Locked in to His goodness

I didn't sleep very well last night and when everyone in my dorm room was stirring this morning, I was still in a dream state. But there was too much commotion to keep dreaming so I woke up, bleary eyed and went to my locker. I have been using my combination lock to secure my locker and I usually put it in the same place each time I open my locker. But this morning, in my half awake state I had clearly put it somewhere different. I was looking forward to going to church this morning, especially since I found a  service in English and it was within walking distance. But after searching hurriedly I still couldn't find my lock. 

I finally used the padlock on my suitcase but it was too small so I couldn't really secure my locker. I was puzzled as to where the combination lock might be but I had a choice, to either miss the first part of the service or trust God to protect my belongings. I chose the latter and raced off to find the Anglican Church a few blocks from my hostel, leaving the open padlock in place to give the appearance of being secure. I got to the church a little late but didn't miss much. It was such a joyful, relief to be able to attend an English service as my last one had been 6 months ago in the UK. I didn't have to concentrate on the words or try to figure out what was being sung or said, I could just enjoy it. Then as I looked around at the stained glass windows there was a South African flag, among others, with the sunshine streaming in behind it. I felt at home. I've been in South America for most part of the year and between Spanish and now Portuguese I have rarely spoken much English. So for me there's something freeing about being in a place where you can fully understand the language and express yourself in equal measure. It was a beautiful service during whcih I asked God to lead me to someone whom I could bless in some way. There is not much of a gathering in Brazil if there's no cake, so afterwards I was invited to join everyone for coffee and cake and got to meet some really genuinely, lovely people, mostly British who live, work and worship in Brazil. Then my opportunity came to bless and I got to pray for a couple and share some testimonies of God's goodness with them. 

I walked back to the hostel with Christ the Redeemer in the background and a song in my heart. I didn't have any fear that the belongings in my locker would be stolen even though I knew that if anyone was serious about taking my stuff they'd only have to try the padlock I placed carefully on the latch of my locker to know it was there just for show. So I returned with peace in my heart and found all my stuff just as I left it. Father is so good to us! He takes care of every detail. So I began my thorough search through everything and still I couldn't find the combination lock. It was a mystery and I thought wow, I must've been really sleepy when I unlocked my locker this morning to have completely mislaid it. I wondered if the hostel may be able to help me with a padlock, so I explained to Yasmin, the very helpful girl at reception that I'd lost my lock, but she said that they didn't have any locks to sell me. 

But even if they did, the padlocks cost 20 reals which I didn't have. So I asked God to show me where my lock was as the disappearance still puzzled me. I sat down in the sunshine to write and a few minutes later Yasmin appeared with my combination lock in her hand. My room is on the top floor and I climb three flights of stairs to get to there. How the lock ended up near Yasmin on the ground floor, I have no idea but I'm sure God has a pretty good idea. 

I'm on a journey of learning about God's goodness, I've been asking Him to expose His goodness to me and in these moments of restoration I get to see my Dad's excellent, glorious, abundant goodness. 

Thank You Daddy God for restoring to me what was lost. Whoever is reading this, I pray the same journey of discovery for them, may they get to see Your goodness too and be restored in all areas on their lives. Amen.