Miracle of the Lost Ring
Story taken from the book, "The Voices Within Us" By Jim Stewart

May 2000

Prior to this day, I was feeling like everything that I was doing was all wrong. All was lost, with no hope in sight.

Every day of my life I carry a ring with me that's very dear to my heart. I carry it in a fob pocket in the pants that I wear. One Saturday morning, I set out to go run my usual errands and to do some shopping.I put on some short pants that did not have a fob pocket, so I said to myself," Well I'll just put the ring in my pocket anyway."I first stopped at a pawn shop to purchase a cassette-tape deck and after continuing my rounds for the next two hours, I finally said to myself, "I just need to go into the grocery store and then head home." I reached into my pocket and the ring was gone.I said, "No! No! No! Not the ring. God, this ring gives me hope and I cannot replace it!"

Then the angels came to me and said, "All is not lost. Where there is faith, there is always hope."I said, "I cannot lose this ring!" The angels then said to me, "Jim, Sometimes we have to start all over with things. Go back to the beginning and you will find the ring." I then asked, "What do you mean?" The angels said,"Go to where you started. Just as in life, we must go back to the beginning. You must go back to the beginning to find the ring."I sat there for a moment and cried. But, then what the angels told me finally sank in. I hurried back to the pawn shop. I looked around on the ground for about 15 to 20 minutes, then went inside and looked on the floor. I could not find the ring. I asked the clerk if someone had turned in a ring.(What was I thinking?) No luck. I went back outside and looked again, still no ring. I felt, at that moment, that finding the ring was hopeless. I returned to my car and the angels said to me, "Do not give up hope." I looked up at the sidewalk and here it was! Just like the angels told me. "Remember, with faith there is always hope."The ring I looked for was right there, all along. Just like my faith and hope had been there all along.

I needed a lesson in hope that day and it was given to me.It's a lesson I often forget, that's why I always carry this ring.