HELP!!!!!!

Ok, so i downloaded the Visual Gameboy Advance, and the game Pokemon Firered. I would play it on and off for like the past two weeks and got pretty deep into the game. Then today i try to open up my saved file and nothing was there. What the hell? Note- I didnt use the in game save, i used the shift f1 save feature on the emulator itself. Why did this happen and how can i prevent it from happening again?????

I always make backups of the save files.Never trust software.

Where was VBA storing the save states data? Check it on "Options" -> "Emulator" -> "Directories" -> "Save Game" -> "Browse". Go to that folder, and look for a file named like your game plus .sgm extension