walked when I  glanced over at a bench by the pond and noticed a little shadow on it. I thought, oh someone must’ve lost a hat and someone put it on the bench, the person who lost the hat will be so happy when they find it. I had passed the bench when the thought came, I should just go check and see that it is a hat. I turned my bike around and rode on the grass. As I came around the back of the bench I saw that raggedy well worn and oh so loved puppy. Right next to puppy was a painted rock that said “Blessed” with a cross.

I snatched up puppy as fast as I could fearing if he sat there just one second longer he would turn into a mirage and it wouldn’t be real. I securely shoved him in my pocket, headed to leave and then turned back and snatched up that rock too. I instantly knew I was indeed blessed and that my Heavenly Father had shown me where puppy was. He cared because it mattered to me. He listened because it mattered to a 2 year old. That rock solidified his awareness and love for me and my boys. 

I returned home with so much relief and joy. My 5 year old was waiting up. He had given his brother his puppy to use that night since he was concerned for him but his brother would only accept his own puppy. I told my oldest about my prayer and how Heavenly Father listened and helped me. He then summed it up perfectly in his prayer as I tucked him in, “We are all so very grateful for everything you do for us, we are so grateful for how nice you are.” Amen my boy, Amen.