By Gina Badalaty 
I recently lost my wedding ring. My husband got very upset about this because about eight years ago, I lost my engagement ring. I always thought it would turn up, but it never did.
This time, I had taken my ring off to cook. I put it on top of my daily medication, which ensured I would remember it later. But when I went to look, it was gone. I was brokenhearted, and my husband said, “AGAIN??”
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That wedding band was a replacement ring we had crafted only a few years earlier after I grew allergic to my original band. We used some jewelry I didn’t wear anymore and had a jeweler craft a new design for me.
It’s just stuff, just the enemy pushing on the rock of our marriage, but I could tell my husband was offended that I lost this ring, so I prayed and prayed. Piece by piece, I went through an entire bag of garbage, crumb by crumb. No dice.
I spent a day trying to figure out where my daughter might have put it. I remembered she puts things into my purses, and I dumped two of my purses out very carefully.
Zilch. Nothing.
It wasn’t until I was in bed that night when I realized I had never checked the purse I take to the gym. My daughter had never put things in this bag, but as soon as I thought of it, I had to check. I cautiously dumped my little black purse out on the table . . . and there it was!
This had me thinking about the things we lose: those we find and those gone forever.
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My engagement ring was costly, and it took a long time to get it just to my specs, but I will never again see it as a symbol of a someday promise.
My wedding band, on the other hand, was cobbled together from jewelry I did not wear into something I’m comfortable with everywhere and doesn’t make me itch, and it was found in a day. It’s a symbol of my most precious relationship—my marriage to Chris.
Shortly after this, we were faced with the most difficult crisis our marriage has ever seen. Despite emotions running high, I remembered the incident with my ring. God was asking me, “Are you willing to fight for this marriage?”
I knew it would take sacrifice. I knew it would be painful. I knew it would be difficult.
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But I also knew this was what God wanted—to move past the marriage that had become irritating, corrosive, and problematic so He could craft a new, better, union between me and my husband.
God is in the business of making all things new again. So I put my trust in Him and worked through the issues.
Today, we are on the road to a bright, new beginning.
We all lose things: stuff, jobs, people, even homes. But maybe we should see those losses as opportunities to prioritize our values. Maybe that person wasn’t good for you. Maybe you didn’t need that possession.
Or maybe, that’s the thing so precious to you, you’d sort through a nasty bag of garbage in the middle of the night and get down on your knees, asking God to help you save it.
This takes wisdom, maturity, and the ability to honestly look at who–and what–is important in our lives. What door is God pushing you toward? The long goodbye or the one that says, “This is what I’ll fight for.”
Previously published on the author’s Facebook page
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