Getting back what was taken...

Last Sunday morning at church, I felt that God gave me a prophetic word to speak out during the worship time. Speaking to one or more persons present, He wanted to say, "I am more than able to restore what the enemy has stolen from you." The Bible tells us, in John chapter 10 verse 10, that our enemy the devil seeks only to steal, kill and destroy. He will try to rob us of our joy, our confidence, our faith, our relationships, our trust in God, our health..... and so many other things. But God is able to restore and renew all of those things in our lives.

I'm not sure what the word meant to those at the service on Sunday morning (although two or three came to me afterwards to say that they'd felt God was speaking specifically to them) but it was also particularly meaningful to me because of something that had happened just the week before. When my parents were still here in Spain, my Mum and I had taken a trip into Malaga by bus and, while we were in a shopping centre, a thief had managed to unzip a shopping bag, remove my purse, and zip the bag up again. This meant that I lost a large amount of cash (my parents' holiday money), as well as my driving licence, my health card, other bits and pieces, and several bank cards. And, even though I discovered the theft within twenty minutes of its happening, that wasn't quite fast enough: when I called the UK to cancel my cards, they told me that the thief had already used one of the cards to get £300.

It's a horrible feeling to be robbed like that. Quite apart from the loss of money and the hassle of having to replace bank cards and identity documents, you feel so violated. When I was praying about it afterwards (and refusing to let it spoil the remaining few days of my parents' holiday) I said, "God, you are so much bigger than this. I know that you are able to give back to me all that has been stolen, or even to double it, if you wanted to. And so I simply trust for your justice to be done in this situation."

A couple of days later, when I checked my email, an incredible surprise was awaiting me. Someone from my church in Scotland, who knew nothing about the theft, had given me a generous gift of £600 - exactly double what the thief had taken with my debit card!! God truly had replaced what had been stolen.. and more!

And so, for the past two weeks I've been filling in police reports, applying for new bank cards, and being grilled by the criminal investigation department of my bank!! It's all been a bit of a nuisance, especially the fact that my replacement Spanish bank card hasn't arrived in the post yet, making it difficult to get cash flow or pay for the things still needed for my Africa trip next week. 

The police had also recommended that I make regular contact with the Lost Property office in Malaga, just in case the thief threw away the purse after taking all the cards out of it. I'd just about given up hope of getting anything back, and so it was a pleasant surprise when the "Objetos Perdidos" office contacted me this morning to say that my purse had been found. Absolutely everything had been taken out of it (even all my photos and my library card) except for my driving licence, my health card and my petrol station card.) They had already posted my driving licence to the British Consulate, but it hadn't arrived in the post yet, and so I'll need to go back into Malaga to collect it next week.

I had to laugh when I saw my BP petrol card among the two remaining items in my purse. At the time of the theft, I had moaned to a friend, "They took everything; they even got my petrol card and I've been saving up points for four years!!" This, of course, is ridiculously insignificant when compared to the loss of all the money, bank cards and personal ID documents. At the most, my accumulated petrol points would get me a toaster, a kettle or some other small item of household equipment. But there was the card, among the few things that had amazingly been given back to me. Now it's only my library card and a few other bits and pieces that still need to be replaced.

And so, when God spoke that word last Sunday morning, it was very meaningful to me too.... because He had already proved that He was more than able to give back double what had been taken from me. We serve a generous God!