My $10,000 Miracle

The sinking feeling of the last two weeks set in.

I had lost my wedding bands with one mistake...the mistake not being in the present moment and trying to multi-task.

...as I sat driving in my car, I was mad at myself for the wild goose chase I'd just put myself through looking for my lost wedding bands...

After 2 1/2 weeks, I had made one final affirmative prayer asking for a miracle.  During my meditation following the prayer, I heard, almost audibly, "Go to San Clemente."

How could I be so dumb, I thought, the scene of where I lost the rings in the cosmetic bag that had NO identification in it whatsoever...gone for good (or so I thought) in the middle of Del Mar street! Am I really going to go all the way down there and look for them?

Being the intuitive girl I am, I decided to follow my intuitive message and went.

As I drove down the  busiest street in San Clemente, packed with the summertime lunch crowd, I looked for a parking spot. 

Hmph! I thought....I truly have lost my mind thinking I'm going to get ANY kind of parking near Del Mar.

But wait! What was that? 

Holy, crap (although, I did use another, more colorful word), that's the VERY spot I parked in when I lost my cosmetic bag out the door 2 1/2 weeks ago! I pulled in...

...O.K. Universe...I'm listening!

I went in to four businesses, the first being Nick's restaurant recounting my stories to the managers and employees and getting a big fat "I'm sorry, we don't have it" at each one.

I left my name and number with them, and chided myself for being irresponsible and a hopeless optimist for trying to find unidentified rings 2 1/2 weeks after losing them. I still hadn't told my husband fearing some ungodly reaction...which, I couldn't even fathom because he's not an "ungodly reaction" kind of guy.

As I got into my car and drove through Capo Beach,  I tried to re-affirm a more positive opinion of myself, and then, the phone call came...

...it was Liz, the manager from Nick's Restaurant.

"Vidette," she said, "I was looking at our company database at our corporate offices. We photograph and log in everything that is sent in, and I see a bag that looks like yours."

My heart dropped.  More out of fear that maybe it sounded like my bag, but would end up not being it.

She went on, "In the notes section, it says that it was brought in by someone who had found it outside of our restaurant almost three weeks ago.  I didn't remember logging it in because it was logged in by my assistant manager."

It HAD to be mine!  But what if whoever found it saw the rings, stole them, then handed in the bag?

I made arrangements to go pick up my bag the next day.

When I arrived, I was handed my bag.

I opened it up as I held my breath.

I moved the breath mints, the lip gloss and lipstick out of the way, and peered down to the bottom...

...and there they were.

My rings were safely snuggled down between all the other beauty items.

I welled up in tears, thanked the receptionist profusely, got to my car and said a prayer of gratitude.

Later that night, I reflected on the lessons learned:

1.  After telling my  husband the whole saga, he was surprised to learn that I was so afraid to tell him and toiled for almost three weeks over it.  He told me he would have been bummed, but then asked what I feared he would have done if I would have told him.

I don't know, was my answer.

I toiled for weeks over something that wasn't even reality.  I feared something that didn't even happen and also wasn't sure what I was fearing about telling him anyway.

2.  People are really good.

I immediately went to the "thief" that would find the bag and steal my rings.  Just like when I have lost my kids in Costco (three times now), I think about the child-molesting kidnapper that may find them and take them, rather than the good people that would find them, announce that they had been found and hand them back over to me. (which is what happened...everytime!)

Instead, I realized, once again, that there are more good people in the world then nasty people.

I figured out that my cosmetic bag had to go through about five sets of hands before it got back into mine....the person who found it, the hostess at Nicks, the manager who checked it in, the driver who drove the lost and found items to the corporate office, and the receptionist.

Five good people who either looked in the bag and left it's contents or didn't bother to look at all knowing it wasn't their bag.

3.  The biggest lesson for me was the power of affirmative prayer and the presence of miracles in my life...everyday.

I pray to the Universe, affirmatively, everyday.  I give thanks for already having the things in my life I am praying for.

I don't beg for them to come.

I simply give thanks for them being in my life.

I pray for small miracles like a rock star parking space or my favorite song to come on Pandora.

I receive those miracles almost daily, which over time, has truly built my faith.

But I also pray for big miracles everyday like world peace, the chance to make a difference in the world, the health of my kids, etc...and after this saga, I prayed to find my rings when there was NOTHING that looked as if there was a chance of getting them back!

I got my big miracle on this day.

If there was a sliver of my mind that wasn't completely filled with faith in prayer, it certainly was filled with the realization of this major miracle.

I used the value of my rings in the title of this post, not because I want to brag, but because I wanted you to click and read and money makes people click.

I wanted you to know the power of praying in gratitude for already receiving that which you desire.

I wanted you to know to expect miracles everyday...big ones and small ones.

If you are unsure of how to pray affirmatively or are unsure of whether or not you can expect miracles, start with small ones to build your faith.

Start with parking spaces, "I am so happy and grateful to have the perfect parking space open up right in front of this store" and KNOW it will happen.

The more it does, the more faith you will build in affirmative prayer and in small miracles.

It will build your faith in big miracles and when you pray with faith in the outcome already being so, truly, my friend, big miracles will happen everyday for you!

Happy B-I-G miracle-making!

*** I want to hear YOUR miracle stories!  Share them in the comments below and help me spread the faith in expecting miracles.***