“So how did Chuck E Cheese with Grandma go? What did you end up buying with your two thousand, five hundred and five tickets?” I asked my son with great anticipation because that’s no typo he really did save up 2505 tickets and it took him 4 years!

“I didn’t buy anything mom. I just couldn’t let go of my tickets.” he nervously added “I want to keep saving and see how much more I can get.”

It’s times like that when I am just flabbergasted that he’s my child. Because if you give me the means to shop, I will shop.

“Okay I understand.” I answered, making sure he knew I supported him. “Well, why don’t you give me the ticket stub and I will put it in a safe place.”

“I don’t have it. I gave it to Grandma.” he said plainly and ran off.

Cue the dramatic oh no something terrible is going to happen music, as you imagine my eyeballs begin to dilate and my heart begin to beat faster. Because…

First, let’s begin with the fact that Grandma is the best grandma in the world. She is giving, loving, caring, selfless… the list goes on and on, but lets also just briefly say Grandma is not the kind of person you want to give your 2505 ticket stub to in the middle of blaring, loud, kids running all over the place, Chuck E. Cheese and not realize that Grandma just might accidentally throw away or misplace the ticket stub you have been holding onto for FOUR YEARS!

Immediately I called Grandma and the fear instantly became a reality because she had no ticket. She said Matthew had it. He said, he saw her put it in her purse. She said she saw him put it in his wallet… she said and he said until tiny beads of sweat started forming on my forehead. After hanging up with a now panicked Grandma, Matthew and I started ransacking the house hoping that just maybe, somehow the ticket had made it home in his pocket and had fallen somewhere. I also called Grandma back and had her look through all her stuff, then I called Chuck E. Cheese and had them look through all their stuff and then I called the National guard ~well, I wanted to. Because all I kept thinking of was how totally bummed out my son would be if we couldn’t find the ticket he had been saving for so many years, faithfully, never spending it, all to have it gone just like that.

Then came the voice of wisdom and it was my son walking up to me saying these words.

“Mom, remember last night when we were doing our devotional and we learned that we need to cast all our anxieties on God. Well, I want to do that now Mom.” He paused “I don’t want to feel like this anymore, I feel bad and I just want to cast this away and be happy again.”

1 Peter 5:7
Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I was proud and stunned all at the same time. Proud, that he had actually been listening to the devotional and stunned because now he really wanted to apply to his life what God had taught him.

It wasn’t easy at first because it’s really hard to do a 180 when you are that emotionally charged. But he was right and I knew I had to support my son in what God was calling him to do and what God was calling me to do. So we prayed together. And as I prayed for his care, I threw in one of mine that I had been holding on to since the morning ~ because by now I knew that this lesson wasn’t just for him, it was for me too.

A couple hours later Grandma called, and before I could even finish saying hello, she ecstatically shouted “Guess what? Guess what?” To tell you the truth, hours after having launched our cares away, I had no idea what she was talking about. But as God would have it….

She found the ticket! And you will never believe where it was.

She found it in her purse, tucked away between the pages of her promise book, the one she carries with her everywhere she goes.

There nestled between all of the promises of God, was the care that my son had cast away.