“Lord, help me to be a blessing to someone today,” I prayed.

It was a warm, beautiful afternoon. Hand in hand, my son and I slowly walked along a narrow street in our neighborhood. As he kept himself busy, characteristically chatting away and asking questions about every bird in the sky and every car parked on the sidewalk, I silently hoped we would make it to our appointment in time.

That’s when I saw it. Right next to my foot, on the concrete, there was a black wallet. I began to think to myself.

It’s so late. Just pretend you didn’t see it. This is nothing but unnecessary trouble.

I stopped to ponder the situation for a moment. That’s when the other voice kicked in.

If it was your wallet, wouldn’t you like to have it back? Aren’t you praying every day to be a blessing to someone?

I sighed. I leaned forward and picked it up. I turned around, hoping I’d see the owner sprinting back looking for the wallet, but with no luck. I reluctantly put it in my purse.

“Guess what, little guy,” I announced to my son. “We’re gonna visit that nice police station today!” Which, to his excitement, we did on our way back.

After explaining everything to a police lady in a glass booth, I put the wallet on the counter and turned around to leave. She told me to wait. It turns out that even dropping off a simple found item requires some lengthy processing. After twenty minutes of questions from about five police officers and some more waiting, they let me know they had found the owner. The wallet contained some money, cards and, fortunately, a driver’s license.

One policeman approached us and attempted a few words in English. “Thank you for bringing wallet. Other people just take. Very nice of you.”

I smiled and nodded.

“When you need anything, we do,” he promised with a big smile.

I should take that in writing, I laughed to myself. After all the time we had spent with the police, it was now raining buckets, so they offered us a ride home. As I dried out our two pairs of shoes, I couldn’t help but smile. Yes, that wallet did mean trouble. But I was glad to have gone through it. After all, wasn’t that what I had prayed for?

• Twitter