My dear Siestas, talk to me today about miracles. I know some people who could use one. Take some stones of remembrance this day and be used of God to build up somebody’s faith. Ground rules: No exaggerations. No make believe. Just pure honest Biblical truth about what you know your God can do from first hand experience.
You guys are so dear to me.
Lord Jesus, show up in a mighty visitation this week in our community. You are our Hope and our Salvation. In You we place our trust. The very sign of that first Christmas was a miracle: “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel – which means, ‘God with us.'” O Come, O Come Immanuel. So many need to know You are here. Grant us eyes to see and hearts to love. You are our everything. Thank You for Your goodness to us.
I had such difficulty getting pregnant when my husband and I felt it was time for us to “try.” I remember the doctor telling us to give it time, etc. I knew (Holy Spirit) right from the beginning in my heart of hearts something wasn’t right and it wasn’t going to be an easy road. I was right. After months and months of fertility drugs, etc. my mother (the most godly woman i know) suggested we lay hands on my womb. We did. I prayed and prayed for a baby. We went for one final procedure because we knew our finances were limited an insurance doesn’t cover hardly any of it. 5 weeks later I was told I was pregnant with twins!!! I prayed for one child and Jesus doubled my portion!! On Valentine’s Day I found out I was having a boy and a girl!! Now I am sitting here listening to my 5 year olds singing Christmas songs and asking me about Santa Claus!! I LOVE IT!!
Thank you Jesus!!
God’s timing always amazes me… this is about 19 years to the day that Jesus became my Lord and Savior… AND about 12 years to the day that I learned my cancer was now Stage 4 and that “the medical community had nothing more to offer me” after going through surgeries and chemo. So here I am.. alive and well and a living testimony to the power of Our Lord Jesus Christ through the many, many prayers of family, friends and unknown prayer warriors from coast to coast. And to my dear pastors and elders who lifted my husband and children and me up and anointed me with oil and prayed for me as James 5:14 clearly teaches. My message is to anyone dealing with cancer… Jesus is the healer… your cancer does not define who you are .. He is your Lord and Savior and He will uphold you in His righteous hand. He heals in several ways, by a touch, through others, and hardest for us to accept, sometimes by taking us home. Believe in Him, trust in Him and cling to Him. He will never leave you nor forsake you.
Oh, this just blessed me so much. Thank you for sharing this–I need to keep being reminded of God’s healing work in the lives of His children.
Same here! I am in tears!
God has blessed my life with so many miracles/treasures.
The one that always brings me closer to Him is the one He performed for me in 1993.
I was driving on the interstate to meet some friends for dinner. It was a dark and rainy night. There was a semi-truck in the far left lane and several cars had passed it.
When it came my tun to pass the semi, the truck decided to get over into my lane. He clipped my front fender and caused the entire car to start spinning out of control.
The last thought I had as I saw the semi coming toward me was that I was going to be DECAPITATED! I was then covered with this complete PEACE! I closed my eyes and surrendered to whatever God had planned.
When I opened my eyes I was on the shoulder of the road facing the correct direction of traffic. My entire car was totaled. As a matter of fact the ONLY part that did not go under the semi was the small space that I was occupying. I did not have a single scratch on me although there was glass everywhere.
I know that God spared my life that night. When I get frustrated or start to doubt I recall how He saved me – not only that night in 1993 but 2000 years ago when He suffered and died for me!!
I am eternally grateful!!
Praise His name!
I love sharing my miracles any chance I get. I’ve tried to keep them short!
1. After several years of trying to conceive, I was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. My doctor declared to my husband and me that “it will be highly unlikely you will ever conceive without medical assistance”. We believed God for a miracle, didn’t know how/when it would happen. We just kept praying, seeking, soaking in the Word, receiving many prophetic words/words of knowledge. God spoke through a high school camp speaker, our friend, at a camp we were counseling, in the middle of his sermon — 2 King 4:16-17 (“by this time next year you will hold a son (baby)”). One month later I was pregnant! I was not sick a single day of pregnancy. At a 20 week ultrasound we found out the umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby’s neck twice. I was not worried. God had given me this pregnancy, and I was not going to let the devil steal this baby from me! We prayed, kept praying, and knew that everything would be fine. By 37 weeks the cord was still around the neck and my doctor scheduled me for inducement the next week. I had been praying for a painless/quick natural delivery. I did not want to be induced. I checked into the hospital at 7pm, and the prepped me for inducement for 6am the next day. By 3am I was having mild contractions (didn’t realize it), and by 5am I was in labor. Little Elle Faith was born on 5/3/06 at 10:09 that morning. The cord around her neck, but the doctor quickly got her out of it and got her breathing. She is our miracle. And that next summer we brought her to the church camp to testify of God’s word in 2 Kings 4:16.
2. I am waiting for another miracle baby. God has given me so many words of encouragement through his written word, sermons from the pulpit just for me, boosts of faith, reminders of where’ve I’ve been, that I know soon I will have another child. It’s just a matter of time, God’s timing, and my growth & patience.
3. A double miracle…My long, unsaved dad was diagnosed with cancer soon after I found out I was pregnant. We were on a faith “high”, and then this blow, but it just kept us on our knees in faith mode. A month after we found out about the cancer he asked me a question one day about God on the way to a treatment and I knew in my heart that he had accepted the Lord! He had many things in his past haunting him (vietnam, PTSD). He never came out and said “I gave my heart to the Lord”, but we could see it in him every day. On Oct 30, 2005 he was baptized in front of our whole church, he even talked (he would never have done that pre-salvation). It was the most joyous I’ve ever felt. So many years of praying! He continued to go through treatments, was very sick at times. One weekend in Jan ’06 he had a hard time breathing, to the point my mom took him to the hospital. They tried to do MRI but he would not/could not lay down flat b/c he was fearful & breathing was horrible laying down. We prayed Sunday night and said (Mark 2), “you believe for your salvation, right?” and he said, “YES”. we said, “The same power that saved you is the same power that heals. do you believe that?” He said “YES”. The next morning he was able to be calm and lay down for the test. The tests came back with no tumors in his lungs or brain!!! God had removed the cancer and the tumors. He went home, was recuperating slowly, slowly gaining strength. On Feb 16, 06 he died while coughing – ruptured his weakened blood vessels in his chest. I am still sad that he went like this, but so HAPPY that he is IN HEAVEN with our Father!!! Oh, I cannot express the joy!
4. My mother endured a very hard 31 years of marriage to my dad. The last six months of his life as a saved man he was gaining ground spiritually. My mom turned 50 and he wanted to have a surprise party for her and give her a gift! He was not an outward guy, non-emotional, and he had not bought my mother a gift in their whole married life! He and I went and picked out a beautiful new diamond wedding band for her and surprised her with the most fun party and he said a few words and gave her the ring in front of everyone. What an awesom moment I will never forget. Those were evidences of God’s miraculous working power to soften a hard/cold as stone heart.
5. After receiving my miracle pregnancy/baby, God has gifted me with the power to pray over other women who desire pregnancy. many have received their miracles! One in particular, an old friend from high school, had been told she would never conceive. I prayed in Jan. 06 for her (while I was pregnant). 9 months later she adopted a little boy. We saw her and talked to her and found out when he was born and figured out that exactly 9 months prior to his birth was when we had prayed over her! Amazing!
God, you are so good. I love you. You have done so many miracles – let’s shout these from the roof tops! Praise the Lord! Do it Again!
What a blessing it has been reading these miracles. Seeing how God works in each of our lives is a much needed reminder.
When my son was born he had awful reflux. Everytime after he ate I would have to hold him upright for a rather long time. The first few months of his life he slept in our room and during the night after nursing him I would sleep with him tucked into my robe up against me and I would stay sitting up to sleep. Needless to say I was EXHAUSTED. At about 6 months old he was starting to improve and we moved him into his own room. He would still wake at night BUT there was a recliner I could sit in and rock him after he ate then put him back in his bed.
One night a couple weeks after we had moved him back to his room, my husband I were sleeping when I heard a man say my name very loudly into my ear. I assumed it was my husband and something was wrong. I woke up suddenly and turned to him but he was facing with his back towards me and was snoring peacefully. Then I heard a slight noise on the baby monitor and my heart dropped. I ran into my son’s room and he was laying on his back choking from the reflux. I picked him up quickly and he threw up everywhere.
He is now an active, sweet loving little 4 year old boy, who eventually outgrew the reflux. I fully believe it was the voice of God waking me that night.
praise be to God!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
wow, goosebumps.
Back in 1984, my brother had graduated from a Coast Guard cooking school in California. We traveled from NJ to see him graduate. My parents and I prayed for his safety as he drove back home, and we continued on our vacation. My dad felt concern, so he told my brother to go home a different way than he had planned, but Bob chose to go home that way anyway. My mom had a strong fear overcome her regarding my brother’s safety and she prayed over and over for God to watch over him. Well, he was killed in Missouri by an 18 wheeler who literally crushed his car. So, where is the miracle? If you saw the newspaper article and saw the picture of his car, it looked like a pancake, with his surfboard totally gone from the top. It is a horrible vision I still have in my mind all these years later. To look at that, you would assume that we would have had a closed casket, but no, the miracle was that God sent an angel to watch over my brother and to protect my brother’s face as there was not one scratch on his face. While of course, we would have preferred the miracle of his life, it was His time to be with the Lord. We know God was with Bob, as he took his last breath and we were able to say our goodbyes by looking one last time at his face. While I may not understand why Bob is gone, I do understand that God’s ways and His thoughts are higher than ours and His plan is not something I always understand, but I do trust Him. And, one day I will be with Bob again!
thank you for sharing your miracle in the midst of your disaster!
I am so sorry for your loss. Thank you for this post.
Stones of remembrance! Margaret Feinberg is so right, God really does speak in echoes. Lately, I have been struggling with a unbelief (basically over my calling), and I have felt Him prompting me to go back to my stones of remembrance. So, this post was very timely for me.
Like many of the women, there have been countless experiences where I have looked at a situation and had no choice but to proclaim, “It had to be God!” But, the one I feel most led to share, since it’s Christmastime involves my dad. When I was in elementary school, my dad had gone out off-shore fishing one afternoon. Against my mom’s wishes, he went by himself. 🙂 It was right before Christmas, and even though we’re from SC, the water is still very cold that time of year. As my dad was coming back in (after dark), he misjudged the marker posts in the inlet. As a result, he crashed into the jetties. What happened after that is a series of miracles:
Miracle #1 – When he crashed, he was knocked unconscious. But, he had a heater on the boat, and the heater caught fire. The fire woke him up.
Miracle #2 – This was many years ago, and the only cell phones that were available were those old bag phones. My dad happened to have his bag phone on the boat with him, and he was able to call for help. The fact that he got service out there is a miracle to me because there were not a lot of cell towers like there are now.
Unfortunately, even though my dad was able to call for help, no one (not even the Coast Guard) had a boat in the water nearby that could come to help him. It would have taken them at least an hour to get to him. He couldn’t wait that long because at any moment, the boat was going to wash away. (The boat had a HUGE hole in the front of it from the collision.) My dad said he had a rope ready to tie himself to the rocks.
Miracle # 3 – My dad began praying that God would allow the boat to start up. Up to that point, he hadn’t been able to crank the engine. And, as he prayed, he tried one more time to crank the boat, and it STARTED!! He was able to drive it just far enough to beach it on a shore nearby.
My dad’s safe return to us was the best Christmas gift I have ever received (other than Jesus of course!)
Here’s the most recent. I am a mom of 5 active boys; the old-fashioned kind that play in creeks and climb trees. (And give their mom regular heart palpatations!) I’ll give you the Reader’s Digest version of this event, so please know that there is SO much more going on behind the scenes.
Our three youngest were outside playing on a rope swing that was on a high limb (one they’d been instructed not to climb up on again!) The 8 year old comes in crying that his 9 year old brother had fallen out of the tree. I run outside to see him laying on the ground with mud and blood trickling out of his mouth. After calling for the other boys to call 911 I begin to try and see how hurt he is. We end up in the ER, husband not home but at work 2 hours away. He’s a pilot and I had managed to catch him before his flight took off
My son lay there becoming more and more lethargic, I made a phone call for a friend to please come get my other boys. (The older 2 were at football practice and I decided to leave them there until I knew what was going to happen.) Next thing I know a Sister was there and one of the Shepherds from church. Seeing him was the first time I cried however I quickly pulled it together and got back to my son. MRI showed a concussion and liver laceration. He would need to be air-lifted to a large city to a Children’s hospital for trauma care. His dad, older brothers, grandparents, and uncle all made it in time to say goodbye before the flight. During all of this my phone dies, so no more contact with anyone for a while. After assuring the flight crew I would not fall apart on the helicopter they decide to let me fly with him. The family that had arrived were telling me of all the texts, facebooks status changes, phone calls, people getting in their cars heading to where we were headed—all believers covering us in prayer—I didn’t even know we KNEW that many people!!
In the helicopter his status began to change; for the better. He started to stablize (we were physcially closer to heaven now afterall-lol!) I did remain calm. A peace I can only attribute to knowing so many were praying and, of course, my own prayers. He woke up enough that the crew flew us around the State Capital and the downtown area for a quick peak! (I assured him that if he had wanted a helicopter ride, his daddy was a pilot and we could have worked something out for his birthday!! He did not have to go to these measures!) In the trauma room they were amazed at his improvements. Family and friends started to arrive and we were told he’d be able to go to a regular room. Not the ICU bed they had reserved for him!
The next day I got a charger for my phone and WOW! Calls, messages, texts, and yes-good ol’ facebook had been filled with words of prayer requests and love! We were now told he had a mild concussion and a Grade 1 Liver laceration and we were released 24 hours after admission.
It’s been almost a month now and he is doing great! No futher problems and by spring he’ll be ready to climb a (smaller) tree! We measured the limb and the fall was 22 feet; flat onto his face and stomach. The next miracle I’m waiting on is when the bill arrives! Lol!!!
I told God then and I am restating it now. I know my sons don’t belong to me, but to Him. I am so grateful He has chosen to loan these young men to me and I pray I am faithful to that commission. I have told my son that God has a plan for his life and has preserved him for that purpose. I pray this is yet another event that forever shapes all of my sons even closer to becoming Godly men! I get the feeling that God is pleased we are using all this technology as yet another way we can serve Him. I know the blinking screens showed me Light in a very dark night.
Thank you again LORD from the very core of my being for saving my son. You didn’t have to and I am not worthy—but You did so just the same. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Your humble servant…….
Hey Friend,
I didn’t notice your picture or screen name when I read your miracle yesterday. Today it made me smile. I didn’t tell you last time we talked here, but I have three boys, who at this very moment are sliding down a home made zip line off our back deck. When they aren’t doing that they are hammering stray pieces of wood to thier “club house”. I made them wait until I was out of the shower this morning in case there was going to be any blood and someone might need me to run out. Ha!
Big Hugs,
Michelle, TN
I don’t normally comment, I’m just a lurker. 🙂 Reading through these miracles, though, has brought tears several times. All the baby miracle stories have really touched me, but also brought questions. My husband and I have struggled with infertility for 10 years and just last night I spent a good bit of time in tears over it. I don’t understand why we don’t have a child, but I’m trusting God (usually). I’m trying to remember that not everyone gets the miracle they want, but that God still has a plan for our lives. Just because I don’t see it or understand it, doesn’t mean it’s not there.
I do have a miracle story to share from several years ago. When I was a child, my grandfather developed Alzheimer’s disease. The disease progressed fairly quickly and the Christmas of 1995 I went with my father to the hospital to see him for what we knew would probably be the last time. He had been a big man when he was healthy, and the disease had just wasted him and seeing him lying in that bed not aware of anything around him just broke my heart. I remember getting home that night and going to bed and I was lying in my bed and realized that I really couldn’t remember much about him before the disease stole his mind. He had been sick for several years and I was so young when he first got sick that I could only remember the illness. I was crying and I cried out to God and asked Him to help me remember my grandfather and INSTANTLY my mind was flooded with memories of him while he was healthy and I was just a little girl. They memories came so fast that I couldn’t keep up with all that I was remembering. I felt extremely loved and cared for. God cared for a teenage girl grieving for her grandfather. Grandpa died just a couple of weeks later, but I was comforted by God. I also realized that Grandpa gave his life to God just a couple of years before Alzheimer’s took his mind. It was such a joy to know that God had saved him before it was too late.
Whenever I am tempted to think that God doesn’t care for me, I just remember that story.
I love these Talk to Me Tuesdays. The stories are so encouraging. I’ve been reading along, but rarely feel like I should comment.
Glad you left a comment, JulieDiane. Your story was encouraging to me. God is good!
Sweet Friend,
Don’t give up hope. I too struggled with infertility for nine years. It never made sense to me. My husband and I loved the Lord. Everybody always said what great parents we would be. My heart ached everytime a dear friend would announce her pregnancy or the birth of a baby. Lots of tears and questions.
We had always had it in our minds that we wanted to adopt, but being military we were never in one place long enough. 2004 was our year. We were going to be stationed in NY for five years. We hit the ground running. We asked for a sibling group. With in a month we were matched with two brothers ages 2 and three from Russia. It took four months for the boys to come home. In that time we discovered that we were pregnant!!!. We went from no kids to three, all boys 🙂 Parenting is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. But still worth it.
I don’t know why God has you in this season, but He is trustworthy. Know, that I will be praying for Him to fill your life with children. When I look back on my time with only my husband and God , I now see it as such a special gift. Your are dearly loved girlfriend!!
Love, Michelle
JulieDiane-
My mom waited 16 years for me and she looks back now and says the timing could not have been more perfect. I’m 30 and she is my best friend. Trust God with your future.
Honest to God Miracle…. Last January, I was headed out the door to lead BM’s Esther study. My best girlfriend, of 25+ years, Erin (who is a Physician’s Assistant) called hysterically sobbing. She was barely able to describe the course of events that transpired within a normal routine checkup for her 1 year old baby girl. Julianna had a large pitted mass on the back of her leg. Within 24 hours they were being seen by Pediatric Oncologists/Surgeons, were undergoing MRI’s and having loads of blood work. My girlfriend is a believer in Christ (thank GOD) however struggles with what she knows medically. In her mind, an innocent cold turns into hospitalizations…. I went in my bedroom, told Erin to put her hand on Julianna’s leg and I started praying in Jesus’ name that Julianna’s mass would be resolved. I never said the “C” word, nor allowed her to. I encouraged Erin while nursing her precious child, to pray Jesus’ healing name over Julianna. Over the endless days that followed, MRI tests showed unfavorable results. We continued to praise Jesus, and claimed Julianna’s healing. I would text her scripture, and prayed God would guard her mind from, “going there….” The doctors wanted to watch it for 2 weeks, as they believed this amount of time would not be harmful. Blood levels weren’t great, but they weren’t horrible either. Oh, how we prayed. She was on every prayer chain and I even asked you ladies to pray with me. 2 weeks later the mass started to “resolve itself”. HALLALEUJA!!!! Within the end (14 weeks) of my Esther study, the mass had been completely resolved!!!!! Ladies, our GOD can do anything! Romans 8:28 had never been more true. God prevailed in such a HUGE way! Months later when I went to see Julianna, she immediately (she never went to anyone but her mom) ran and hugged me. She kept giving me this look…..a look that said, “I know I haven’t seen you in a long time, but for some reason I know we have been spending lots of time together…!” We had-in prayer! Oh, the power of prayer. Her doctors didn’t know what to make of this…we did – A MIRICLE (!) and boy did I shout from the roof top proclaiming it! Praise you JESUS!
In June 2006 my family and I were on a week long vacation with 3 other families from our church on Fripp Island, SC. My husband and Eric, one of the other men along, decided to spend one of the days fishing and scuba diving off-shore in the boat we had brought along with us. They are always an adventurous duo, and as they left they chuckled, saying “don’t worry about us unless we aren’t home by 7”. The rest of our group spent the day relaxing and looking forward to a fresh catch of fish for dinner, but by 7 pm when the boys weren’t home we were all becoming a bit edgy. By 8:30 we had called the local sheriff and assured him that this was not normal behavior for the two men. The Coast Guard was contacted and we learned that they had received a distress call at about noon from a boat, but were unable to pinpoint where it came from. By 11:30pm we received a call from Eric. He had been picked up by the Coast Guard near the location they planned to scuba dive. Their boat had taken on a large wave and sank about 11:30am, so Eric had been floating in the water for 12 hours. He had lost sight of my husband, Kent, shortly after the boat sank. Our group spent the night praying with each other, talking and praying with family members and our pastor back home and simply praying for a miracle.
It wasn’t until 3:30pm the next day (and 28 hours in the water) that my husband was found more than 21 miles off shore. Other than dehydration, sunburn and numerous jelly fish stings he was perfectly fine. He said he could see the Coast Guard ships searching for him all day, but just as quickly as they would get close, they would turn and leave. Thankfully on the last pass someone on the ship spotted him and they sent a helicopter to pull him up. Obviously, I credit the Coast Guard for their amazing work in the rescue and we were able to personally thank each member of that Rescue Squad, but our TRUE miracle was from Almighty God.
I am often asked if I let him go out on the water any more and my response is always the same; Sure I do!! God is in control and we cannot live our lives frozen in fear of what might happen. God’s plan that day was for my husband to return home to us safely and I praise God each day for that miracle.
You are blessed! Enjoy that man of yours 🙂
Oh what an awesome subject…since we serve a miracle working God. The latest and greatest public miracle for us was we had two sisters in Christ who became very sick at the same time in our body. One was diagnosed with a serious form of cancer, and was facing surgery and an unknown future. The other one was suffering with an serious esophagus problem and the surgeon was concerned that they may have to go in through breaking the bones in front of the chest, and our precious sis in Christ, had suffered so much and lost so much weight, everyone was concerned that she would not even survive the surgery. Our Pastor wisely called her husband up to the front to stand in proxy for his wife, and also our other sis in the LORD to the front for both of them to receive a miracle healing, this was a good 2 months ago. He called all who wanted to stand in faith, and the deacons to anoint with oil, and just this past Sunday both our sisters in Christ came to church and gave testimony to God’s miraculous power in their lives. The pathology had come back after the succesful cancer surgery and she was declared clean and free of cancer, and needs no chemo! The Dr. that preformed the surgery on the esophagus testified of the miraculous as she was able to do it all with lazer, and after 6 weeks of being on pureed food, our sis in Christ was able to come to our Christmas party after morning worship in celebration, and eat normally! Amazing grace…this happened to both on the same Sunday, just this past LORD’s Day! What a blessing…We do serve a miracle working God…nothing is too hard for Him! Prayer and faith work, according to His will and word!
Blessings,
Pam H.
Buena Park, CA
God has performed many miracles in my life, and I would like to think of this last event as a miracle of a different sort. Way back in July when my dear Siesta’s and I were doing the Kelly Minter Ruth study I was first introduced to the beauty of Ruth meeting Boaz at the threshing floor. Two weeks ago I was praying for my own Naomi that God would take her to the threshing floor and bless her with knowledge and understanding regarding a very difficult circumstance she currently is in. After that initial prayer, I came across two separate references to the threshing floor, one in Genesis and another in a devotional that came to my inbox. I truly felt God calling me to press further into the meaning of the threshing floor. A few days ago He opened the doors of knowledge and wisdom for me and His spirit guided my pen last night as I wrote what he laid on my heart. The power of His message and insight not only helped my Naomi, but the Lord brought me to the threshing floor in my own life and opened my heart to a brand new understanding of His Grace. Hope you enjoy this Christmas message that was Divinely inspired by our Savior…
The Threshing Floor
Posted on December 7, 2010 by Shelby| 3 Comments
As we prepare spiritually for the birth of our Lord this Christmas season, may we pray for the Grace to fully receive Him in our hearts. When we fix our gaze on the image of the child Jesus lying in a manger, let us absorb the innocence and simplicity of the birthing place against the backdrop of a much larger picture. Here is God, the Father, in human form lying on a bed of straw. Doesn’t sound like a royal bed place by any means does it? But is it?
What is it about the straw that provides a cushion for this Holy of Holies? What profound meaning does this lifeless bi-product of wheat depict? Straw is the hollow stalk of wheat that remains after the grain and chaff are separated and removed. In the Old Testament we learn of the process of harvesting wheat. It is picked from the field and gathered into sheaves to dry out before being taken to the threshing floor. A threshing floor is a place where the sheaves of wheat are placed upon a hard surface and trampled over by oxen pulling a flat sled which crushes the stalks – separating the fruitful grain from the unneeded chaff. Winnowing follows and is the process of blowing the chaff away leaving only the necessary grain for food and the remaining stalks, or straw. Straw is then used for many other incidental purposes, none greater in history than a resting place for our child Savior.
We can glean the benefits of the threshing floor in our own lives. It is a place where we can go before the Lord and ask him to separate the good from the bad, and the true from the false in our life. It is a place where judgment and testing take place within the confines of our heart as God winnows away all that impedes our growth and is unnecessary in our life – leaving only what is good and beneficial for His purposes. When we allow the threshing and winnowing of our inner spirit, what remains is an eternal blessing – a life with Christ that sustains us and insulates us from the chaff of our world that comes disguised as fear, hurtful experiences, disappointments, unforeseen circumstances, false beliefs, pride, righteousness, and so on.
When we sit at the threshing floor and obediently let our Maker do his work, we are preparing our hearts for true worship. (1 Chronicles 21:18, NIV) And we can only worship authentically if we sacrifice that which God calls us to let go of. For it is when we say the words of Jesus, “yet not as I will, but as You will” that we enter into true communion with our Redeemer. It is at the threshing floor that, like Ruth, we meet face-to-face with our Kinsman Redeemer and offer ourselves to our Bridegroom, thus entering into the Holy Marriage between Christ and us, the Church. (Ruth 3, NIV). This relationship with the Son of God comes from the finest wheat, for it was Ruth and Boaz’s son Obed who brought Jessie into this world and from the root of Jesse came David. And it is the “House of David” from which our Savior was born. When we feast on the grain of Christ’s covenant love, a bounty God meticulously harvested through the years, a life full of balance and rhythm – no matter how much shaking up comes our way – is our reward.
I am reminded of 2 Corinthians 4:7-9 (NIV) that says, “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” Sheaves of wheat are hard pressed on every side by oxen and sleds, but the good kernels of grain are not crushed. The judgment and testing at the threshing floor may leave us perplexed as God separates what is good from which is valueless in our life, but we are not abandoned or left to despair. Each sheave is struck down and then thrown in the air so the useless chaff blows away in the wind – but the bounty is not destroyed. We can liken this to choosing to allow God to remove the parts of us that are “of the world” so that we may die to self and become “one with Christ.” And at the end of the day what remains in the jars of clay, symbolic of our weak and earthly bodies, is the all-surpassing power of God working within us to bring blessings to the lives of others.
So, when we see that straw in the manger this year, let us remember where it came from. Let us ask ourselves where we have come from and where we are going in our journey. Regardless of where we find ourselves now, whatever season is in our midst, may we frame our current story within the context of the greater story – the story of a miracle baby who came to live among us and took our sins upon His back so that we could live forever in His Glory. That is the greatest gift of Christmas. We won’t find it on-line, at Wal-Mart or even at the Mall. We will find this gift every day at the threshing floor where we can always meet the King of Kings lying on a bed of straw.
Merry Christmas ~ Shelby
Oh wow Shelby. If it’s okay I’m going to read this to my family Christmas Eve. I had goosebumps reading it I couldn’t read it fast enough yet I wanted to read slowly and take in with each heartbeat the meaning of the straw. Beautiful. Merry Christmas to you as well.
Thank you so much… God bless you and your family.
Thank you for sharing this Shelby. What perfect timing!
Thank you and God bless! Merry Christmas –
PROFOUND!!!!
DEar Shelby ~
What a profound an anointed word…so beautifully written. I was just praying this afternoon that the LORD show me what He wants me to bring forth for a special Christmas teaching this year to my Kairos Ladies Sunday School Class. We’ve been doing the “Get Out of That Pit” book on deliverance by Beth Moore. And here it is, with your permission to share this awesome word given to you on “The Threshing Floor”. Sometimes we may mistake a “pit” for an honest to God threshing. A pit we can be delivered from, a threshing is something we need. An interesting study is to study the different threshing floors in the Bible and the root Hebrew word from whence they are named. A threshing indeed is a gift worthy of “Merry Christmas” and we can heartily sing “Joy to the world, the LORD is come, let earth receive her King!”
Blessings dear siesta in Christ for sharing with us such a beautiful gift,
Pam H.
Buena Park, CA
Thank you, Pam. What a humbling gift of joy to know that you would like to share the words God pressed upon my heart with your group. Have a blessed and Merry Christmas!!!
When my sister was 5 months pregnant, the doctors noticed her son’s heart was regularly racing 2-3 times the healthy rate. They were unable to determine the cause, and any medication given didn’t fix the issue. They told her that though they weren’t sure what the issue was, it was very rare and in similar situations, the outcome was generally bleak. They warned her that her son’s heart would likely wear itself out before birth, or that the trauma of birth would be too much for him to handle, or that he would be unable to sustain life apart from her.
Thankfully, they were wrong on all counts.
Upon hearing the doctor’s opinion and their recommended course of action, my sister and her husband named thier boy Elijah and faithfully prayed for God’s strength and intervention in his life. Defying all odds, he was not only born on schedule, but after his first year of life, he no longer needed the heart -regulating drugs. The doctors still have no explanation for the cause or the healing, but 6 years later he is the brightest bundle of joy in my life and as healthy as can be.
Praise God!
God has and continues to heal me of mental illness. This is no exaggeration. The past 4 years I went through an intense spiritual battle and was at one point so angry at the Lord while in seminary that I tore up my Bible that had led me to love him in the first place. I came to hate the Lord who was once the love of my life. I was diagnosed as bipolar, depressed, borderline personality, social anxiety disorder, you name it. I tried about 10 medications and saw 5 counselors and 4 psychiatrists. You can only imagine how I treated those I loved most being in such a miserable state.
The process was slow but through time spent renewing my mind in the Word (It has such power to transform!) and the Lord’s gracious softening of my heart, I stand as a miracle, a person who still loves the Lord and longs to follow him. It’s only by his grace that I did not walk away from my faith, and now live to praise him.
The Good Lord healed me of cancer last January. Last year this time, at age 39 and with two young children, I was diagnosed with fast moving, type 4 malignant melanoma. My husband and I sought the Lord in prayer, believing Him for healing, and our whole family went to the Elders for prayer. The night before the surgery, January 26th, 2010, my girlfriend had a vision of a big black “C” on my back (where the cancer was initially found) and then she saw a hand come down and wash it clean. Praise Jesus! The surgeon took skin, down to the fatty tissue, from three different places, and removed some lymphodes from under my arm, and biopsied the skin cells… low and behold, NO CANCER found anywhere! Now I share this miracle of healing with everyone I meet, because there is power in testimony, and All Praise and Glory goes to King Jesus, my Rescuer! psalm 103:3
I love that you’ve referred to Him as “The Good Lord”.
My husband and I tried for 4 years to get pregnant with no success. We finally saw a fertility specialist and after surgery and some lose dose fertility meds, we finally did it!!! We conceived!!! We were over the moon with joy and couldn’t wait to find out whether it was a boy or girl and to be honest we just wanted healthy!! So the time came for us to find out what we were having. The ultrasound was wonderful seeing him play around and kick. We really couldn’t get a good look at his face so that was a little disappointing but we for sure knew from the beginning of the ultrasound that he was a boy, lol!! Anyway, the tech took us to our room to wait to hear from my doctor. We were filled with joy!! We were texting everyone to tell them of the news. Then the doctor came in and said that we had a few things to go over. At first, she told us about him having a double cleft lip and possible cleft palate but that it can easily be repaired. Then she told us that it appeared he was missing his vermis. That more than likely he would have what is known as the Dandy Walker syndrome. She said that after birth he would need a shunt placed in his brain to drain any fluid he would have on his brain. She set me up with an appointment to see a specialist and we were on our way. It was all I could do to keep my composer long enough to get out of the doctors office. Plus, we had checked Hollee out of school to be with us on the special occasion and I didn’t want to upset her because she really didn’t get what the doctors were telling us. But, in the end I broke down. I didn’t understand why this was happening to us. It was as if a balloon had literally popped letting out all of our excitement and joy and a rush of worry and helplessness set in. As soon as I got home, I was on the computer trying to learn all I could of this Dandy Walker syndrome. I learned that day that was the worst thing I could have done. In the end, I decided that this syndrome was too wide ranged, meaning he could have minor problems or he could have potentially fatal problems. I had plenty of people coming to me or calling my mom telling her that they had a loved one with the same problem and that if I needed to talk or find out information to just give them a call. Something in me decided to just let GOD have that one. I didn’t want to talk to anyone about it. I realized quick that there was no way for me to know what we would be dealing with until after he was born and I couldn’t spend the next 23 weeks worrying about it mainly because it scared me more than anything to think about it. It was best for me and Brody to just let God worry with that. And truly honestly, I put it in the back of my mind!! A week later, I was in a specialists office with my parents having another ultrasound to confirm what we already knew. Eric had to go back to work so thankfully my parents stepped in to be with me. He suggested an amniocentesis and Eric and I had already talked about it and that we would go ahead with it. That doctor was concerned because of him having two problems that he could have a potential chromosome problem that could mean death at birth or not even making it through pregnancy. He didn’t suggest terminating the pregnancy but he did let me know it was an option. Obviously, that was no option at all and I remember my dad speaking up for me in shutting that conversation down quickly, lol! It would take a week to get the results from the chromosome tests and during that time, I remember praying with all I had to just let him be ok. To have minimal problems. I had already accepted his cleft problems and like I said before I gave God the vermis issue. A week later we got the good news that he had no chromosome problems and that the only thing he would be dealing with was his vermis and cleft issues. Eric and I met with his doctors in Dallas and spoke with friends with kids that had the same cleft issues so we would be prepared for what was to follow after he was born and so we were now just awaiting his arrival. 22 weeks later, we welcomed Brody into this world. He was immediately admitted into the nicu and that night we learned that Brody had his vermis. 2 weeks prior we were again informed that he was missing his vermis during a regular monthly ultrasound. I believe to this day, God placed his vermis in his brain between the time of that last ultrasound and the time of the CAT scan. No doctor can convince me otherwise. They determined that it was a little smaller than most and most likely the reason it never showed on ultrasound. We all know what our God can do so why should WE be surprised of this miracle??! Brody is now 2 years old and although he has had a rough start to life he is thriving well and a true testiment to the fact that miracles do happen!!
A few years ago a girlfriend of mine and I were preparing to disciple 4 gals. A month before we were to begin, I was reading in Jeremiah when my heart took a leap and sunk as I read the words “don’t be afraid of their faces.” I read those same words two more times in Jeremiah.
I started to get scared. I have battled a chronic infection for over 20 yrs. and had the feeling I was going to get sick. I shared the verse w/my girlfriend and she thought it was the LORD assuring me not to be afraid of the women we were going to be discipling.
My husband was in the Navy and away for a few weeks. We also were having the inside of our home renovated. Sure enough, I got sick. I literally had painters painting around me while I laid in bed sicker than a dog. My husband got home 2 days later and by the fourth day, we decided I needed to go the emergency room. They admitted me into the hospital as I had gone septic. The infection had gotten into my bloodstream.
My girlfriend came to visit when four infectious disease doctors were discussing with me some of the options they were considering. They talked about sending me home w/an IV tube so I could administer the heavy medication myself for a long period of time. We laughed as we had visions of sitting around the table together in discipleship while I was hooked up to an IV.
I don’t think I ever realized the danger I was in, that I could have died.
Those verses in Jeremiah, it was the LORD telling me not to be afraid of the doctors’ faces because He would heal me. He truly has given my “life to me as a prize.” My life verse for years has been out of Joshua: “not a word failed of any good thing which the LORD had spoken to the house of Walters. All came to pass.”
As far as medicine is concerned, I should have died. But as far as He is concerned, He is the Great Physician and the God of miracles. Oh, how I love Jesus! He is so Faithful.
It is so amazing that you asked this question because this very week I have witnessed one of the most unbelieveable miracles of my life so far. On Sunday morning (ironically the day after I went to Deeper still in Birmingham) my husband and I were getting ready to go to church and got a phone call saying that his brother (27 years old) was in a very serious car wreck earlier that morning and was on a ventilator. To make it short he was on a two line highway and from what we understand a car trying to pass traffic did not see him. At any rate they hit head on. From the looks of the crash sight there were no skid marks that indicated they slowed down. He was driving a Nissan frontier and the other car was a Dually Truck. The miracle is the impact was just close enough the the passenger side on both cars that the drivers had just enough room to survive. I wish you could see a picture because the only part of the roof on my brother-in-laws car that is not caved in and crushed is right over his head. Everytime I see the picture I see Jesus holding it up for him saying, “I’m not finished with you yet bud.” All he had was a mild concusion and a shattered femur. Surgery went well and after three days of being out of it, this morning he just started talking to his mom and dad. Praise the Lord for our christmas miracle! Also, please pray for him. He has a long road of recovery ahead!
Oh and to add for those wondering, there were no passengers in either car!
In 1993, one day after our youngest child’s first birthday, my husband was diagnosed with Guillaune-Barre Syndrome. This disease had him paralyzed from the neck down. The prognosis was three months intensive care, 6 more months in the hospital, and another 6 months in a rehab facility learning to walk and feed himself again.
I had angels from my church around me within one hour of getting home from the hospital. By God’s incredible mercy, my husband walked (with a walker) but walked, out of hte hospital 11 days later. His doctor even admitted there was no medical explanation for any of this!
We do serve a mighty God.
Although we were able to have a daughter naturally, my husband and I had 2 miscarriages. After 18 months of trying unsuccessfully to get pregnant again, we found out we were expecting.
9 weeks into our pregnancy, I woke up with some terrible symptoms and we just knew I had miscarried. I called my doctor and he told me to come in right away, fully expecting the same scenario we had been through previously. However, when they did the ultrasound, there was still a heartbeat. I continued to have the same symptoms of miscarriage for several months. Because of this, I got regular ultrasounds and they found that I had a placental abruption.
At one of my ultrasounds, the specialist found a cyst. He wasn’t very concerned, but suggested we keep an eye on it. At my next appointment, the placental abruption was no longer visible, but the cyst had grown and they started to monitor that. Because I’m only 27 and very healthy, no one was worried. But they did decide to do surgery after my daughter was born to remove the cyst due to ongoing pain I was having.
After the surgery they discovered I had ovarian cancer. As far as they can tell, the cancer is gone, no treatment necessary. The doctors are still astounded- they say they never would have even found this if I I wasn’t pregnant when I was, with the symptoms I was having, with my history.
I am overwhelmed when I think how gracious God is and how he can work all things for our good.
My husband went to the dentist to have 2 teeth extracted. He was told his heartrate was too low and he should go to the doctor. The doctor sent him to the cardiologist. The cardiologist sent him to the hospital. He went into surgery for a pacemaker with a heartrate of 30 and came out with a heartrate of 86. Came home the next day and experienced pressure in his chest when he would go to bed. Wouldn’t let me call the doctor…thought he knew the cause…being too full…the worst episode being Thanksgiving night. Then they stopped. Went to the hospital for a check of the pacemaker and shared the information. Was immediately sent to ER where they said his blood showed he had issues. Readmitted to the hospital and Friday had a quadruple bypass surgery. He is in a room now and the tubes are removed and he will probably come home Friday. God’s hand has been so visible though all these ‘coincidences.’ I could go on forever about the different ways we were blessed through this. My husband does not have insurance, but was a Green Beret in Vietnam and so he was covered at the VA where they have one of the best cardiac units…it has been overwhelming. When I got off the elevator to wait for the surgery a woman was talking on the phone to someone and said “God doesn’t allow anything to happen that doesn’t pass through his fingers, and all of it is to bring Him glory. So we must look for how to glorify God through this.” I said Amen and have been sharing with anyone who would listen the miracle of the past 3 weeks. They said he would have probably had a massive heart attack his arteries were so clogged…so clogged that his heart actually grew a new vein on the back because it wasn’t getting enough blood out. Amazing. All the scriptures about hearts and the blood ran through my mind. God has truly given him a new heart. I pray he gives Him glory every chance he gets…I know I will, and this is another way to express my joy that He works all things together. Who would have dreamed a trip to the dentist would end up with a pacemaker and a bypass? Glory, praise, awe!
Your post brought tears to my eyes!! We must tell what HE has done……
Wow, this is a big one for me. I have not had the best of relationships with my Mom. We live almost the whole US apart from each other and it used to be fine with both of us.
Almost 7 years ago God gave me a new job and at the job I had internet access. I began an email campaign with my mom. We would send one-sentence letters back and forth.
During one of these God laid it on my heart to ask my mom for forgiveness for the rotten, mouthy child I had been. As I wrote those words, I was flooded by the Holy Spirit with forgiveness For my mom. I sat at my desk bawling my eyes out with the biggest grin.
Since then I have spent some very nice times with my mom. One time about 3 years ago with my sisters, nieces and my mom at the Beth Moore conference in Minneapolis!
I was never going to forgive my mom, I couldn’t….But God could change my “want to”.!!! Praise my Abba, who knows a parent’s and child’s heart.
My miracle was one of life-saving proportions. My mother, father & sister were coming home from an evening out while I was at home waiting for them. Our plans took us separate ways that night. I laid down to bed knowing that they would be home shortly. Suddenly I felt an undeniable tug at my heart to pray for my family’s safety. Blindly, I admonished and prayed my heart out until I heard the garage door go up. One by one, my mother, father & sister paraded into my bedroom and sat down on my bed – their faces were ashen. It turns out that on their journey home, a driver (assumed to be drunk) came the wrong way up their highway exit – directly at their car. At the last second my father felt a tug at the wheel pulling them away from the oncoming car, a mere inches away. God truly worked a miracle that night in my obedience to His call, and brought my family home safely.
this is my mom’s miracle:
she was riding her bike across a street when a man in a trench coat stepped out and swung his arm in front of her so that she had to jump off her bike to avoid hitting him. a split-second later a car came whizzing around the corner and missed her by an inch. she would have been right in the car’s path had the man not stopped her. within another split-second she turned to thank the man in the trench and he was gone. she had the hardest year of her life after that incident (sometimes even wishing for death), but she knew God had her here for a reason, especially because she knew it was an angel who saved her that day. Hebrews 13:2
Wow! Angels among us!
The first miracle is that I have been given new life through the blood of Jesus Christ. Every day that I wake up is a miracle knowing that my Father doesn’t give up on me no matter what!!
When I was a teenager I had a lup come up in my breast. I was freaking out. My mom asked me if I wanted to go to the doctor or pray for healing. We prayed and the next morning it was completely gone!!
After the birth of our first son, I developed complications and was told that I had a pulmonary embolism. Very scary! God healed my body completely and I have had no further problems.
God has healed a thyroid problem, protected me when I totalled my husbands truck, and continues to protect and walk beside me daily. I feel so blessed to have His hand, His peace and His presence in my life.
Be blessed!!!
I don’t often look at this blog. But 2 nights ago I dreamt I was rafting down a river, next to Beth Moore, telling her my story. We got interrupted, but I felt compelled to continue telling her all the miracles God has done in my life. So when I decided to look at your blog today, and saw you asking for our stories of God in our life, well, wow! It will be hard to make this brief, but I’ll attempt. 24 years ago my husband and I had been married 12 years. We had 5 children, ages 12-6, the last 2 being twins. We were the “perfect Christian family”. My husband was a wonderful father. But, I was in total shock, when he told be one evening he had a problem, he had become addicted to drugs. He had met the Lord, in the county jail in his early 20’s, after growing up in reform school and then a life of crime and drugs. I’d met him after he’d gotten out of prison, saved and full of God’s spirit. He led me, a sweet little Jewish girl, to the Lord. He told me of his past, but I could hardly believe it, he was so different than that. But after 12 years of marriage he was frustrated. When he picked up a hitchhiker he had opportunity to get high, and thought it would be a break from the pressure. Within 2 weeks he was addicted to heroin, just as he’d been years before. This started an 8 year nightmare. When he first told me, on my knees I cried out to the Lord begging Him to help. I didn’t understand addiction. My husband wanted out, but was in over his head. After a few months I saw our savings gone, and my husband was in and out of the house. For the next 8 years I raised my children alone as my husband struggled with addiction. He lived on the streets, overdosing several times. But, God wouldn’t let him die. I learned during this time of severe trial that God was my provider, my husband and lover, my friend, my identity and that He wanted my all. And that He wanted to be above everything in my life, even my husband and children and that my identity needed to be in Him. He wanted to meet my needs. So, my self worth would not be in having a great husband and being a wonderful mother. My husband was a heroin addict and my children were struggling, rebellious teens. Every night my children prayed for their father, even when I couldn’t. I cried out often to the Lord in much heartache, and He truly met my needs, often miraculously. Money would come in at just the right time and amount. God gave me a wonderful pastor and wife who are friends, never judgmental. After allowing me to be so alone and lean only on him, God gave me 2 wonderful women friends in my church. We were all raising children alone. We became family, sharing holidays, praying together and always encouraging each other in God. We met each other’s loneliness. God was faithful. I have so many stories of God being incredibly faithful, there was nothing I could give to Him (with fear and trembling) that He didn’t give back a thousand fold. Once, at the beginning of the trial, I was praying about how to pay bills. I was $200 short. As I was praying a car pulled in my driveway. A friend of a friend heard about us, he handed me an envelope with $200 in it. As I sobbed, God told me he would be with me, meet my needs. It was like a first fruit of His faithfulness. After 4 years of addiction and in and out of treatment and the county jail (and many miracles of his own, for God never left him), my husband began to be released from bondage. We never divorced, I never thought he would live, and the “ring kept me safe”. After another 4 years of my husband “coming alive again” I felt it was time to reconcile or divorce. God told me I had a choice, but if we came back together to do it “as unto Him”. My codependency had taken a severe blow. Thank God, I was now dependant on Him! Also during those years 3 of my daughters had unplanned pregnancies. We saw God’s hand so mightily at work there, meeting my daughters and their babies, each in unique ways. (No abortions) So now, we’ve been back together 15 yrs! Someone pinch me! He’s a wonderful man, husband, father and grandfather, good provider and free from bondage, with an incredible story. All five of my children have given their lives to God. They are loving adults who all have real, vibrant relationships with God and each other. They have seen His faithfulness. Wow! We beat the odds. Hardly a day goes by that we are not truly amazed and thankful for what God has done in our family. Is everything perfect, of course not? But at times it feels that way, when I recall His faithfulness. My daughter once was praying and hurting and reminding God, as a little girl, how often she’d pray for her daddy to come back and He didn’t answer. He said to her, Rachel look he is back. Yes, it took God’s timing; He’s always after our hearts. Our experience is that there’s nothing we’ve given to Him that He hasn’t given back a thousand times. His ways are not our ways! My brother once said to me, “Your family is like a Dicken’s novel, I don’t understand”. He is seeing God’s hand; it’s His story in our lives.
Wow Dianne! I sure hope Beth sees your post. No wonder God woke you up from your river rafting dream so you could tell Beth your story on her blog!! I so love what you said God said to Rachel “Yes, it took God’s timing; He’s always after our hearts.” As I’ve given testimony to a struggling marriage it’s so hard to explain to women who are in a marriage with trouble that concept. He is so after our hearts. Not anyone elses’s our personal heart relationship with Him. You put it so beautifully. What a testimony your life is to God’s faithfullness when we are faithful to Him. I am so glad God woke you up from the river rafting dream and that you remembered the dream and able to “share the rest of the story”. Now that’s our miracle of the day for this blog. Love it.
I love your story. Thanks for sharing.
“Do it Lord, do it Lord
Do it Lord, we are praying
Do it Lord, do it, that YOUR GLORY may be seen!”
Wow, how His glory keeps shining through all of these stories and changed lives.
You’ve made my day. Praise God!
I so wanted to share with you and your readers the remarkable Amen to my families miracle we received this past year.
My 12 year old grandson had a horrendous accident while riding a ATV. It came crashing onto his right leg and shattering it into pieces much like that of a war injuries. Besides Gods hand allowing him to live threw this, the Holy Spirit, rode along side for the next 10 months. Thirty Three days three different hospitals and 9 surgeries later we were told more times than not that Camden still may loss his leg. They removed his stomach muscle and skin from his thigh implanted bone from a donor and still said we don’t know if this will work. The doctor stood in the face of his mother snd said “don’t get your hopes up”. too late she answered. Our God didn’t take us this far to not carry us to the finish line.
Today Camden is 13 and went to his doctors appointment. Completely restored his leg is and only through prayer and miracle could this be.
Camden is not only very aware of this God healing he isn’t shy about reminding others.
Yes miracles happen today.
My husband and I tried for many years to conceive but were not successful. We decided that if God wanted us to have a baby we would and did not use any fertility treatments, but I had resigned myself to the idea that I would probably never have a biological child. We then adopted our first child. When she was 2 years old, and after almost 9 years of marriage, I became pregnant. And then when our biological son was 15 months old we adopted our third child. I am so thankful for the different ways that our children have come into our lives. They are each a miracle in their own unique way.
My sweet mother died this past spring very suddenly and unexpectedly. I live in Texas and she lived in Ohio. Our last conversation on the phone was booking her flight to come see me in July. For whatever reason when I wrote the flight in my calendar I used a red pen. I never write anything in red ink on my calendar, but thought nothing of it at the time. Months after her death, I turned the page to July and there were those flight numbers jumping off the page in red ink, as if to taunt me. I went for my morning walk and while I was praying I sensed the Lord whisper to my heart “what else is written in red ink?”. Immediately I was covered in chill bumps as I thought of the my “red letter” bible and all of Jesus’ words that are written in red. I couldn’t wait to go home and see what the flight number was to see if it could possibly correspond with any of the verses I had been meditating on since her passing. My mouth fell open as I looked at her departing flight number ~ 1403. I had been glued to the Gospel of John, Chapter 14 verses 1-3 from the moment I got the heartbreaking news of her death ~
John 14:3 reads….”And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”
I believe in my spirit that the Lord purposed me somehow that day to pick up that red pen because He knew what lay ahead. My mother would not be coming to see me, she would be going to see Him. And he wanted me to see the promise that she was with Him and one day I would be too. It was one of many miracles of His Presence in my time of sorrow and need. How I love His Word!! How I love Him!
Wow Jennifer, goosebumps even on my knees! God You are amazing.
This is a great idea! I have a so many miracle stories, this is prompting me to think about them more, and record them to read later. My biggest and most recent is seeing God restore my life, health, walk with God, and vocation, after an incredibly challenging couple of years (05-06)…It was not something i would ever want someone else to walk through, but God did so many great things in my heart because of that awful time. (I went though a very serious medical issue, that affected every area of my life!)
I have a feeling He is planning to continue to use all that mess in lots of ways to bring Himself glory and show others His love. I’m thankful for friends and family who helped me through that time, and pointed me to Christ.
On Memorial Day of this year my mother went to the ER. She was in severe septic shock due to an abscessed wound on her belly. Her regular wound dr was on call, and he saw her. After seeing her, he went back to his staff and told them about my mom and that it would be unlikely that she would make it. To make a long story short, she DID make it despite being in septic shock AND diabetic! She spent 7 weeks in the hospital. On our last visit to the wound dr before she was discharged, the dr and the staff told her over and over again that she was a walking MIRACLE….that she should’ve died.
When a DOCTOR uses the word MIRACLE, I just think that’s a REAL MIRACLE!
God Bless you!
Miracles come in all shapes and sizes. My most recent miracle might not be “big” by any standard, but it was powerful in my life and, as I’m learning now, in the lives of a number of people around me.
I’ve worked in a residential treatment setting for the last two years. Recently a job position opened up that I wanted. Only catch? It required working on Sundays. I knew what God expected of me but I really, really wanted the job and the accompanying pay raise.
Against my better judgment, I applied and interviewed. Every day I felt sicker and sicker, knowing that this wasn’t what God wanted for me. On the day the decision was going to be made, I was in tears. I finally yielded to God’s direction and, in obedience, went to my program manager and apologized for wasting her time.
I told her that church and my faith were absolutely essential to my life and that as much as I wanted the job, I had to be obedient to my God. She looked at me for a minute or two and then handed me two sheets of paper. Both were job offers with my name on them. One was for the Sunday through Thursday shift and the other was for a Tuesday through Saturday shift. She told me that the job was mine from the moment I applied and that she knew church was important. All I had to do was say so.
I was obedient and God gave me something better than I’d wanted. That seems pretty miraculous to me. As a result, my program manager and I had a long talk about faith and we continue to have these discussions as time allows. I shared the story with some people at church and others have chosen to make tough decisions out of obedience as well. God had a big plan for that simple little word, “no.”
This year has blessed me with two big miracles. Last December my then 5 year old daughter was sent to St. Jude, a docter there said had we not arrived when we did she may have had a couple of days to live. She is now in remission!! The second happened in July when I gave birth to my third child. She wasn’t breathing when she arrived and it took our Dr. 15 minutes of bagging air for her to start, she had a stroke and had bleeding on the brain. She now is a healthy 4 month old cooing and laughing! I had a Dr. tell me in her early days of life ” The good Lord will take care of her” and indeed he did!
Oh my…how many miracles can we share?? My first one was my salvation! Yes, God took this broken vessel and made it NEW. I will never get over this!!
My husband broke his neck at 18. C1-C2. He should of died instantly. He was with a bunch of guys in Texas on the 4th of July! He got saved the year before.
They laid hands on him and prayed. He was in the hosptial 3 months and had surgery. God told him he wasn’t finished with him. That was over 35 years ago.
Another one is my son was dx with a brain tumor, inoperable at 16. We’ve went through surgeries and rads. He should be BLIND, the tumor is wrapped around his optic nerve. He has beat so many odds. We are so grateful. He is a patient at St. Jude.
I could on and on, thanks for this opportunity to testify of the GOODNESS of our MIGHTY God!
Love you♥
Two years ago next week, I was on a gurney, hooked to IVs awaiting surgery to remove a non-cancerous lump that had been in my breast for several years. The doctor wanted to “mark the spot” so he did one last breast exam and couldn’t find the lump. When I asked, “What does this mean?” He said, “No surgery. Go get some supper and call me to schedule a mammogram/sonogram so we can see what happened to the lump.” The lump completely disappeared and hasn’t reoccurred. Praise our Jehovah Rapha!
Very Long story short, my marriage is a miracle. A marriage that was rocked by infidelity and traumatic domestic violence is now being used for the glory of God…no divorce, no separation, but miraculous healing and LOVE
Thank You Jesus
Amen Amen and Amen…..Ditto Ditto Ditto! LOVE this miracle!
The miracles in our life have to do with God’s redemption. God has literally taken my life from the pit and allowed me the amazing miracle of serving Him in full time ministry. I often quote what I think I heard Beth say once, “God keeps those He trust the least closest to Him”. When I think of where I was and where I could be, I know it is nothing but the miracles of God’s grace that I am not on the streets or living in an addictive lifestyle. Our marriage is another miracle. 20 years this past October. Year one we faced head on anger, addictions and depression. We lived in the cycle of dysfunction for several years and now we have 20 years and are both serving God and working to have a marriage that honors Him. As for miraculous physical healings, we don’t have that story. I do, however, believe the healing of our hearts and relationships is nothing short of a miracle. Love you Beth! You have no idea the blessing you and your ministry have been to me over the years! I have to tell you something funny! My adult son was saying something about someone “famous” in his eyes. I had no clue who the person was and to this day cannot remember the name of who he was referring to. When I said “Who is that?” His response was, “Mom! That would be like saying to you, ‘Who is Beth Moore!?!??!?!” I loved that even my grown son knows how special you are to me!!!!
Are you from Michigan Leanne? You look like someone my brother used to date! Gotta love those sons!
I have loved reading the stories of miracles! It is so encouraging to read about our amazing and personal God!
Heather from Lewiston
PS I finally have a gravatar! 🙂
Last Sunday we were in church (the service had just started) when my husband told me “We have to leave I am having a heart attack”. We went into the church lobby and I asked one of the men to call 911. Immediately a man came over identified himself as a paramedic – and he took over. He called the ambulance, and the hospital so that the ER team was ready when we got in the door and they got my husband up into the O.R. in record time. He had a 100% blockage. Because of God directing all those wonderfully skilled people – my husband is home and doing well. We see the hand of God in so many of the events of that day….and we are so grateful. This is our Christmas gift – an incredible miracle!
It is humbling to read these many miracles. God is the God of Miracles ! How amazing is He !
I am a walking miracle, too. My doctor shakes his head in amazement when he sees me. My 1st Dr gave up on me when the cancer came back. He refused to operate. The Dr I have now operated and saved me. After chemo, radiation, more chemo, more radiation, and being prayed over by the elders at my church — I am in remission ! I walk with a walker or a cane, but I am alive ! God brought me to that 2nd Dr, and reminded me to go to the elders and ask for prayer. My body is damaged, but my spirit is strong, and my faith is forever. I don’t know how much time I will have here on earth, but it is time given to me by God, and I know I am headed toward heaven.
Hallelujah!
Hi seista mama
I am with one seista I know God is faithful because of my scripture verses I have memorize with SSMT last yr. and I am memorizing on my own this yr and it has changed my life more than ever whenever I am feeling down or anxious or just right down depressed I start saying my scripture verses and turn my thoughts and eyes toward God and press in close to Jesus and it calms my fears and my anxious thoughts. The word of God is powerful. Thank you to all and thanks for this blog and Beth, family for showing us the way the truth and the life Jesus.
Love Carol
The Lord has done many miracles for me, but this one is kind of funny. I hope it helps someone else… even if they only get a laugh out of it. After my youngest daughter was born my husband and I felt strongly that I was not supposed to go back to work. We had saved enough money for a 90 day leave, but that was it. We kept tithing and trusting God and He made is possible for me to stay home and raise my children for almost 17 years. One time we were so broke I had no money for groceries. I had one meat loving husband, myself, 2 teenagers with hearty appetites and 2 younger kiddos to feed. I had a few things in the pantry and knew I could make them stretch with a little creativity, but there would be no meat for at least a couple of weeks. My husband was not aware of this when he went to volunteer at the high school band’s fundraising food booth that night. He came home with bags and boxes of turkey burgers, hamburgers, hot dogs, etc. He said the people in charge had purchased too many and told him he should take it home to his family since they wouldn’t be needing it anymore. My freezer was stuffed with meat! I know this must seem like a small thing compared to the miracles on here, but it is a constant reminder to me that God is in control of everything! Nothing is too big or too small!
i just love this! He is so good….
Thank you for that story! Our God does provide! No matter how large or small! God bless you and your family.
We have a dear friend that has brain cancer and as of today not much time left on this earth. He is in hospice care and they told him last week that he would have to change pain medication that hospice will cover. These meds did nothing but make him loopy. At church on Sunday we had an altar call and he and his wife both came forward. When ask by a Siesta of mine how things were going, was told about the med and that they cost $3000 every two weeks and they could no longer afford them. Well, Siesta gal and hubby game them the money and send out emails to church family. You know how God works, OVERFLOWING!!!! After telling this story to people at the hospice, the right person heard, did some calling and came back to them stating that hospice will pay for the meds that took care of his pain. GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME!
I am like some of the other readers who have been blessed to be a witness to so many miracles that it is hard to choose one! God has been so good and faithful to me. I have been healed, witnessed miracles in the weather, seen others rescued. . . I could fill the blog with stories! 🙂 The following, though, is one of my favorites.
As a missionary, I was teaching Sunday School to a class of children mostly 3-6 years old. One year, during Day of the Dead weekend, one of those precious little boys was with his family and ran out in the street after a ball. He was tall, but just five years old. A car hit him hard in the midsection, and then he bounced across the road on his head from the impact.
The driver rushed him to the hospital (his family is poor and doesn’t own a car) and he was pronounced dead. We were called, but didn’t know his status yet. As we rushed to meet them at the hospital, I began to pray and weep, probably harder than I had ever prayed in my whole life. I begged God to spare his life. He was so dear to us. His dad had been hurt badly by people in the church at the time and had not attended for about two years. His mom, however, still attended regularly and was a mighty prayer warrior and woman of God.
We arrived at the hospital and found his mom, shaken but clear-minded. Then, we learned his story. He was dead. When his mom prayed over him; however, he came back to life! His internal organs were a mess, his brain would require surgery. He was battered. . . but alive again! She told us, with her matter-of-fact faith in her heavenly Father, “It is Day of the Dead weekend. This whole city is breathing death. But I prayed LIFE for my son.”
The doctors were cautious, wondering at the extent of brain damage, saying he might never walk again. Days later, he was starting to talk. About two weeks later, still in bandages, I had to tell him to stop running around chasing the other children. HEALED. God didn’t take his scars away. In fact, we have photos of the one on his head; it looks remarkably like the Texas Longhorns symbol! 🙂 His belly/ chest, too are full of scars. But on the inside, he is healed.
That was about six years ago. Today, he is the lead drummer for the youth worship band, and he serves and loves God. Oh, and his dad started coming back to church from time to time . . . keep praying for him! God knows the plans He has for their precious family.
Thanks for letting me share. I love looking back at stones of rememberance. God has given my family such a large pile of them!
WOW! I know everytime your church sees him in the band they are reminded of God’s power 🙂 Thanks for sharing.
Oh, Beth can I begin by saying thank you for writing BELIEVING GOD. God used this Bible study to prepare me for a very long and difficult journey, one in which I had to walk by faith. I would repeat the five statement pledge of faith often on this difficult journey and cling to His promises. Our God is a God of miracles! I am one of them… Miracle – a marvelous event manifesting a supernatural act of GOD. I had written this definition on an index card while knowing that indeed for me to live would require a supernatural act of God.
In 2006, my husband and I found ourselves in the hospital devastated by the news that we had just received. from our doctors. We were told that my heart was failing and that in order for me to live that I would need a heart transplant. We were in total shock and denial. We could not even say the word “TRANSPLANT”. The Lord instantly led me to Psalm 91 :4 He will cover you with His feathers and under His wings you will find refuge. His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. Our prayer became Oh, Lord if we must walk this journey, may you and you alone be glorified. Don’t share your glory with anyone.” I knew the journey would be very difficult, but I also knew that if I would draw near to Him, that He would get me through. We waited 5 months on the transplant list and there were many bumps in the road. As we waited for a new heart at home, I finally became so sick that I had no choice but be admitted to the hospital and waited there for the gift of life. My husband and I left three beautiful children behind with various family members to care for them and went to a hospital 250 miles from home to wait for the heart. The Lord was so very faithful, giving us strength to entrust our children HIM as we waited. The Lord sustained me allowing me to cling to life for a month as my body began to shut down. The week before I received my new heart, I was in multi-organ failure with my heart functioning at only 5%. There was a point where my systolic blood pressure (the top number) dropped to 48 and the nurses were in my room saying, “Don’t you do this to us! Don’t you leave us Jeannie!” They wanted to do emergency surgery to put in an artificial heart to keep me alive, but a mysterious fever prevented the surgery. But miraculously, that night, things began to turn. Within a matter of hours, my blood pressure had increased to around 115 ( a place where it hadn’t been in months. My kidneys which were failing, pulled out two liters of fluid over night. The following week, I received a perfect matching heart, one that I would not have gotten had they performed the surgery. The miracles were, bringing my blood pressure back and keeping me alive, giving me a fever to prevent emergency surgery, and providing me with a new heart. I am a walking, talking miracle, touch by God’s hand, changed by His grace and mercy!
This is an amazing story! Praise GOD!!
This is one of our Christmas miracles. Right after my husband and I recommitted our lives to the Lord and joined a new church, we lost everything. Friends, family, and finances. It was a few days before Christmas and we didn’t know how we were going to eat, much less make it home for the holidays. We were sitting in church the Sunday before Christmas and my husband noticed an envelope with our name on it on the pew. He opened it up and there was five one hundred dollar bills. No name, just the money. We never did find out who blessed us, but we know that He gave us a miracle!
It’ll be a challenge to make this short! After the 2009 Deeper Still in Orlando and Beth’s beautiful blessing on us all, I was elated to stand with my daughter, my friend of 40 years and her daughter while we repeated the cherished words to each other with tears in our eyes. After that……..My friend’s daughter went on a YWAM assignment and accomplished WONDERFUL things for God! She is growing and serving the Lord in a mighty way! Also, my daughter reunited with her ex-fiance after no contact for 3 years! She felt God leading them back together and NEVER thought that would happen! His handwriting is all over their story–there are amazing things that happened, just like a puzzle with all the pieces fitting together. After another year long engagement, they just got married over Thanksgiving weekend and both are serving in one of the sister campuses of our church that is ever-growing! God is so awesome! Theirs is a story of love and forgiveness and God’s awesome plan for marriage. We are so blessed! On the wedding day, God answered so many prayers of healing family relationships, helping others to re-evaluate their own marriages and bringing back family members who hadn’t been together in years! I can’t wait till the Wedding Feast in Heaven………what a day that will be!
Thanks Beth!!
Beth, thank you for this post. I can’t wait to read the entries. I could use a miracle right now. Those storms seem to just keep coming! I assume we are addressing personal experiences. I have witnessed several miracles in others lives.
I believe it is imperative to have measurable evidence to consider something a miracle. I shared in a previous post that one of my sons “beat the odds” as a dyslexic student. Praise the Lord.
My older son has survived severe clinical depression for 14 long hard years. Our doctor told us that he was his only patient who had survived such a severe depression. It has been a horrific journey. I’m counting his survival a miracle. We are beginning to witness his recovery. Oh my goodness
I also had a very dangerous medical diagnosis in my 30’s. However, the outcome was positive. I believe God answered my simple prayers. I had scanned the bible to look for evidence that he still healed. I prayed that he would heal me so that I could raise my sons.
OK, for a measurable miracle. I continue to shake my head on this one. My left hand pinkie finger was so arthritic that I could not wear my wedding ring next to it. I attended a prayer service with Father Francis MacNutt. I was there for what I considered much more important issues. However, he prayed over my pinkie and it has never hurt since. What in the world?
A similar situation happened with my heel. I could hardly walk for months. I had had medical treatments to try and address the pain in my right heel. Well, a dear Christian sister told me she was called to pray for my heel. Again, what in the world?? Especially with so many other issues in my family’s life. After two prayer sessions, my heel is HEALED! Doctors tried everything possible.
Blessings.