We live with miracles every day. God, our Father, wants us safe, healthy and prosperous.
Think: how many times and how many ways have you been saved from near tragedy? Sometimes you have to be away from the situation in order to see it. God is always close to us. I mean, He is as close as living inside of us.
Once we accept Jesus, He never leaves. He comes and makes His home within us. Jn 14:23
Let me share a story from my misspent youth: I had been out late one evening, by myself. (I preferred to go by myself because there always seemed to be a "situation" if I went with a friend. I had some wild and crazy friends.) Anyway, I was out drinking in the bar of a bowling alley that I frequented because there was a young crowd, the music I liked, a friendly bartender and I knew a few of the clientele. It was clean and fairly up scale in a nicer part of town. You never know. Good and bad looms everywhere together. Personally, I believe the more good that is present, the more evil is lurking.
That particular night, the crowd was rowdy. There was a young woman in the crowd that had too much to drink and she was making a physical spectacle of herself and taunting male clientele by removing parts of her clothing while standing on a table. The bartender had a couple of her friends remove her and take her home. I decided it was a good idea for me to call it a night and left for my car in the well lit, parking lot.
I had just put the key in my car's door lock and opened the door when I was pushed inside. I landed, face up, on the seat with my legs dangling outside. A stranger was looming over me and coming in on top of me. The only thing I can remember is thinking to my self, "Oh God".
Funny how a short simple prayer can be all you need. The fact that you just think of God when you need Him shows faith. I had been dedicated to God as an infant, been baptized and went to church regular until the age of 18. I knew of God's existence. God knew me even though I had become a wayward "prodigal". This simple prayer was all that was needed.
I have no idea what happened in the next few moments of time. The next thing after seeing this man looming over me, I was behind the wheel with my car door shut, and locked. The man was outside my window knocking on the glass and yelling. I was anxiously trying to put my car key in the ignition, which I did and drove off. Surely, you can understand how upset I was and I have never forgotten that simple prayer that has worked for me several times since.
When you belong to God (by belief in His Son), He never lets you go. You are never alone again. He loves you and only wants you to believe in Him; just accept Him as our Creator and Savior. He makes it so easy for us.
Every miracle is not always so dramatic. More often, they are small miracles throughout the day. Many times, we do not even recognize them as miracles. Many times we are not aware of them at all. We can be delayed in traffic in order to save us from a wreck. He can remove something harmful from our path that we will never know about.
It is an amazing thing to be a child of God.
Amen
Privacy is something I value highly. When we relocate, I will pack personal things so movers don't come in and pack the contents of my underwear drawer or see my toiletries. I never could share a bathroom with a husband and have only two friends I will share a motel room with. If I don't get "alone time", you can't stand to have me around. Anyone out there understand what I am saying?
That said, when it comes to my past, I am an open book. Like everyone else, I have had trials, temptations, failures and embarrassments. I don't believe in regret. I made bad choices (for whatever reason) and they were my choices. I like to think that I have learned from them. After all, I did do a full turn around at one point in my life. There were times of great sorrow, fear, worthlessness and loneliness. I have felt "lonely" but never "alone".
When I say that I did a full turnaround and repented of a life style, I don't mean all of a sudden I realized there was a loving being out there that created everything and His son came to save me to eternal life by paying the debt for everything I did wrong; although, all of that is true. The thing is, I cannot remember a time in my life when I was not aware of God and His presence. And, I can remember back to the time I was still sleeping in a crib.
It amazes me that people do discover God in there teen years or even later in life. They have great epiphany, a moment of awareness - that "aha moment". I have a bit of jealousy for that. It's like I missed out on all the excitement. On the other hand, friends have told me that they envy the fact that I have always had this awareness just like many others - I am not unique. Neither am I different. We have trouble seeing our own life as valuable.
Okay, all this being said, let's get back to my story. I once offered to give my testimony in church. My pastor, at the time, had me jot down some highlights for review. He called me into his study and denied my request on the grounds that "no one will believe it" - ? Huh?
I know that I have had an active life of varied interests, jobs, a career and, as stated before, great changes. I am also far passed retirement age, so it has been a rather lengthy life. The longer your life, the more stuff happens! To keep this writing within some boundaries, I am using key words in summary form so you can get the idea without a lot of lengthy (and boring) script. This also keeps my private side happy because I do not have to disclose all the embarrassing details.
As first born, Mother dedicated me at birth and sent me to church from the time I could step onto the bus. Things were pretty middle-income-normal until I was eight years old.
Parents divorced
grandfather moved in
no financial support from my father
first experience with rejection from a man
father never answered any correspondence
moved to a less expensive neighbor hood = inner city (big city)
dislexic before there was dislexia = thought I was stupid
step father = sexual abuse (me and my sister)
teenage baptism
molested by three teens on way to work
pregnant at 17 = gave up art scholarship
high school graduation = stopped going to church
lost two children at birth
married and moved to Boston - moved to Long Island
betrayal by closest friend; changed the course of my life
husband cheated = another rejection and divorce
attacked by man in parking lot
married an alcoholic
various menial jobs
socialized in dive bars = all sorts of people
major auto accident - 44 stitches to face
grandfather died - my only earthly father
partial hysterectomy
husband cheated = another rejection and divorce
found a roommate
single girl for awhile = dating
out of body experience
traveled = selling my art work
married a businessman = he traveled
he had two daughters = I was a step mother
moved to Alabama = nice home, pool, country club
continued traveling and selling art
husband turned out to be an embezzler
he cheated = another divorce and rejection
single scene again
still traveling with art work
met a portrait artist and became her apprentice = hired agents
continued travel
complete hysterectomy
married a country boy from Alabama = step mom, again
different life style in the "back woods"
he had a country band = I ran sound system
opened small town business = framing and portrait studio
he dealt in drugs = I went back to church
he cheated = devastating divorce
considered suicide - had loaded gun in hand
got baptized and took it serious
* No wonder the pastor said, "No one would believe it".
The out of body experience opened my eyes to my life style but I am a stubborn person and it was years later before I made major changes. There were highlights along the wrong path: travel, people and I never lost that feeling of God's presence.
I took that baptism 35 years ago serious and, like the prodigal son, my (heavenly) Father welcomed me back with open arms and all the blessings of my heritage that were just waiting for me. Imagine that! All I had to do was "come home". (I am reminded of the Proverb: Raise a child up in the way He should go and he will not depart from it.) My marriage, of 26 years, is to a great Christian man who is "the wind beneath my wings". My business became successful. Fear and anger no longer rule over me.
It did not happen over night. There were trials and many errors along the way: health issues, decisions and major adjustments. During this time, I learned to let God have control and it has made all the difference.
Lately, I have been reminded that we all have a story and as Christians, we need to share it with others. It can take us out of our comfort zone but it is our story of how God, our Father, molds us to become what He calls us to. Just maybe your story can help someone else. If we just plant the seed, God will make it grow somewhere.
Amen!
Good morning!
It's a bit cloudy where I am today. But, that is keeping the hot summer temperatures down. There is always something good to be found - even on a cloudy day.
Have you ever noticed that no one that Jesus healed doubted his healing? None questioned or hesitated when Jesus said, "take up your bed and walk", "Lazarus, come forth", "go, your faith has made you whole", "get up", "go, and sin no more".
He commanded the storms to stop and they did. He commanded demons to depart - they did. He commanded water to turn to wine - it did. He commanded fish to jump into Peter's net - they did. He prayed five fish into enough to feed 5,000 people with a lot left over. So much more words He spoke and "it was so".
He told the men He called to "follow me" and they did. They just got up and went with Him. There was no question, no hesitation.
I like to think about the commanding presence He had. In Song of Songs, the writer tells us He was like the cedars of Lebanon; stout and straight.
As the King of Kings, Lord of Lords and Son of the Almighty God of the Universe, He was royalty of royalty. I can imagine His regal demeanor. We are told there was nothing unusual about His appearance; he looked like every other 30 year old Hebrew man of the day. After all, He was able to disappear into the crowd when He needed to. Neither His clothes or His looks were different. But, oh the manner in which He spoke!
Why can't we see Him this way? Why do we make Him weak and "pretty" in our eyes? even blonde with blue eyes? (I am sure He had intense eyes. After all, He can see into your very soul.)
Crowds of people flocked to Him - by the hundreds. Many were captivated and became the foundation of the greatest religious movement ever known. Christianity swept the globe and has maintained it's will-not-die presence to this day. Because of the man from heaven that was not doubted by those who experienced Him.
May you ask Him for your healing and may He open your eyes to see Him more and more every day.
Amen
This chapter starts by stating that the LORD (I will write on LORD, Lord, Hashem and Yahweh at another time.) provided a huge fish (NIV) to swallow Jonah. My Hebrew translation makes it clear it is NOT a whale. Young's Literal Translation says big fish. I have heard speculation that it was some sort of prehistoric sea creature or a creature God created just for this purpose. I don't believe this detail is important or text would be more specific. We can assume it was a large animal that lived in the sea. We are also told he was in the "fish" three days and three nights. Mt 12:40 relates this story of Jonah to the time Jesus would lie in the earthen tomb.
(By the way, science has found live animals in the belly of whales. Whether it was a whale, fish or a sea monster, this story rings true.)
Verses 2 - 9 Jonah prayed to God. We read Jonah praising God for His greatness. Again, acknowledging his God as powerful. In verse 4, he speaks of being alive on dry land again. We can assume Jonah was aware that God meant to save him since he was swallowed whole/alive as opposed to being chewed up into bite size morsels. He verbally reminded God, and himself, of the might, power and mercy of God. Sometimes we need to hear what we believe out loud; sometimes we need to pray out loud. He ends his prayer with the promise of loud praise and a sacrifice. Then, he makes a vow to proclaim God's salvation.
The second half of verse 6 could refer to God's merciful plan that saves us from hell (the pit). In the same way verse 7 could be likened to a person coming to the end of their struggles in life to acknowledge Jesus as their savior.
In verse 8 Jonah speaks against idol worshipers. He could be referring to Gentiles in general, the sailors of the ship or the Ninevites.
(If read just the right way, this prayer can sound like a con job. However, you cannot con a God who can read your heart.) Jonah obviously had some sort of relationship with God for such a heartfelt prayer. The prayer is honorable and shows great awe and humility. He has definitely repented to do God's will.
He was in the belly of a fish but he knew God would spare him (V.4). (Jesus knew when in the tomb, that His Father would not abandon Him.) There certainly was something special about this man that God chose him for a special task. Of course he had flaws (stubborn, jealous, argumentative) but this only reminds us that God uses flawed people so His presence is obvious through His miracles.
Then, just as the Lord commanded the storm to stop and it did (immediately), He now commanded the fish to spew Jonah onto dry land and the fish did - without hesitation.
I have read commentaries that state this book is just a fairy tale of sorts to entertain us albeit with or without a point. I say everything in this book is possible and factual. Put that together with Rev. 19:10 which emphatically states ". . . it is the spirit of prophecy who bears testimony to Jesus.". It is explained very emphatically from original Greek text: "For the substance, essence of the truth revealed by Jesus is the spirit of all prophecy, the vital breath, the inspiration of all inspired preaching and interpretation of the divine will and purpose of God." Jonah is known as a prophet. The Holy Spirit of the God Head authored the Bible.
We are now at the end of chapter two and I want to point out seven (7) miracles in these two chapters that were performed by the hand of God. Seven is the number of completion and the task of convincing Jonah to do what he was told is completed.
The miracles I speak of are: the great wind that came up on the sea, the casting of lots (by Gentiles) that God answered, the sea growing calm immediately, the great fish that came along just as Jonah went overboard, remaining alive in the fish for three days, being vomited up from the fish and doing it on dry land.
Behold the mighty hand of God !
Amen
