God is a Miracle Worker. He is the same; yesterday, today and forever(Heb 13:8).

Still, though many Christians believe in God, many don’t believe that He still works miracles. Why? Maybe, it’s because they prayed for what they thought was a ''good thing'', or for someone to get healed and it didn’t happen. But then, perhaps, they forgot that the last line in every prayer is always…God’s will be done.

 I have found that the beauty of believing in miracles is the ‘faith’ we extend when we believe. For without faith we cannot please God (Heb 11:6). The following occurrence happened many years ago but, when thinking about miracles, I always relate to that time because that was where my awareness of the numerous ‘little miracles’ in my life began. 

It was about sixteen years ago. I remember that ‘my day’...was just coming to an end. I had worked my two jobs; 8AM - 4PM and 5PM - 9PM. When I finished my night job, I called my youngest daughter and asked her to meet me at the neighborhood supermarket. She was there when I got there and after shopping and getting more than I planned, we left the store just before closing time. Expecting to catch a ‘hack’ to the apartment, which was about six blocks away with the last block being a long inclined one, I found that they were all gone. Apparently, ‘their day’ had also come to an end and that was not good for us.  

On several other occasions, I had been known to leave my daughter’s house(I was temporarily living with her at the time), walk to the same super market, do my shopping and walk back home. However, this was not one of those days. I was tired, plus my feet hurt after standing on them all day and, even with my daughter’s help, I really didn’t feel like toting bags of food anywhere.  

So, there we were standing outside the store, with the parking lot becoming more and more deserted by the minute. I had to do something; thus, I did the only thing I could do...I prayed. I lifted my eyes to heaven, and I asked God to please help us. I told Him that if He deemed that we walk home with the bags of grocery, we would do it. But He would have to give me the strength because I didn’t feel I had the strength to do it. I put the whole situation in His hands and thanked Him in advance for whatever He was going to do.  

As soon as I finished praying, I looked and, though there were several people leaving the store going to their cars, I was drawn to a particular young man and woman. I felt a deep ‘urging’ to speak to them and ask for a ride. I followed that urge and when I asked, they immediately said, ‘yes’. I was overjoyed and when I told them I would gladly pay them, they politely refused.

Well, your probably saying; that’s no big deal since there are nice people everywhere and, if I had asked somebody sooner, I probably would have gotten a ride sooner. Am I right? Now I would be apt to agree with you, but what was revealed next shows the ‘excellence’ of God. When He steps into a situation (little or big) He fixes it to a ‘T’! Why am I saying this?  Well, come to find out…not only did my rescuers refuse to take payment for their good deed, but also, they lived on the same block that I did!

I didn’t know them and they didn’t know me, but God brought us together...blessing us both at the same time! God waited until just the right couple came out and then touched me to ask them for a ride. They got blessed for being good Samaritans, I got blessed by not having to walk and being driven directly home for free, and God got the Glory!  

A little thing you say? You’re right it is, but our faith is built upon the ''little'' things. Such as; it looks like it’s going to rain and one doesn’t have an umbrella so, one says a prayer; ''...Dear God, please let me get home before it pours down...'' and it doesn’t rain, but as soon as one reaches home, the rain pours down. Coincidence? If you think it is...then that’s what it is. I personally think God heard that prayer and held back the rain. 

Consider; if I can believe that my God, who is no respecter of persons(Act 10:34), held the sun and the moon still for Joshua (Josh 10:12-14)why can’t I believe that He held back the rain for me? Faith in God’s ability to do ‘all’ things…starts ‘small’. For, it is when we have faith and believe that we are rewarded(Heb 11:6). Thus, we become more and more ‘aware’ of the Presence of God in our lives by the ‘little’ prayers that are answered. 

Let me give you another instance; I am a poet and I once belonged to a particular poet’s on-line site that closed. I was really dissatisfied and greatly disappointed with a new site that I had found and had searched in vain for a different one. I was not happy and without mentioning it to anyone else, I told God about it. One day my baby girl and I were talking on the phone and out-of-the-blue she happened to mention that while she was browsing the web, she had come across what seemed like a great gathering of poets and writers called, Author’s Den. I decided to investigate and found out that it was just what I was looking for! And not only that, but they were connected to a self-publishing company! This meant I could also get the benefits of publishing when and if I wanted to! Now tell me that wasn’t God?!

I know to some it might seem like such an insignificant thing, so unimportant, but it was important to me. And that’s how faith is built…little by little. By praying those little private, spur-of-the-moment prayers and receiving what we asked for… is how our eyes are opened.

Jesus is interested in ‘everything’ that happens in our lives and He wants us to rely on Him for everything! Yes, even the little, personal things. I think one of the most profound example of a such a miracle by Jesus, which didn’t involve healing the blind, curing the sick or raising a person from the dead was when He sent one of His disciples to find a single coin in the mouth of a fish to pay taxes(Matt 17:24-27). This miracle was personal…to fulfill a civic duty.

My definition of a miracle is; an occurrence, eliciting positive results, which ‘challenges’ human reasoning. God hears all our prayers, even the tiniest ones! And it is those tiny, personal, seemingly insignificant prayers that let Him know much we believe in Him and how dependent we are upon Him.  

No request is too small for God. I cannot begin to tell you how many times I’ve called on Him to do little things. ‘Things’… that would seem unnecessary to others yet, are important to me. ‘Things’… like waking up at a particular time without an alarm or being able to find ‘exactly’ what I’m looking for on-line or at a local store, and in my price range. ‘Things’… like insufficient funds somehow ‘stretching’ to be more-than-enough funds. ‘Things’…that we take for granted, like having a regulated mind, when all evidence points to the fact that we shouldn’t have one.

‘Little miracles’ are all around us! Did you know when you leave home and come back that’s a miracle? I don’t care if you only went to the corner store. Consider how many people have left their homes to run to the store, minding their business, and, for some unforeseen reason or the other, never made it back? Read the news.  

I am reminded of a quote by Albert Einstein(1879-1955). Paraphrasing, it goes like this; ‘...either we believe that nothing is a miracle, or we believe that everything is a miracle…’

There is not a day which goes by that I don’t see God miraculously at work in my life.

I believe in miracles...and it began with...‘little’ ones.

  Jn 2:23, Ps 6:9, 119:18, Heb 11:6

 joyce m bell/10/05/2009