God helped me to retrieve lost valuables

Last Tuesday night, I went to the Ikea Store, hoping to buy a couple of tables for my new staffs who are joining us this week.

I went there around 8.30pm and started shopping around for tables as well as some other furnishings that might make my office a little cosier.

Feeling hungry I went to their restaurant on the 2nd floor. There I left my 30Gb ipod which I bought 5 weeks before and my wallet containing my personal cards and documents and approximately S$200 cash.

By then, it was near closing time and I remember going into the washroom and proceeded to the checkout counter.

As I had gotten back over S$30+ change when I bought my dinner, I didn't dig into my back pocket when I boarded the cab. However, only after I alighted from the taxi did I realised the horrifying fact that my ipod and wallet are not with me!

I started calling Ikea's main line, hoping to speak to the operator but it was already closed for the day. Soon, the more I pondered about it, the more panicky I got. When I reached home, I started calling the cab company as well in case it dropped somewhere in the back seat without me noticing. All these attempts were futile. I decided to make a police report to record what happened.

Praise be to God that in the midst of the panicking, I remembered my pastor's refrain of the verse in the gospels to "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid".

I stopped everything I was doing and prayed for the Lord's intervention. At the same time, I chose to NOT let my heart be troubled but continue to abide in His shalom. My Prince of Peace will see me through.

Reality is that keeping my heart from worrying is the toughest thing I have to do, cos it's against the fallen nature to not worry. But everytime I catch myself worrying, I reminded myself with His Word. His Word is TRUTH!

I asked the Lord to do the impossible- to help me retrieve ALL my lost items - even though I know the chances are next to none that I'll be able to recover them, at least not the ipod and my money. Still I refused to entertain such faithless thoughts, though many times I knew it was futile.

The next morning I was vocalizing that God is faithful but honestly, I felt it was a 'gone-case'.
I was in my crisis management mode and started calling the banks to cancel my cards and made preparations for replacement of my identity cards etc. I decided to go back to Ikea early to check, before they officially open their doors for business.

When I reached there, I spotted a security guard who directed me to their command centre. There, the duty supervisor said they found the wallet and had activated their entire night shift crew to wait at the check-out counters, approaching every possible person to ask their they are "Kevin".

By the time the last customer left, they decided to hand over all the lost and found items, including my ipod and wallet to the nearby police station. The guard tasked to hand over to the police had in fact left just 20 mins before I arrived at Ikea!

What joy I had. It overwhelmed me totally to see how faithful Jesus is, even when I was not so trusting.

Long story short, I got back everything I misplaced, yes, including my ipod and my cash and everything in my wallet. Except that I had to pay for my replacement bank cards....

If only I trust fully in His protection, if only I remember that I am abiding under the shadow of The Almighty...

Praise the Lord!