The greatness of God’s Word that I have learned has taught me that when I abundantly share of my time, talents, and finances, I can claim God’s promise that He will rebuke the devourer for my sake.
Our family was excited to be going to New York City for our vacation. We had our schedule to visit some of the special sights like the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, Coney Island, NBC Studios, Central Park, and the American Museum of Natural History.
It was our first day in the city, and we started our time there by walking in Central Park and then spent the rest of the day in the Museum of Natural History. We were all tired from walking all day, so we decided to head home. We arrived at the train station, which was packed with commuters, bought our train tickets, and boarded our cool and comfortable train.
For this vacation, I was given the responsibility of carrying our trip necessities—the schedule, tickets, cash, credit cards, cell phone, and GPS. I had them in a bag I carried. When we boarded the train, my youngest son sat next to me and, being very tired, placed his head on my lap to rest before our departure. In the meantime, I placed the bag next to him on the seat so it would not be in his way.
After sitting there for a few minutes, my husband realized that we were on the wrong train and needed to get off immediately. We grabbed our tickets, the children, and our belongings and rushed off the train and up to the main concourse to check the monitors to find the right train. While looking at the monitor, my mouth dropped open and I said, “Oh no!” I realized that I did not have my bag. I had left it on the seat of the nonstop train heading for Trenton, New Jersey.
My husband and I left the children with my mother-in-law and ran as fast as we could down to the train platform that we had just left. I arrived at the train door just as it slowly closed right in front of me. I looked through the glass window on the door, and standing there was a man holding my bag, mouthing the words, “Is this yours?” I said, “Yes!” as the train started to leave the station. I started to cry, realizing I had just lost our entire vacation plan and finances.
A conductor from a previous train saw me and asked my husband and me what had happened. After we told him the details, he took us directly to the train station service office. My husband and I told the staff what had happened, and they immediately started to go to work to get my bag back. They told us they were working on it and to come back in an hour.
We stepped out of that office and found a quiet place to pray. We thanked God for covering the mistake and for us to regain our belongings without even one nickel missing from our things. I had to make sure I was not condemning myself for leaving the bag, and we both spoke the positives of God’s Word to one another. We reminded each other that we are faithful to abundantly share and because we do, God promises protection for our lives and belongings.
We went back to the train station service office and while there, the man who had my bag used my cell phone to call the first number listed in my phone, which was for our roommate. She immediately called us on my husband’s phone telling us that the man who had my bag wants to arrange how he can return it. At that point the train station service staff talked to him and told him to give it to the train conductor. He did so, but we were told that the current train conductor was not coming back to the city, so he was going to give the bag to the new train conductor. That conductor was asked to bring it back with him when he returned to the city from New Jersey, which was later that same evening.
The bag ended up being passed off to at least four people, total strangers, from Penn Station in New York City to Trenton, New Jersey, and back. Needless to say, the bag and all of its contents were returned to us without even a nickel missing. We thanked the man profusely that found it and told him we knew God would bless him abundantly for helping us. All along the way, from the man who found the bag and our roommate to the train station service staff and the train conductors, we saw God’s mighty hand working in this situation to bless us and protect our vacation and belongings! We’re so thankful for the power of the Word we can claim in every situation.