The LOST coin, the LOST sheep, and the LOST scout merit badge sash thingy...

You should know that as I  began my day this morning with prayer,  I asked that Heavenly Father would help me learn everything I need to learn from a specific trial I am wrestling with right now.  I prayed that He would take every opportunity to teach me and consecrate all the things I am going through for my good and the good of my family.  

And I meant it.

I went in the boys room and started clearing off their nightstand which required that I unlock the footlocker in their room and put some of the clutter on the nightstand away and 

I gasped when I saw this little jewel. 

I know, it seems like quite the overreaction for such a thing.  But you have no idea how long I have been looking for this!   I'm not even REALLY sure what it is called.  I know what it is for.  It is a sash that boy scouts wear over their scout shirt to hold all of their merit badges.  I know because it is my nemesis.  Anything requiring patch removal or application is.  I can sew.  I will sew if I have to but it is always screaming at me every time I turn around because it seems like there is always some patch that needs to be replaced or added and I can't ever find the time to get it done.  

Before Tanner's last court of honor, my dear sweet friend, Cheri, offered to take his sash and sew on all his badges for me and get him caught up to date.  What a sweet thing for her to do!  What a relief.  The court of honor went well, he earned several more badges to (sigh) add to the sash and I stuck it in a corner of the kitchen desk area as a visual reminder that I needed to add the patches to the sash whenever I got a chance.

Next thing I knew it was gone. 

 I looked high and low.  In fact, we all spent a good part of one Saturday morning looking for it.  We left no stone un-turned.  I was frustrated with myself because I thought perhaps I had absentmindedly thrown it away and now I would have to go allllllll the way back to the scout shop and purchase another one as well as all the merit badges and start from scratch.  

My family will tell you that I really hate to lose things.  

It's kind of a pet peeve.  

Truthfully, this bothered me for days.  

Where was that thing????  

Furthermore, my first instinct was to just take the time to go alllllll the way to the scout store, purchase everything and get the patches sewn on so I wouldn't forget about it before his next court of honor.  

But when I prayed to find it, I felt the answer was to  put it on the back burner and not worry about it right now.  It would show up eventually.  

I was skeptical.  

We really had looked EVERYWHERE!

That was 6 months ago.

Today when I found the sash thingy majigger tucked away in the boy's footlocker, I was so excited!  This meant alot of things to me!  

It meant I didn't have to find the time to go allllll the way to the scout store and purchase another one.  

It meant I didn't have to research which badges Tanner had already earned so that I could purchase replacements.  

It meant that I didn't have to start sewing from scratch.  

It meant that prayers are answered.....eventually.  

I also felt like Heavenly Father was saying, "Hello!  Earth to Shahna!"..."there is a lesson in here, have you figured it out?".  

I have. 

 Just like the Savior used parables to teach life lessons when He was on the Earth.   I think He was trying to teach me today.  There have been several instances lately, when I have felt Him trying to teach me about patience and faith.  That I should trust in his timing and exercise a little more faith.  

Okay a lot more faith.

If 6 months ago,  I had looked for fifteen minutes for that sash and found it somewhere with little effort, I would never have had the excitement I felt when I found it.  

I would not have had the reminder today that I needed.  

Sometimes the answer IS to just put it on the back burner and trust in Him and His timing.  

Things will turn up.  

They always do.