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providence.

prov·i·dence /ˈprɒvɪdəns/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[prov-i-duhns] –noun

1.	(often initial capital letter) the foreseeing care and guidance of God or nature over the creatures of the earth.

"Take this. I heard your story. I want you to know that on a day like today, there is some good in the world, and that it's not all bad."

These words launched me into the realization that God is a provider. Jehovah Jireh.

On Saturday, I was hanging out with my friend Shelly. We had a full morning/afternoon planned. I got on the subway with my wallet, but when I arrived at Starbucks, my wallet was gone. Somewhere along the way, I had lost it. I called TD Visa and Interac and cancelled both my Visa and my Interac card. I asked the man if it was possible to be re-issued another interac card.

"Only with ID."

When I lost my wallet, I lost my day pass, my driver's license, my visa, my interac, and $80 in cash.

"So, if I've lost everything..?"
"We can re-issue you a new interac in the mail, but it will take about a week."

My heart plummeted. What would I do for the weekend without any id and without any money or access to money?

Shelly gave me her metropass so I could go to all the stations we had passed on the way to downtown and ask if anyone had returned my wallet. I stopped at every single stop between Museum and King and asked each booth attendant if anyone had found my wallet. Nothing. I asked the attendant at King station to call all the terminals (Finch, Downsview, Union, Kennedy, Kipling) to see if anyone had returned my wallet. Nothing. The lost and found was only open Monday to Friday, and it would not be open until Tuesday, since Monday was an Easter Holiday.

I went to Starbucks feeling pretty panicky. It's one thing to lose your wallet in the city you live in, but another thing to lose it in a city that is no longer home on a LONG weekend and have ABSOLUTELY no way of finding any income. To make matters worse, when I called home, my mom yelled at me for not carrying a purse.

I hung up the phone feeling horribly stupid and small. I also wondered how I'd eat that weekend.

As Shelly and I left Starbucks, a man came up from behind me and handed me a twenty.

"Take this. I heard your story. I want you to know that on a day like today, there is some good in the world, and that it's not all bad."

I cried.

A good samaritan.

After this, I stopped at a TD branch, and miraculously, even without ID, I was re-issued an interac card.

The man, in combination with a new interac card reminded me that God was taking care of me. I no longer anticipated that I would be reunited with my wallet, but things would be okay.

That night, I was supposed to meet up with my friend Warren. In the almost 5 years I have known Warren, he has almost ALWAYS picked me up at Don Mills Station. But on Saturday, for some reason, I decided to call him and ask him if we could meet at Finch. I wasn't really sure why I did that. I just decided I should. When I got to the station, I was walking to the parking lot, when I suddenly had a desire to go back and ask a booth attendant whether my wallet had been found.

"That's stupid," I thought. "There are so many booths at Finch and it's already 7. It's been 8 hours. It's not like it'll suddenly materialize."

But the nagging feeling persisted. So I went back inside. I felt directed to a booth that was nowhere near where I was standing. I asked the man if a wallet had been returned. He asked me some questions. I answered.

He pulled out my wallet.

Inside: all the contents. Including the $80 I had withdrawn that morning.

That's providence.

On Saturday, I was reminded over and over again of God's faithfulness. I was overcome by the generosity of a complete stranger (a TORONTONIAN!! That's probably the crazy part!) and overcome by the bank bending rules that they had stipulated 1 hour before when I had called. And as though those provisions did not demonstrate His caring hands, He also reunited me with my wallet, providentially.

As I contemplated these things, I realized something striking.

I had gone to many stops in search of that wallet and the eighty dollars that was inside. I had tried everything I thought possible to get that wallet back. I had spent hours looking for that wallet, trying to rectify the damage done and the hassle of losing a wallet.

I caught a glimpse of how God works.

You see, God will do ANYTHING for that which is lost. The amazing thing is, he doesn't only go to great lengths for the $100 bills or the $50 bills or the $20 bills. The amazing thing is, he searches high and low and CALLS OUT to the mere pennies. He went so far as to DIE for the pennies, so that they would be reunited to Him.


That, my dear friends, is providence.

Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.' Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.