The Wedding Ring

This is a short story about how our walk got started.

This is the second marriage for both Randy and I.
When we got married my mother gave us her parents wedding rings to use.  Now I had 3 brothers and 2 sisters that she could have given them to but she choose to give them to us. Back in our BC (before Christ) days in the 70's we lead a wild life of partying. One Friday night Randy decided to hit the bar scene while I stayed home.  Although it was late I had decided that I would join him at one of the local bars.  When I got there he was very much under the influence and became agitated and angry and accused me of checking up on him.  In a fit of drunken rage he took off his wedding ring and threw it across the bar.  Broken hearted I returned home without him.  When he got home after the bar closed he just passed out. The next morning when we got up he realized what he had done.  He was apologetic to gain my forgiveness.  Now came the hard part.  I told him he would have to be the one to tell my mother what he had done with the ring that was so dear to her.  Randy wanted time to contact the bar owner in hopes that he could search the bar and find the lost wedding ring.  Out of desperation, while we were waiting for a chance to search the bar we decided to hunt in the pockets of the clothes he had on the night before.  Knowing full well the wedding ring would not be there ... and it wasn't.  Now I had not prayed for a very long time but out of fear of having to tell my mother we no longer had the ring, I thought the situation warranted  a prayer. So I prayed, Lord if you let us find this wedding ring I'll go to church. I went about the Saturday business of cleaning and doing laundry.  It was about 2:30 in the afternoon and as I went to transfer the clothes from the washer to the dryer what I saw startled me to the point of screaming. Imagine that the clothes went through a sloshing wash cycle and then a tornadic spin cycle. When I opened the washer lid, on the top of the agitator, perfectly balanced, standing straight up and down was the wedding ring.  This sight left us feeling a little freaked out.  Holding to my promise on Sunday morning I got up and got ready for church.  As I was literally going out the door Randy said to give him 5 minutes and he would get ready and go with me.  And so our walk began ...

We're sure that God was amused by my prayer.  God does not bargain with us but He did take advantage of the situation to draw us to His salvation.

Note: The ring is a thin band with a decorative curved edge.  As many times as Randy has tried, he has never been able to make it balance.

Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (NIV)

 

~ Joan and Randy