Do You Believe in Miracles?

What is a miracle ?
Webster’s dictionary defines it as “an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs”.
Or the American Heritage dictionary…”An event that appears inexplicable by the laws of nature and so held to be supernatural in origin or an act of God.”

I find when it comes to the subject of ‘miracles’ there is an enigma in people’s reaction – go back in history as far as you wish and you will find that people have always loved the idea of the supernatural as evidenced by children’s fairy tales or science fiction. Man is infatuated with the idea of things suddenly being ‘other than the expected’. Yet , when you put ‘God’ into the equation suddenly there is a general cynicism or disbelief and a hesitancy to use the very word ‘miracle’.
Is it the ‘divine’ part that makes people skeptical when they hear of a miracle? But if something is programmed to work a certain way , unless it breaks down, the only way to make it work another way is for some intelligent intervention to happen. Who but God can intervene the very laws He Himself created?

God as the creator of our physical laws is not bound by the things He created but sits above them and can at any time reach down and cause a higher law to overrule the physical law.
In Numbers 14:22, God says “But truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, because all those men which have seen my glory and my miracles which I did…”
We know God manifested his attributes through nature and and He has provided evidence that He is a God of the supernatural, a doer of 'miracles'.
The obvious evidence - that would probably be the first to come to anyone’s mind - is the resurrection miracle that we observe every spring. Vegetation that has for months shown nothing but dry , dead twigs suddenly explodes back to life in abundant growth and colour.
There are also other ‘miracles’. There is the bumble bee that according to the basic laws of aerodynamics should not be able to fly …but it does! I smile every time I see a bumble bee, to me a gentle reminder that God is indeed Lord, One who laughs at those who pride themselves on their wisdom.
I Cor. 1:27, “But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound things which are mighty…”
There are other things that science has yet to understand or find an answer for… such as ‘why do people yawn?’ Science has no explanation and any theories they have come up with have proven to be invalid. Not only is science unaware of any health benefit or body function connected to yawning they are also stumped by the question of why does watching a person yawn make you yawn too?’
I find it delightfully amusing that God has thrown in a few very ‘simple’ things to humble those who consider themselves wise. If science has figured out the very complex systems of our bodies , why can’t they figure out why we yawn? We do it every day… and we yawn back at people involuntarily. I don’t mimic anything else I see you do…such as cough or sneeze or sniff …. but if you yawn I have an uncontrollable urge to do the same. Why? If a miracle is ‘an event that appears inexplicable by the laws of nature’ , does that not mean that every time you yawn you are experiencing a miracle??? Next time you need a ‘pick-me-up’ just yawn ! and think about it !!

I love miracles and I love hearing stories of miracles in people’s lives. I have experienced some miracles in my life as I’m sure you have. (I think we would be amazed at how many miracles have actually occurred that we never even noticed !)
I’d like to share one personal miracle here.
One day , in the not too distant past, I realized that I could no longer move the toes on my right foot. “So what?”, you may say and rightly so. I asked myself the same question. I had much greater pain and disability issues but for some reason the most unbearable was the fact that I could not move my toes. It changed how I walked, but that was not really the problem. It was more psychological. Sort of like being told you could not move your little finger . Try it… it becomes your focus and suddenly you want to do nothing more than move your little finger. Over the next six months , I kept trying to move my toes hoping that somehow this mysterious ailment would just disappear. It didn’t. I complained about it to my doctor but the first couple of times she just smiled and didn’t take me seriously. Finally on one visit I pinned her down. “Why!! can’t I move my toes?!” She had no answer because I could move my left toes just fine. So she sent me to have x-rays done . On my next visit I asked her if the x-rays had shown anything. Typically, she had not even looked at them - and when she found them in my file she said, “No, I can’t see anything…. Wait… there is a comment here stating that there is no discernable space between the metatarsals and the first phalanges bones on the top of the foot. She explained to me that with that space closed there was no room for leverage and therefore I could not move my toes. She said there was nothing that could be done.. once the bones fused, the damage was permanent. (The cause ? – my rheumatoid arthritis which had not yet been diagnosed.)
Two days later, my husband met his favourite nephew for coffee at Tim Horton’s. He asked about my health… everyone we knew had been praying for some time for my ‘mysterious’ ailments – and was overcome with emotion when Vic told him I had lost the use of my toes. ( That to me was a miracle in itself because to most people not being able to move your toes is not a big deal ! ) Before they parted, they prayed together and this nephew begged God to heal me.
Vic came home shortly after 11:00 pm, and said nothing about their time together. We were both in the family room listening to the news. At 11:15 during a break, I tried to move my toes as I so often did - willing them to move …. they did not respond . Fifteen minutes later , I tried again… and … suddenly they moved.. as if they had never been frozen. I was astonished ! and exclaimed, “Vic, look… look what I can do !.” He looked and realized a miracle had happened and tearfully told me about their prayer time less than an hour earlier.

God is so personal in His care of His children, isn’t He? He knew that this seemingly small thing was very important to me and for Him to heal my toes has been a constant reminder that no matter what I suffer , He is aware and cares and is with me. Even today , moving my toes is a reminder of God’s supernatural presence in my life and I know I can trust Him… no matter what comes my way !!!