I recently heard the story about  a gal who was driving home from college, I believe.  It was a long trip, so she decided to stop at a truck stop to use the bathroom.  She was in a hurry, as she wanted to get back on the road.  After she was finished, she flushed the toilet.  As she turned around, she saw her keys swirling down into the deep, dark, depths of the potty.  She couldn’t grab them…it was too late.  The keys were gone.  She knew she had to tell someone, so she approached a woman at the cash register.  As this young gal told her story of how she lost her keys, the lady at the register said she would get someone to help.  So, she announced over the loud speaker, with laughter, “I need maintenance to the ladies room,  to retrieve some lost keys!” The entire dining area heard the message, and I can just imagine all of the talking and giggling went on.  The young gal took it all in stride, as she admitted that she, too, would laugh about this someday!   The maintenance man could not get the keys, but not all was lost.    The flushing of the keys blessed two older gals so much that they told the young gal who lost her keys, “We almost didn’t stop at this truck stop.”  They went on to explain that they were glad they did because the story of the flushed keys made their day, and made them laugh!

This story made me think about experiences that happen in our lives.  Sometimes we make choices that we regret.  Sometimes we are put in painful situations that we don’t want to be in.  Sometimes we want to take these experiences and choices and hide them.  We may not want others to know what we have been through.  We may want to forget the choices we have made.  However, these may be the very things that God wants us to use  to encourage or bless others.  God may have allowed a “flushing of the keys” in your life just to help someone else, or even to lead them to Christ.  Don’t be afraid to tell others about these experiences.  You don’t have to announce them over a loudspeaker, but God may put someone in your path that needs to hear what you have been through.

“Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel.”

Philippians 1:12