I’m not a loser.
I mean, I don’t lose a lot of things. I usually keep things close at hand and I can’t go to sleep at night if any part of my vital person is missing. I need to know where my keys are. I need to know where my wallet is, the cat, the dog, my purse. All of it.
I can’t rest if things are lost.
I lost Hope once. My daughter. In a crowded place. In a desperate place.
Getting Lost By Walking Forward
posted at (in)courage
A couple years ago, I lost my daughter at Disneyland.
We were in a large group: six adults and four children and we all stopped to look at a fountain.
But Hope, six years old at the time, kept walking. She didn’t intentionally wander off exerting defiance or trying to be naughty.
She simply kept going in the same direction we’d all been walking a few minutes before.
But I didn’t know that.
None of us knew that.
We paused. Nine of us watched the fountain: all six adults and three children.
Three children.
Where’s Hope?
WHERE’S HOPE???!
Click over to (in)courage to read the rest of the story and then come back to tell me what you think.
Have you ever “lost yourself” by not paying attention to your surroundings?
This really hit my heart this morning! My husband and I had a major heart-to-heart breakdown just Monday and this place… that place of “getting lost” in your own surroundings place… has engulfed me in the 2 years since our daughter was born… and its such a hard place to fight out of! Thank you for your words this morning… they were meant for my heart!
I think this is one of the best posts I’ve ever read here. This is so right where I am…learning to stay by His side, minute by minute, rather than get lost in the crowd of life that’s constantly moving forward to the next thing. That’s how I used to live continuously, and I still get caught up in it…way too often.
Maybe…perhaps…THIS is what learning to be still and silent is all about…to keep my heart in an attitude that stops, looks up my Father, and check to see which direction He would have me move in next…
you are amazing. that was amazing. next time you are in town visiting Lisa, we must meet.
thanks for writing. it may feel like a lot of work somedays, but it makes an impact.
Sarah, I don’t have words–no, I don’t have the space or time to really explain how deep in my heart this hit. Getting lost by walking forward. The last few weeks have been hard ones, and I’ve been asking the Lord to reveal the core issue. I don’t need bandaids. I want the deep issue addressed. While the words were different, the idea was the same. “You keep walking forward when that isn’t the way I want you to go.” For others, it might be the exact right way. But not for me. So for about three days I have just stopped. I am not picking up the phone. I’m not chatting on the computer. I have silenced the forward moving voices and just stopped, waiting to see what He is doing, where He is going, where WE are going. I’m like your daughter. I have stopped and just started to scream, “DADDY!!!!” And like your husband, He has found me.
Thank you for this beautiful, perfectly timed for me, post.
Blessings!
Powerful. Hit home and soften my heart. Thank you for your words.
I seem to connect with what you say all the time. . .thank you. As much as I’m looking at this time I have with my husband and baby as a gift, I’m still nervous as the bank account goes down and feel lost in the bigger picture of our life. It comes down to calling on my Faith in Him to not question the map of my life and to go with it. . .As long as I have may faith I’ll never be lost because He’s found me and called me his own.
Yes, that’s exactly how I feel right now…lost, but I haven’t been calling out for my Dad. Thank you for reminding me that my Dad is looking for me.
This was so good, so true, and so very relevant. There was a time in my life when I became lost like this, but thankfully my Father was watching out for me, took me in His arms, and brought me safely back along the path. Thank you for this wonderful reminder.
Blessings to you…your post brought tears to my eyes and a really fervent prayer to my heart…thank you! Bright blessings, always and in all ways…
It is all too easy to wander way from the Father. What a powerful image of your child wandering away at Disneyland to illustrate that point. Nothing more terrifying. Lucky for us, He knows where we are ~ and is waiting. Great post. BTW ~ once at Disney World after a long day, I did the head count and could only see 2 of our 3 children. Couldn’t see her anywhere. PANIC! I started yelling her name, my husband’s name. My husband looked at me ~ “Jamie, you’re carrying her.” And I glanced down and there she sat on my right hip. Good Grief. That’s what 10 hours at Disney will do.
Oh How this speaks to my heart! You want a girl who became “LOST”? That would be me.
There was a time I was so lost ( can’t help but tearing up) that it seemed no one could find me.
I became so lost in myself I pushed everyone, everything that was important in my life out.
A time I didn’t think anyone could or would find me. BUT here I AM, I am “FOUND”. I can’t help
but give God praise, each day, each moment. He restored a broken marriage, a broken heart,
and I sit here reading your articles with a smile , because I TOTALLY identify with all you write about. I don’t know you personally, but thank you for sharing your life with me. God Bless You
as you continue your journey…
While I know you’re answering a more deep question, I’m going to answer it in the way that I can right now.
I’ve lost complete access to my email and blog accounts. Someone has hacked into my account, CHANGED my password, and now I cannot access any of them. I can’t even blog my stresses about it. Not only did they change my account, but they sent an email to my ENTIRE contacts list (That probably includes you, Sarah), and said that I’m out of the country, stranded and I need money. So please disregard that, and also, please be praying that I can hear back from GoogleTech as soon as possible in regards to recovering my account. I feel so helpless right now and know that a lot of people can be at risk of being scammed. I feel like I’ve been aware of my surroundings, internet wise, other than the fact that I’m on late at night. I guess I shouldn’t do that anymore.
Please pray. I’m starting to panic.
A great post… and so ironic. I just wrote a 2 part post about getting lost. I’m know for it!
I hope you’ll read it! 
http://www.thoughtsonthesethings.blogspot.com
again, WOW…a timely reminder…much needed…
why?
unlike Lindsey Renee’s horrible experience (see above), most of us “get lost” by inches…like you said, thru our own inattention…
suddenly we come to ourselves wondering: “HOW did this all happen so “fast”…so completely?”
thanks for the yellow light for us to notice…
love,
dad
I just posted about my experience with getting lost by walking forward (in a sense), on my own site, though it was posted before I came here today. It’s almost as if God spoke to me that He agrees that indeed He did not lose me when I thought He did, but I walked away from Him. I got carried away with the enticing road ahead and just kept walking even when He paused. Thank you for reaffirming that sometimes we get lost, but He never gives up hope of bringing us back into the fold and like the loving parent of a lost child, He will always stand up on the bench and call for us.
Wonderful Sarah. A reminder I needed today. God Bless you! I’ve just started my blogging journey. It’s a challenge. Writing what’s on my heart, not having much feedback. Wanting to improve my writing. Mostly wanting to encourage others. Hoping I am. Praying that God will keep me anchored in Him. That I focus on working with Him and not getting lost in activity alone. I like what you wrote – that we can call out to Him for help and He can and will find us and bring us back to where we need to be! Love it! Kind of like another post I read from Proverbs 31 Ministries – that God is our heavenly GPS – He knows where we are and where we need to be! Anyway, Thank you!
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I am new to your blog and am feeling so blessed to be a part. Thank you for sharing your heart.
I am new to your blog, too….
Love this post of yours…it’s one of those “print and keep” ones that you must read over and over again to help you not
get lost…
I’m glad i found your blog…and i’ll be back to read more!
I know someone wrote this in a comment over at (in)courage, but the song When God Ran goes with this post. Awesome song. And nice post, Sarah!
Made me teary-eyed.
Beautiful post! Loved it and I could just sense your desperation to find your child!