Thirty years ago, Jan and I were in Toledo, Spain. The architecture of the city is stunning revealing remnants of historic Spain. I knew in the city some of the world’s most gifted artisans created the finest chef knives made from the best steel. I found an old reputable knife maker and purchased a chef’s knife. For the last 30 years that knife has been used by me to create meals for our family and the guests who would visit our home. I was attached to the knife in a way I cannot explain. It was an extension of my hand.
Last week, the knife disappeared. We searched high and low. It was gone. I struggled with the knife’s disappearance, not just because of its rarity, but the memories it helped me create. It was like losing an old friend. Unbeknownst to me, before going to bed, Jan had prayed, “Lord, would you please show us where the knife is?”
The next morning, I had sadly assumed the knife was gone forever. In a final prayer of desperation I prayed, “Lord, I want my knife back. Please tell me where it went!” In the very next moment, I saw its exact location in the Spirit and where it was hidden. It was in our knife drawer caught in the top of the drawer wedged in the very back out of sight.
I hurried to our knife drawer and removed all the knives, scissors, peelers, and can openers like I had done almost daily for the past week thinking somehow had missed it. With the draw emptied once again and fully open, I bent down and looked up. There it was! This is not a small knife. It’s a full-size professional chef’s knife. At that moment my emotions overcame me at the goodness of God, His answer to our prayers, and His specificity in providing the exact location of the lost knife. I shared what happened with Jan what happened as my emotions became a deep and grateful expression of joy.
Some might be tempted to say, “It’s just a knife!” It’s not – it was so much more. The recovery of my chef’s knife was a message about our loving God who is concerned about what concerns us. He is the God who returns and redeems what has been lost. He gives us back our lost children, our broken lives, and our lost hope. In the smallest expressions of His love, like returning a knife, He is preparing us to believe for more. It wasn’t just a knife. It was a message.
I had a similar experience recently with a lost ring. I had been selling off some of my jewelry on eBay to downsize and had come to what I thought was the end of it. One morning as I woke up my grandmother’s garnet ring popped into my mind and I realized it hadn’t been in any of the jewelry I had sorted through. I went through an emotional panic for a couple of days as I retraced my steps through the jewelry boxes and possible places it could be, praying all the way. It wasn’t in any of the likely locations. Finally I sat down and began going through the drawer in my makeup table piece by piece, not because I thought it would be there but because it was the only place left to look. And there it was just laying in the front of the drawer where it shouldn’t have been! I knew that it was a message from God that He cares about even the smallest detail in my life because not only had He helped me find it, but He called my attention to the fact that it was missing in the first place! Message received. And every time I feel disappointed or dismayed I can think of the ring and His loving care for me envelopes and neutralizes my emotions.
wow! I don’t know how I have bookmarked your website, but here I am reading your content not knowing who you are. I am praying for a restoration between my mother and I. this blog is yet another way God is encouraging me, reminding me of His promises and His goodness. Thank you for sharing your experience with our Father Holy, He is so good !
I love this story of God being involved in the things important to us. I have more than one testimony of “seeing” where something lost is located. I am amazed each time. It brings me to tears almost more than answers to “big” prayers because it shows how involved He wants to be with our lives.