Miracle Sight

Have you ever thought: “If I saw a real miracle I would believe in God!”  Really?? 

I beg to differ. 

On the contrary, you and I see things of miracle or near-miracle status every day, and go about our business as if nothing is out of the ordinary.  It’s shocking, but true.  For instance, have you ever seen a healthy baby? The overall chances of a healthy couple conceiving and birthing a full-term baby are about ll.2%.¹  Maybe that’s not quite a miracle of the supernatural kind, but at least it should cause us to say “Wow!” 

Or have you seen a sunset or sunrise?  These events depend on the stable revolution of Earth around the Sun as they both hurtle through space.  How likely is it that they will move out of this stable relationship (i.e. no sunrise and sunset)?  “Current estimates suggest only a 0.2% chance of Earth being flung out of its orbit or colliding with another planet over the next five billion years.”²   I think we’re OK.

My point is that if we have lost our sense of awe over God’s creation of these “natural” things, how will we respond when someone tells us: “I had cancer and God healed me”?  The ones who believe this are usually the ones who already believed in God. Many people may be too polite to say so, but they doubt it.

Jesus did fabulous, never-been-done -before miracles, and yet some people questioned his authority, some accused him of conspiring with the devil, and some wanted to kill him.

Why was that? Why didn’t they believe, with awestruck wonder, that God had done something?  Jesus diagnosed the condition by saying:

‘When they see what I do,

   they will learn nothing.

When they hear what I say,

   they will not understand.

Otherwise, they will turn to me

   and be forgiven.’ (Mark 4:12) 

In other words, their problem was deeper than physical seeing and hearing, but was a heart issue.  They were spiritually blind and deaf, and couldn’t see what was “as plain as the nose on your face.”  As odd as it sounds, they needed to believe before they saw.  If they repented of their unbelief in God first, then their hearts would be clear to actually understand what they saw and heard.

So next time you see or hear about a miracle, don’t just think “I doubt it.”  Instead ask for the heart change that will enable you to understand.

 

¹https://mommyhood101.com/pregnancy-odds-ovulation-to-birth

² https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth's_orbit

 

 

Make God Look Good!

Christian, have you ever wondered what you can do to see that God gets credit more often?  What can you and I actually do in order to glorify God?  I asked this question recently after an unusual dream. Here are some ideas.

• Don’t be afraid to tell people about your good works.  Jesus said, “Let your light shine,” which means don’t do good things and then keep them hidden out of false humility.  But the purpose is not about boasting.  No, we have to tell the story in such a way that God gets the credit.  That means we have to “connect the dots” for them as we tell it.  

We have to tell a story that shows both our need and God’s supply.  For instance, I have started volunteer work at a hospital by making crocheted baby blankets for new moms.  If that is all I tell people, it sounds like I am boasting – I must do this because I am such a good person!  But the reality is, I took up crochet at a time when my life had hit rock bottom and I couldn’t work.  It gave me an outlet so that I felt less useless.  Then God answered the prayers of many people and healed me.  Now I can become a “Blankets of Love” hospital volunteer. 

• Don’t be afraid to share your own weaknesses in the process of telling the story.  Sometimes Christians think that in order to glorify God they have to appear strong.  In fact, the opposite is true.  As in my example of the crochet ministry, if we let people see our area of need and how God provided for us anyway, we give them hope that he might do the same for them.

• Finally, don’t be afraid to pray specifically and then tell the story of what happened later in that situation.  Many people pray very general  prayers, thinking that this gives God sovereign leeway to do “whatever” is his will in the situation.  But that is not the way Jesus taught prayer.  It’s true that he did teach us to pray “your kingdom come, your will be done,” but he also prayed that a fig tree would wither up, that a deaf person’s ears would hear, that a blind person’s eyes would see, that a lame person would get up and walk, etc.   

How does specific prayer give God the glory?  People tend to take notice when a “coincidence” occurs. 

For example, if you ask God to heal someone quickly after surgery and then the doctor tells them they have healed very quickly, is that a coincidence?  Perhaps.  People will draw their own conclusions about it, but the closer the similarity between the request and the result, the more credit goes to God and not to coincidence. 

And if you pray for what is humanly impossible, for instance that the person heal without the need for the surgery, and the doctor later tells them, “I have no idea what happened – the tumor was there on the first Xray but now it is gone” – then everyone will experience a mystery.  

Human beings love a mystery.  Something in our nature seeks for an answer to it.  And the answer to the mystery is God.

Live life to glorify God.

God's Bank Account

from Grandma Stories: God’s Little Miracles by LDMahan

 

It’s not a good feeling to run out of something you like.  Did you ever get to the bottom of your ice cream bowl and kind of scrape up the creamy, melty goodness—just WISHING you had more?  It would be even worse if you took your very, very last bite of food and there was no more food in the house!  Well, this is a story of how one family “ran out.”

It was another hot, dusty day in Mission, Texas, and the family really was on a “mission.”  A mission is when you go somewhere on purpose to do something important.  Their mission was to learn to speak Spanish at a missionary school in South Texas.  They were on a mission for God.  But they had a big problem.  Their bank account had almost run out!  Now, for adults their bank account is like your piggy bank—when it is empty you cannot buy anything else.   With an empty bank account there would be no supper on the table, no bed to sleep in—not even any gas in the car to go to a friend’s house and ask for help.  Help!!

The mom and dad tried not to be worried.  They remembered when Jesus had said to some people who had run out of stuff: “Don’t worry about what you will eat or wear.  Your Heavenly Father even takes care of the flowers and birds—and you are way more important than birds!"

The family had just enough in their bank account to make a short trip to their hometown, but they didn’t ask their family and friends for help—they asked God instead!  Remember, they were on God’s mission.

The mom and dad and their boy and girl drove to their hometown.  They went to their hometown church service.  Everyone greeted them, but no one gave them anything.  They visited their family.  Everyone hugged them, but no one gave them anything.

It was almost time to leave, and still no help.

Suddenly, the mom started laughing.  She laughed and laughed and laughed.  It was a crazy kind of laugh because no one had told a joke!  But the mom saw something funny anyway.  She saw that the devil thought he had won, but she knew that God was going to win.  So she laughed.  How did she know that?  It’s hard to explain, but she just knew.

On saying goodbye to their family, the dad’s brother gave them a message:

“My mother-in-law, Joan, has asked that you visit her before you leave.  Would you do that?”

The parents said they would, and they drove forty-five minutes to meet her.

And THAT is when they got an amazing shock!

Joan said the them, “I have something for you.”  She paused to explain.

“A short time ago my mother died.  She left me an inheritance.  I am going to give a tithe, 10 percent, to God’s work.  I asked Him where to give it.  He said I should give it to you.”

She then handed the amazed parents a check.  And do you know how much money was written on the check?  One thousand dollars!!  The mom and dad and son and daughter drove down the road in a happy daze.

Back in Mission the next day, the family picked up their mail at the Post Office.  One of the letters had a familiar handwriting.  When the mom unfolded the letter from her father, a check dropped out!  And I’ll bet you can never guess the amount of money written on that check!  It was for one thousand, four hundred dollars!  The enclosed note read: “I invested some money in your name and the investment has paid a dividend.  Love, Dad.”

So, to “add up” this miracle, let’s do some math.  When this family started on their trip, their bank account had run out.  By the time they returned, they had $1,000. + $1,400. = $2,400. – enough to pay their bills and finish their mission in Mission!

God’s Bank Account never runs out!

Rice and Beans

from Grandma Stories: God’s Little Miracles by LDMahan

Did you know that sometimes people do silly things?  It would be a silly thing for a child to hide a box of popsicles under his covers and sneak back to eat them later!  What a mess!  Well, adults can do silly things, too.  But some things that seem silly, turn out just fine later.

Once there was a mom and dad who wanted to work for God full time.  In order to do that they had to leave their jobs, they had to leave their grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, and they had to move away to a different city.  This was a very big deal to them.  They had two little children, a boy and a girl.  The boy was five and the girl was three.  They all moved to a town on the border of Mexico, and enrolled in a school to learn Spanish.

From what their sight told them, they would not have enough food and clothing or money for a house, since they had quit their jobs.  But they knew God’s word says: “We walk by faith, not by sight,” so they didn’t feel so silly after that.

When they arrived in the border town, life was very different.  The mom washed the clothing in the sink and hung it to dry on the clothes lines behind the long metal trailer house. There was no air conditioning, so the dad would cool the children off before their naps by misting them with water from a spray bottle!  The trailer home was hot and dusty, but worst of all, they had to eat rice and beans! 

Now, rice is very healthy for you, and so are pinto beans.  If you eat them in the same meal they give you almost as much protein as meat.  The problem was that the mom and dad and children did not like rice and beans.  They tasted boring.

But this family had decided to live by faith, so they ate the rice and beans every day and tried to think grateful thoughts. 

Then, one day there was a knock at the door.  When the dad opened the door there was no one there, but on the front porch was a large paper grocery bag filled with all kinds of meat!  Amongst  the packets of meat was an envelope with $30.00 and a note that read: “This is to pay for gas so you can cook the meat.”  They were very excited and praised the Lord.

Two days later one of their teachers at the Spanish school asked to meet with them.  The mom thought maybe they had done an assignment wrong and they were in trouble.  Instead, the teacher told them that some unknown person had given them a gift.  The whole family would get a hot lunch—every single day in the school’s cafeteria—for FREE!  This cafeteria had every kind of food: chicken, hamburgers, spaghetti, green vegetables, hot rolls, apple cobblers, and hardly any rice and beans!

Then the mom and dad rejoiced because now their sight told them that they were going to be all right at the new school. 

Sometimes what seems silly because it is too hard for people, is not too hard for God at all.

Past Due

from Grandma Stories: God’s Little Miracles by LDMahan 

Down in the Valley of Texas, there lived a boy who was six years old.  He lived in a two-bedroom trailer home at a commune-style missionary school.  His parents went to classes in the mornings, and his 4-year-old sister went to a day school on the grounds.

The public school near the mission was called R.L.Hogsy, but his parents did not want him to go to a public school.  They wanted him to study the Bible as well as learn how to read and write.  They wanted him to be in an atmosphere that was nurturing, where prayer was a part of daily life.  At last they found Taylor Christian School, and enrolled him for kindergarten.

As preparing missionaries, the boy’s family had a lot of challenges to overcome.  They had moved a long way from all that was familiar.  They had few of the comforts such as air conditioning or a grassy lawn which they were used to.  The boy rarely noticed any difficulties, however; he was always running and climbing on the rocky playground a few feet from his front door.  He didn’t have his bicycle, which he had had to sell when they moved, but there were plenty of other missionary children with whom he could play hide-n-seek, or freeze tag.

At school he learned how to read.  Every day he played in centers, played on the dirt-covered yard out back of his classroom, and practiced with sight words  on flash cards.

“And …and,”  “Ball … ball,” “Have … have,” recited the teacher and students.

The school was not free.  Every month his parents prayed for the $140. for him to continue there.  That was a lot of money for them, but they knew God could provide it if He wanted their son at that school.  Month by difficult month, somehow, the money was there in time.

Then came the last month of school.  It was already well past the first week in May when tuition was due.  No one from Taylor Christian School  had called to tell the parents that the bill was past due, but they knew it was, and they also knew that this time they weren’t able to pay it.  Why was God letting them be late with the payment?  They knew He had taken care of so many of their needs, and yet they felt responsible to cover the bill somehow.   

Finally, the boy’s mom decided to go up to the school and speak with the business officer.  She met a smiling face, and cringed a bit out of guilt. 

“Have a seat, my dear,” said the lady in charge of tuition.

“Thank you.  Well, the reason I came was to talk to you about our past due bill.”

“What past due bill?” the woman inquired.

“We have gotten behind and don’t have the money for May’s tuition yet, but we will get it to you.”

The business officer reached into a file on her desk and passed a piece of paper to the boy’s mom.  “You have no bill due, “ she said.  “Everything has been paid in full.”

As the boy’s mom left the office and walked down the school steps toward her car, she felt that she was living half in a dream.  One more time God had done a miracle and the bill in her hand, the bill she should have paid, was mysteriously marked PAID IN FULL.

… And a Carton of Juice

from Grandma Stories: God’s Little Miracles by LDMahan

One of the “skipping rope” songs that children like to sing starts out, “Down in the valley where the green grass grows, there stands [your name!] as sweet as a rose!”  But not all “valleys” are cool and green, as you will see.

A mom and dad who lived in Texas moved south to a place called The Valley.  This place was hot, dusty, and the winds whipped them constantly.  They had come to this place to study Spanish so that they could share God’s love and God’s word with people who spoke only Spanish.  They had to trust in God for everything they needed, so life felt like one adventure after another.

One day the mom drove their blue Dodge Aries to pick up her son who was in kindergarten at Taylor Christian School.  Her three-year-old daughter was in the back seat, and as they drove back to their trailer home, the boy talked about his day.  There was no air conditioning and the valley winds whipped at them through the open car windows.  But the mother’s mind was not on the wind, the heat, or on her son’s stories.  She was thinking about a loaf of bread.

At home there was no bread.  In her purse and in her bank account was no money.  How could she go home without bread, and how could she buy bread without money?  Well, they had come here to trust God, so she would.  Suddenly she noticed they were passing a bread store.  On an impulse she pulled into the parking lot.

“Son, I want you to reach down between the seats and look for change,” she instructed.  They made it a game and dug around in the car, finally coming up with a grand total of 95 cents.  Triumphant, she herded the children into the refreshingly cool store and put down the money for one loaf of bread, rung up at a total of 89 cents!

As she paused to enjoy the coolness for a moment more, the cashier astonished her with these words: “And today, when you buy a loaf of bread, you get this carton of juice for free!”  She walked over to the cooler and pulled out an ice cold carton of orange juice to hand to the thirsty children.

In the midst of their hot, dusty adventure, God had provided bread … and a carton of juice.