Had God Forgotten Me?

By Edwin F. Smith

Utah, USA

searching warehouse

Illustration by Allen Garns

I had searched everywhere. Twice I had driven from the office to the fabrication yard seeking the essential parts needed to complete a crane we were shipping to a military installation. It was scheduled to ship in two days—just in time to meet our contracted deadline. My company would face serious penalties if we did not meet our commitment.

I entered the office storeroom and once again looked for the missing parts. I inspected every box and reconfirmed that the parts had indeed been ordered. It was too late to reorder the parts and still meet the deadline. I was discouraged. I headed home, still trying to figure out how to resolve the problem.

I said a quick and empty-hearted prayer before bed and tried to get some sleep. In my mind I retraced the steps I took earlier that day, hoping I would remember something I missed. I tossed and turned until 3:00 a.m.

Finally I sat up. I looked down at the pillow I placed on the floor to remind myself to pray. I didn’t feel like praying. I had prayed all day but felt that nothing I said was making any difference. Had God forgotten me?

Having nowhere else to go, I slid to my knees and began to pray. I asked Heavenly Father if He was aware of my situation. “Heavenly Father,” I pleaded, “Thou knowest where the missing parts are. Couldst Thou let me know too—today?”

Later that morning, I walked to my office. I set my briefcase on my desk and felt that I should check the storeroom one last time. I entered the storeroom and looked over the boxes I had checked and rechecked the day before. A large box caught my eye. Something didn’t look right.

A closer look revealed that it wasn’t one box but two boxes nested together. I lifted the top box from the one below. In the bottom box, I found the parts! I said a prayer of gratitude and returned to my office to notify the fabricators that the missing parts had been found.

Suddenly, I realized that I had not just found the parts, but I had also discovered that Heavenly Father knew where I was and that I was important to Him. God had not forgotten me, and He never will.