Turning to flip off the bathroom light, she catches the pocket of her waitress uniform on the doorknob. Riiiip!

Oh, great! I don’t have time to change. Oh, well. My apron will cover it. She pats the cross on her necklace. Something that soothes her nerves. Not the object itself, though it belonged to her mother. Just a reminder that her mother taught her to trust in Christ.

In a hurry, she rushes to the kitchen to fix some eggs. Opening the refrigerator door…no eggs! Oh, rats! She grabs the milk. After filling a bowl with cereal, she quickly pours the milk but it comes out in lumps.

“Eeewww! Now I’ll have to go hungry. This is not turning out to be a jump-for-joy day!” She clinches the cross. Trust! she tells herself.

She snatches up her purse and car keys and darts out the front door to her car. Once in the car, she turns the key and steps on the gas.

“It won’t start!” she yells. “Now what?” She grasps the cross on her necklace. Lord, help me. I’m trying to trust you this morning.

She finally gets the car started.

On her way to work, she stops behind a car at a stop sign, and another car slams into the back of her car. Shoving her into the car in front of her.

Now, on the verge of tears, she screams, “God, what next?” She’s so upset that she forgets to clutch her cross.

A policeman friend, who daily visits the restaurant where she works, witnesses the accident and stops to assist everyone. He surveys the wreckage and tells her that her car is too badly damaged to drive and needs to be towed.

She calls a tow service and then, looking at her car, mumbles, “How am I going to get to work? If I still have a job!” Overhearing her muttering, the policeman offers to give her a ride to work.

After getting out of the car in front of the restaurant, she leans in the car window, “Thanks so much for your help. I hope this is the end of all the mishaps today!”

“Wait!” he shouts, trying to stop her from leaving. “Your necklace! Where’s the necklace you wear everyday?”

She grabs at her throat. “My cross! Oh, this is the worst day of my life.” Tears begin to flow.

She walks in the back door of the restaurant and the manager starts yelling at her. Still crying, she explains all the day’s chaos. He calms down and gives her an understanding pat on the shoulder.

The dark cloud of disaster refuses to go away.

She clears away dishes from a customer’s table, but he bumps into her, spilling a full cup of coffee down the front of her uniform, almost burning her. He apologizes profusely.

She reaches for her cross…but it’s not there. Trust anyway, she reminds herself.

Regular customers complain who never complain. Trust! She drops a tray of dishes, breaking them all. Trust! She gets two orders mixed up. Trust!

“What’s wrong with you today?” asks another waitress. “You’re a mess. Are you cursed or something? You need to go home and hide.”

Just then, the busboy walks by and promptly throws up on her new shoes. TRUST! she urges herself.

The manager points at her and yells, “Go home! NOW!”

She begins to sob. As the manager and waitress try to comfort her, she tells them the worst part of this day is that she lost the necklace belonging to her mother.

“I guess I will go home. But I don’t know how.”

Just then, the policeman walks in the door. “You look awful. Looks like things haven’t improved.”

“You won’t believe all that has happened since this morning.”

“Well, maybe I have something that will put some joy in your chaos. Put your hands out.”

“Come on. I’m in no mood for games.”

“Put…your…hands…out. And close your eyes,” he insists.

She does as he says and he places something in her hands.

“Now, open your eyes.”

“My necklace! Where in the world did you find it?”

“The tow truck driver noticed it on the floor of your car and didn’t want anyone to steal it, so he called me.”

She hugged him and sighed. Thank You, Lord!

***

When your day goes kerflooey and the dark clouds of disaster and chaos rest over your head, what do you reach for? What do you tell yourself? Do you trust in the Lord or do you forget?