Over the holidays my husband Sean and I flew from Michigan to California to visit family and friends. It was the first time taking our daughter, 7 1/2 weeks old at the time, on a plane! The morning of our flight we were up early getting everything dialed in, all was going well. We were in "perfect divine right order" the whole way and our trip out was smooth sailing. Then, a couple days in, I go looking for our laptop... and it is nowhere to be found. My heart sinks as I realize we must have forgotten it at the TSA security check back in Detroit. It's a thin silver MacBook Air, they made us put it in it's very own bin, there was so much to grab and think about with the baby. We left it there. It was gone.
My first thought was that we would never get it back. My NEXT thought was YES we will absolutely get it back! I immediately went to work changing my first thought, refusing every idea that we had lost our laptop for good. Going into affirmative prayer I recognized that God is all there is and that nothing can be lost, everything is in it's perfect place. I imagined being at the airport to get our laptop back. I felt so much GRATITUDE that it had been returned to us. I thanked the person, the individualized expression of God, that found the laptop and turned it in so that it would be waiting for us when we got back. I released my word and KNEW that it was so. Then I told Sean, and helped him also grab onto the idea that we were so happy and grateful with our laptop returned to us with ease and grace, thank you God.
My next step was to take action... so I went to the DTW website and found the area to submit a claim to their lost and found department. The entire time I continued to consciously be "so happy and grateful now that" our laptop was returned. Because it was going to be. It had to be. I was so disappointed by the thought of it being lost, I refused to accept it. So I did my best to only entertain the right idea... the one that I wanted... not that other possible outcome of it being gone forever.
There were many times during the two weeks in California where I would catch myself thinking something like "oh I should tell Sean to change his google chrome password, because if someone ...WAIT - NO! That's not necessary because our laptop will be returned to us. I am so happy and grateful now that our laptop is returned with ease and grace, thank you God. Thank you every aspect of this One that is involved in the process of our laptops return. Thank you Thank you Thank you God!"
It's the type of situation where you've done just about all you can do, and so all you can do now is wait... wait for an outcome to an event that is completely outside of your control. So while one waits in this type of situation, it is in ones best interest to "stand guard at the portal of your mind" as Emerson said (I hope I am quoting him correctly), and make sure you are thinking the right thoughts - the thoughts that affirm the desired outcome you WANT from this event which is outside of your control. The other option is to worry about the outcome you don't want. Being a student of the Science of Mind, I knew where to keep my attention, so I kept planting seeds of gratitude for my desired outcome and the return of our laptop!
Fast forward ... we arrive back in Detroit, where the temperature is a high of 28F, and head home. I search my email for a response to my lost and found request... there is a reply!! YES!! It says... it says that they don't have our item. I take a deep breath and then let it out. Then I laugh a little because I know they have it, they just don't know they have it!! At that moment the idea occurs to me that I should just go to the airport and visit their lost and found department in person. Then I would know for sure. But I didn't go right away, it was freezing cold and I would have to take the baby and oh what a hassle... so instead I stayed inside my warm house and kept an eye on my email... and continued to be grateful for our returned laptop.
A week goes by... I have not gotten a new email about our item. I am starting to feel discouraged, it's almost been 30 days and in my mind there is an assumed rule that anything in the lost and found for over 30 days is up for grabs. Then it's Wednesday, I have my prayer partner calls on Wednesday, and this is definitely what I needed to pray about - I hate the idea of our little laptop being gone forever! Everything of ours on it, gone. Possibly in the hands of another person! No! Cancel cancel wipe it away, that thought is NOT my desired outcome!
During the prayer call, the idea came up again that I really should just go to the airport and visit the lost and found office. That is the only way to know for sure. I vowed to do it that day and so later that afternoon baby Angelika and I went to visit the airport. It was 15 degrees out but hey at least it wasn't snowing! Upon arrival at the airport terminal I asked where the lost and found office was located and luckily it very close to where I was (not waaaaay at the other end of this huge place).
I walk to the office and tell the woman there what we lost and the day we traveled. She heads into the back room and I think "this is it, this is when our laptop is returned to us! Thank you God, Thank you God, Thank you God"... and I kept repeating it in my head, almost under my breath, until the woman emerges from the back room with our thin silver MacBook Air in her hand and I say out loud "oh thank God it's here!" A huge smile spreads across my face. I am so happy and grateful now that our laptop is returned! Their email response to me was wrong, our laptop was here!
Though I knew and affirmed it all along, I was so relieved to have it demonstrated. Thank you God! And so it is.
