LITMIR.BIZ

      Rarely did I ever know my mother to be overly anxious or afraid. However, on those occasions when she was anxious the joy that she normally exuded was transformed into intense determination and persistence.

      One night I awoke to my parents’ voices.

      “Mary, what are you doing?” Papa whispered so as not to wake my brother, sister, and me.

      “I’ve lost something.” Her voice was hushed and deliberate. I saw her sweeping the floor by lamplight.

      “But what could be so important. Wouldn’t it be easier to find in the daylight?” Papa asked.

      “It probably would. But I dropped a coin to the floor just before lying down to sleep and after putting out the lamp. It is the only money we have and will buy our food for several days. I cannot rest or sleep until I find it.”

      “Can I help?” Papa sighed.

      “You go back to sleep. There is no need for you to worry. I will find it.”

      From the shadows, on the edge of the lamplight I saw her search for that lost coin. As anxious as she was, she remained calm and focused. My own anxiety began to subside.

      I had seen that confident belief before and could hear her saying to me, “Jesus, if you believe something with all your soul and mind and body you will see your belief become reality.”

      “How do I do this, Mother?” I had asked.

      “First you feel it deeply, next you think it thoroughly, and then you take action as if it is already done.”

      I fell asleep knowing she would find the coin because she believed she would.

      I awoke to laughter in the courtyard outside our house. Mother told her friends about sweeping for hours in the lamplight and finally finding the lost coin. Her voice filled the air with joy.

      I breathed in the joy of her laughter and also the strength of her faith, and secretly thought, “That coin was never lost because my mother always believed it would be found.”

      Selah