3 Truths Learned from Lost Gloves
We all get lost sometimes, the question is: are we worth finding? I share what I learned losing a pair of gloves.
Story Summary
Today I share the story of losing a very needed and appreciated pair of gloves at hardware store. I was devastated and enlisted the help of store associates to help me find the gloves. I searched all over for about 10 minutes.
3 Truths About Lost Souls
At the time of the lost gloves, I was preparing to teach a Sunday School lesson on Luke 15 which includes the parable of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin and the Prodigal son.
As I walked out to my car that day a distinct impression came into my head: “You just spent 10 minutes looking for a $15 pair of gloves. Will you spend 10 minutes helping my lost sheep?”
1. We Each Have Tremendous Worth!
We are worth more than gloves or sheep! We are worth loving and searching for.
Isaiah 53:6, “All we like sheep have gone astray.”
Religious leader M. Russell Ballard said, “Every soul is very precious to our Heavenly Father. We must never forget that through the atonement, the Lord Jesus Christ paid a great price for the redemption of each one of us. His suffering must not be in vain.”
2. God loves us Perfectly!
I believe the parable of the prodigal son teaches us so much about God’s infinite love and mercy. We learn from this parable that:
God doesn’t want to control us or keep us from making foolish mistakes. He loves us and our agency, and so He watches.
When we take the slightest turn to come back, he runs to us!
Religious leader Jeffrey R. Holland said, “The tender image of this boy’s anxious, faithful father running to meet him and showing him with kisses is one of the most moving and compassionate scenes in all holy writ. It tells every child of God, wayward or otherwise, how much God wants us back in the protection of His arms.”
3. We Can All Rejoice Together!
At the end of each parable, there is a great rejoicing which takes place—a celebration.
Going back to my story of the lost glove. After searching with the store associates for 10 minutes, we found the gloves. I was so happy!
Conclusion Of Story
It was on the way out to the car (with my gloves on my hand) that God began teaching me those 3 critical lessons:
1. We each have tremendous worth—more that gloves, sheep, or coins. We are each worth looking for and finding.
2. Now, I loved my gloves because they kept my hands warm in the cold. But God loves each of us perfectly and wants us to come home. He loves us when we are lost, and He loves us when we are found.
3. And when we find lost gloves, sheep, coins or prodigals, We can all Rejoice Together! Any time a soul repents, it is worth celebrating. I celebrated with the store associates when my gloves were found—and they were only worth $15. The worth of souls is worth celebrating eternally.
Invitation
My invitation to you today is to spend 10 minutes loving someone who needs a little love. Maybe that someone is you. Maybe that someone is a friend or a family member. God will inspire you to know who needs a little love. You can do this through a text, a phone call or maybe by dropping cookies on their doorstep.
Promise
I promise that whoever is lost is loved and noticed by God. And in His own time and way, not only will gloves, sheep and coins be found, but so will souls be wrapped in His eternal embrace.
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Transcript
0:04
Have you ever gotten lost? If so, you're not the only one. Today I'm going to tell you a story, and three important things I learned after losing a pair of gloves. Stay tuned.
0:22
Welcome to Stories of Hope in Hard Times, the show that explores how people endure and even thrive in difficult times. All with God's help. I'm your host Tamara K. Anderson. Join me on a journey to find inspiring stories of hope and wisdom learned in life's hardest moments.
0:48
Hello, and welcome to the Stories of Hope and Hard times podcast. I'm your host Tamara K. Anderson. And on today's Tamara's Takeaway, and today we're going to talk a little bit about losing things. How many of you out there have ever gotten lost? You know, maybe you've gotten lost driving, I know I've had to do plenty of U turns in my life. I've gotten lost hiking before. I even got lost on the beach once when I was a little girl.
1:18
But one of the biggest lessons I learned from losing a pair of gloves. Now let me explain that to you a little bit. Shortly after our family moved here to Utah, I discovered how cold it really gets in higher elevations. during the wintertime. I had to buy thermal underwear, wool socks, winter hats, boots, scarves, several pair of gloves--just to keep myself warm in the winter time. So it took several years for my body to adapt to this new cold weather. I'd always lived farther south and and moving to the north was just cold to me.
2:00
One winter, shortly after we moved here, I found a beautiful pair of thin thermal gloves that I wanted so badly. I finally splurged and purchased them for about $15. And I was thrilled that they kept my hands warm and snuggly--even when I was driving the car. Like I could put the gloves on and put my hands on the steering wheel and my fingers didn't feel like they were gonna freeze right off. I don't know how many of you live in cold weather. But those of you who do, understand that predicament right?
2:40
Well, one winter morning, I donned my winter coat, my nice warm new gloves, and I went to the home goods store to purchase a few things that we needed for our home. I happily wore my gloves. And as I got into the store, I took them off my hands and carefully tucked them into a pocket. I then proceeded to wander through the store, looking for the things that were on my checklist. And once I found them, I checked out and as I got to the exit door, I put my hands in my pocket.
3:19
And lo and behold, my gloves were gone. Oh my goodness! They had fallen out somewhere in the store while I was walking around. And I panicked because they were my brand new gloves and they kept my hands warm, and I didn't want to lose them.
3:38
So I went to the customer service counter. And I asked if anybody had turned in a pair of gloves. And then I, along with a couple of other associates from the store, carefully went through the store looking for these lost gloves. Now I'm going to pause and promise you that I'm going to tell you the end of the story.
4:00
But first, I want to teach you three things I learned from losing this pair of gloves. So at the time that I lost that pair of gloves, I was preparing to teach a Sunday School lesson on Luke chapter 15, which includes the parable of the lost sheep, the parable of the lost coin and the parable of the prodigal son. As I walked out to my car that day, a distinct impression came into my head. And this is what it was, "You just spent 10 minutes looking for a $15 pair of gloves. Will you spend 10 minutes helping my lost sheep?"
4:46
Which leads me to the first thing I learned. First, we each have tremendous worth! We're worth more than gloves. We're worth more than sheep. We are worth loving and searching for. I love the scripture in Isaiah chapter 53:6, which says, "All we like sheep have gone astray." We're all lost in some way or another. And just like the parable of the lost sheep, when the shepherd figured out one was lost, he searched until he found it, "And when he found it, he layeth it on his shoulders rejoicing." Religious leader and Russell Ballard said, "Every soul is precious to our Heavenly Father. We must never forget that through the atonement, the Lord Jesus Christ paid a great price for the redemption of each one of us. His suffering must not be in vain." So Principle number one is we each have tremendous worth.
5:56
Principle number two, God loves us perfectly. I believe the parable of the prodigal son teaches us so much about God's infinite love and mercy. We learn from that parable that God doesn't want to control us or keep us from making foolish mistakes. He loves us and our agency. And so He watches us. And when we take the slightest turn to come back to Him, He runs to us. Religious leader Jeffrey R. Holland said, "The tender image of this boy's anxious, faithful father running to meet him and showering him with kisses, is one of the most moving and compassionate scenes in all holy writ. It tells every child of God, wayward or otherwise, how much God wants us back in the protection of His arms." Isn't that beautiful? God loves us perfectly. That's Principle number two that I learned.
7:02
And number three is, we can all rejoice together. At the end of each parable, there is a great rejoicing which takes place--a celebration of sorts. When the sheep was found at the shepherd called together as friends and neighbors and said, "Rejoice with me for I have found my sheep that was lost." When the woman who lost the silver coin found it, she called her friends and neighbors together saying, "Rejoice with me for I found the piece, which I lost." And when the prodigal son returned home, his father brought forth his best robe, ring, shoes, and he killed the fatted calf and was merry. "For this, my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found." So third principle we can all rejoice together.
7:56
Now going back to my struggle, when I lost my gloves. After searching the store for about 10 minutes, the store associates and I found the gloves. And I was so happy! It was on the way out to the car, with my gloves. Happily and warmly on my hands, that God began teaching me those three critical lessons. First, that we each have tremendous worth more than gloves, sheep, or coins. We are each worth looking for. And finding.
8:39
Two, now, I loved my gloves because they kept my hands warm in the cold weather. But the second principle is God loves each of us perfectly and wants us each to come home. He loves us when we are lost, and He loves us when we are found.
8:59
Third principle, when we find lost gloves, sheep, coins or prodigals, we can all rejoice together. Anytime a soul repents, it is worth celebrating. I celebrated with the store associates when my gloves were found, and they were only worth $15. The worth of souls is worth celebrating, eternally!
9:27
Now, my invitation to you today goes along with this crazy parable of my gloves. Will you spend 10 minutes loving someone who needs a little love today? Maybe that someone is you. Maybe that someone is a friend or a family member. God will inspire you to know who needs a little love. You can do it through a text or a phone call or maybe dropping some cookies at their door. But spend 10 minutes doing that--loving someone who needs some love.
10:07
And I promise you that whoever is lost, is loved and noticed by God and that in His own time and in his own way, not only will gloves, coins, sheep be found, but so will souls and prodigals be wrapped in his internal embrace someday. Hope on my friends.
10:35
Hi, this is Tamra K. Anderson, and I want to share something special with you. When our son Nathan was diagnosed with autism, I felt like the life we had expected for him was ripped away and with it, my own heart shattered as well. It's very common for families to feel anger, pain, confusion and anxiety when a child is diagnosed. This is where my book, Normal for Me, comes into play. It shares my story of learning to replace my pain, with acceptance, peace, joy, and hope. Normal for me is helped change many lives. And I'd like to give this book to as many families as possible. We put together something I think is really special. My friends and listeners can order copies of my book at a significantly discounted price. And we will send them to families who have just had a child diagnosed with autism or another special needs diagnosis. We will put your name inside the cover so they will know someone out there loves them and wants to help. I will also sign each copy. You can order as little as one or as many as hundreds to be shared with others. So go to my website TamarakAnderson.com and visit the store section for more information and to place your order. You can bless the lives of many families by sending them hope, love and peace. Check it out today at TamarakAnderson.com and help me spread hope to the world.
12:10
Hey, thanks so much for listening to today's show. If you like what you heard, subscribe so you can get your weekly dose of powerful stories of hope. I know there are many of you out there who are going through a hard time and I hope you found useful things that you can apply to your own life in today's podcast. If you would like to access the show notes of today's show, please visit my website storiesofhopepodcast.com. There you will find a summary of today's show the transcript and one of my favorite takeaways. You know, if someone kept coming to mind during today's episode, perhaps that means that you should share this episode with them. Maybe there was a story shared or quote or a scripture verse that they really, really need to hear. So go ahead and share this podcast. May God bless you, especially if you are struggling with hope to carry on and with the strength to keep going when things get tough. Remember to walk with Christ and He will help you bear the burden. And above all else, remember God loves you!