This song touches me in ways today that it never did in years past. To think that she was holding the very son of God in her arms. When she would kiss her baby boy she was kissing the face of God. A God whom we know that to be in direct presence of the bible tells us His magnificence would kill us. Humans do not have the ability to look upon Him, but she was holding Him in her arms. What did it feel like to carry Him within herself for nine months? I am not a mother so I don't fully know what it feels like to be pregnant or to have a child, but that thought overwhelms me. It was truly a miracle.
Hearing that song makes me think of miracles. I have heard people talk of miracles my whole life. You read of miracles in the bible and you know that they happened. You know that Jesus performed miracles from the accounts that have been given. But I will confess something that I am ashamed to admit, I don't think I truly believed that miracles existed in our modern day. I know that people would say that they had seen a miracle or that they would pray for a miracle. But I really didn't believed that any of what they thought was a miracle was truly a miracle. Miracles just did not exist in our modern times. That was something that was created for a time prior to us, those happened in biblical time, a time far removed from us. I use the word believed in the past tense because I have seen some things in the past couple of weeks that have opened my eyes to make me a believer.
When we think of miracles, we think of the blind being made to see, the leper being healed or the dead being brought back to life. But in our times miracles might not be done in such obvious ways in front of large crowds like Jesus did and maybe that is what I was missing in my unbelief. Today's miracles might take place in pawn shops, restaurants, Walmart or doctor's offices without others even knowing that they are happening.
The miracles I want to share are part of a larger story that I have not been able to write about yet. Me and a friend adopted a family for Christmas and through that God has shown me how He does work miracles in our daily lives if we let Him. The family we adopted has 4 children and 1 on the way and we had no idea how our meger provisions were going to go far enough to provide. But we felt like we were doing what God wanted and He would provide if we were obedient. Once we accepted the task God gave us He began His work through us and stopped at nothing short of miracles. They may never be recorded in a book that will be read by millions thousands of years from now, but miracles they remain.
We had no idea where to start so we asked for a list. I have to admit, I was lost and had no idea how we were going to do this. There were things on that list, most of it, that I had never heard of. And after checking it out realized that most of the big items were expensive. But we were going to trust that God would provide. Even though it wasn't on the list, we began discussing a Wii system. My house was burglarized in August and they got my Wii but not my Wii Fit board or a few of my games. That began our decision to get them a Wii to go with what I have. We went to a pawn shop to talk to a friend that we have made there to see what was possible. God was with us and worked his first miracle there. Let's just say that we now have the system, Wii fit board and 6 - 10 games and accesories depending on how many come from various people who have offered them for a fraction of what they should have cost. That same day, a friend of ours was at lunch with us and talked to us about what we were doing. Later that day she texted one of us asking what sizes they wear. We had not asked her to help, but upon talking to her husband he insisted that he wanted to help and buy some clothes. Wow, God was there in that restaurant with us working a miracle through her. We thought that they would buy a couple things. No, they got 3 of the kids 2 complete outfits each. They are now wrapped and ready to go. One of the items on 2 of their lists is a FIJIT. I don't know if you know what a FIJIT is or not, but it is sort of like a naked Furby. They are $54 and we had no clue how we would ever work that out with the money we had available. My friend decided she would go to Walmart since I knew that they had a cheaper smaller version of it for $15 and that would work to at least get sort of what they wanted. God stepped in yet again. They had just placed 2 of them on markdown to $15. She called me immediately to make sure it was what we were looking for. It was. Then she sucked in her breath and chocked back tears (no that would be a lie, she was crying try to talk to me) to tell me that each one of them had a $10 off coupon on them. This made the toy that we had no idea how we could ever afford $5 a piece. Wow God now you are just showing off, $110 worth of brand new toys for $10. Both of us have begun thinking of this as the loaves and the fishes. No matter what we put in He multiplies 10 fold. People that we have asked have volunteered to help even though they don't know who these people are. People we haven't asked who have heard us talking have volunteered to help. Even a Jewish doctor who does not celebrate Christmas is buying presents and participating.
Needless to say, my view on miracles has changed. I have now seen Him work miracles through this process. I will no doubt that again when someone says that they have seen a miracle. He has shown me that I need to put my disbelief down and anything I could possibly think of is possible through Him. Do I think that everything is a miracle just because we ask for it? No. But when what seems impossible is made possible just by following His lead and being obedient and you are not the one doing it, that is a miracle. Back to my original thought, as grateful and humbled as I feel being a part of this God moment and seeing these miracles play out, I can't imagine how Mary must have felt. What joy, humility, gratitude, sorrow and a million other feelings she must have felt being so close to and actually touching God. My mind can't wrap around that because coming as close as I have these last few weeks I feel so overwhelmed that I wonder if I might be crazy at times. If I could give one piece of advice, never underestimate His power.
