About a month ago I went through a very difficult and stressful situation at work. I’m retired, however I do the maintenance work, as needed, at a small 13 room motel. The motel has new owners and I still look after the maintenance plus I have a few other roles added.

I was asked if I would do the bank deposits. The bank is on  my way home from work so I said yes. Usually there are two or three deposits slips and I have a card that allows me to make deposits to the account. I cannot take money from the account.

One day I received a call that there was a deposit missing. The previous day there were supposed to be four deposits and they only were credited at the bank for three. Did I know what happened to the missing deposit? I was the last person to handle the deposit before it was deposited in the bank. What would you think? I told them that what was in the deposit bag was what was taken to the bank. They know me to be a truthful person but the facts speak for themselves so I went about trying to prove my innocence.

I questioned the person who was responsible for the finances and she was adamant that there were four deposits in the bag. Hindsight tells me that I should have checked before leaving for the bank. She had checked the deposits before passing the bag to me.

We checked with the bank and their records showed that I had made only three deposits. I have to admit that as a Christian I was under some stress. The money had to be somewhere or the person handling the cash had taken it. A number of people knew that the money was missing and I guess they suspected that I had something to do with it.

We have video cameras and I spent hours reviewing videos. There was one suspect. An outside worker who was there when the deposits were being checked and had gone in to the office twice to speak to this employee. The video did not show him in the office, however; it appeared that he stuffed something in his pocket after exiting the office. Also, he went outside and opened the tail gate of my van by accident and realizing what he had done went to his van. My van is white and his is navy. The cameras show him bending down as if he is hiding something.  He appeared to be nervous. Did he take the deposit? I reviewed more video but could find no positive proof that he had taken it. Other people reviewed the video and they came to the same conclusion. There wasn’t enough proof. But he was our suspect.

Eleven days passed and some of the staff were stressed. My wife prayed with me and I had previously claimed a verse from Psalm 85:10,11..Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the earth;  I had been praying a simple prayer, mercy and truth will prevail.

On the 12th day I went into the motel and the manager said, “they found it”. I said they found what and she said the deposit. Where did they find it? It was in the bank. The bank had made an error.

Now I had been checking to see if the teller, who had served me was still working there. For seven days she was not at work. Did she have something to do with the missing funds? She had been on a weeks holidays. We had been blaming a worker plus the bank teller and they were innocent. The bank did not tell us what happened to the deposit for the eleven days it went missing in the bank.

As Christian’s we face stressful situations the same as non practicing christians. It’s how we handle them makes the difference. I read my bible, I prayed, I claimed a promise and I had someone praying for me. The truth shall set you free. Not only from sin but the effects of stress.

Greater is He that is in me then he who is in the world.  1 John 4:4