Downsize. Get rid of clutter. I was determined. I opened a box that I hadn’t looked at in over 30 years. The items inside were covered with soot. After the fire that destroyed our living room and after we moved back into our home, I had set this box aside to sort through later. Later had finally come. My hands were covered with soot when I found the little shoe. And I remembered.
Managing the budget for a family of eight (husband, myself, six children) was challenging. One day I realized that my baby girl needed new shoes. I thought that it would probably be payday before I had enough money to buy shoes. So, I prayed. “Dear Heavenly Father, help me find a way to get shoes for her,”
Later that day I decided to organize the girl’s room. I found a small pair of shoes in the bottom drawer. I couldn’t remember when my friend had given them to me, but there they were. And they fit my daughter perfectly. “Thank you, Heavenly Father,” I said.
I took my three-year-old to preschool. My baby daughter was in my arms. “Do you know that she only has one shoe?” a friend said. My little Cinderella was missing a shoe. I looked in the car. I returned to the store where I had been earlier that morning. I could not find the shoe.
Once again, money was tight. I sat behind the steering wheel of my car and prayed. “Dear Heavenly Father, please help me to find the shoe.” Following the impression I received, I reached under the driver’s seat and found the shoe. Once again, I had been blessed.
Some weeks later I was organizing things in the garage. My toddler was “helping” me. When I returned to the house, she was missing a shoe. I looked in the garage and could not find it. Oh well, she was outgrowing those shoes. It was time for a new pair and the budget was not so tight this time. I felt that the shoes had been a gift from my Heavenly Father. We had had those shoes for the length of time they were needed and now they—well, at least one of them—was gone.
It was years later that I found the missing shoe in a box in the garage. I kept it.
Whenever I looked at that shoe, I remembered that the Lord gives me blessings both great and small because He cares about me and the things I need. Now the shoe had resurfaced. I used soap and water to clean away the soot. Once again, I was reminded of the goodness of my Heavenly Father.
This shoe was found, then lost, then found, then lost. And now it had been found again. I remembered all the events that had transpired.
The shoe is a keeper and I’m keeping it.