06/26/2024
Miracles
I am sure you have heard about big huge miracles such as people coming back from the dead, miraculous occurrences such as surviving a huge disaster but did you know most miracles just look like simple everyday occurrences to the untrained eye?
Saturday afternoon after I got back from camp Ken and I joined the family for boating and snorkeling. I was going to bring my paddle board but I forgot that I had let my good friend borrow it. So we took our blow up Kayak. This was the first of the miracles.
Kayak miracle:
Problems
1. There were HUGE ants alllll over the Kayak when we brought it out.
2. We did not have the proper equipment to blow it up all the way
Did you know that going through hard times helps you grow closer with your family? I didnât even have the pump we usually use so we brought an air mattress pump and this tiny little pump. I can tell you it did not blow up the kayak very well. Not only that but their were huge ants all over the boat when we opened it up!
The Miracle of a tiny army:
God sent an army of smaller ants to take over the big ants!! They were ganging up on them and carrying them off. There were barely any left by the time we got down to the water.
Isaiah 43: 1-5
1But now thus says the Lord he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: âFeat not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned and the flame shall not consume you. 3 For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you. 4 Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and IO love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life. 5Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you.
The Miracle of the underinflated kayak:
What!!! Rose, you have lost your mind how is an underinflated Kayak a miracle?
1. We were forced to sit closer together.
2. We had to work as a team to paddle effectively.
Since we couldnât blow the kayak up all the way Ken and I were basically forced to sit in closer proximity to each other. It is already a very small kayak so two people paddling with huge paddles is not very easy. God has been helping Ken and I learn to work as a team. So since we had to coordinate paddling I said Ken why donât you call cadence and we will paddle at the same time on the same side. So Ken sat behind me and called left, right, left, right so I would know what to do. We then met up with the family. I could tell you many stories of small miracles like these but the parable may be more to your liking.
Parable:
When we got to the place where are family was it just looked so ordinary there was algae all over the water, There were people cussing up a storm up on a cliff. It was hot⌠There were trees and the people above the water seemed to think it looked strange and dangerous but if you took a closer look you could see the water was actually clear.
Believing in God and trusting in him may seem dangerous and strange to those outside of it, but when you get closer you see it may not be so bad.
I put on my snorkel gear and got in the water and started swimming around. It was so awesome under the water! It was like a different world! I noticed the algae growing on the seaweed and oxygen bubbles coming off the seaweed in rows sometimes fast and big bubbles some were small and slow but I realized. The water was a natural aquarium. The oxygen was provided by the plants and the fish had food because of the naturally forming algae. God takes care of the fish. God makes sure they have everything they need to survive. Not only that but it was beautiful and the deeper you go the more wonders you see!
The underwater life reminded me of what it is like to be a Christian fully reliant on God. God provides all of our needs if we trust him. We do not have to worry about food or clothes or oxygen. He knows exactly what we need and if we donât have food he provides us a way to rejoice even in the struggle.
2 Corinthians 9:8-15
And God is able to make grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. 9 As it is written, âHe has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.â 10 He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness 11 You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God 12. For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also0 overflowing in many thanksgivings to God.
Phillipians 4:19 And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
Luke 12:24 Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!
And then again in Matthew
Matthew 6:25-34
âTherefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into boarns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about cloting? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, âWhat shall we eat?â or âWhat shall we drink?â or âWhat shall we wear?â 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
34 âTherefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
The third point:
Now you may say Rose, I can make an aquarium and feed the fish. See my fish are quite happy in the aquarium
Likewise you may say, I can live without God. See I have food, I have clothes I can make it on my own. I do not need God to provide my needs.
But an aquarium is like a cage. You are not free in the aquarium. In the aquarium you are trapped. You may be trapped in an unfulfilling job, a horrible relationship, (which I can tell you how God redeemed my marriage later.. .That is a STORY!) you may be trapped taking care of a dying parent you may be incarcerated for an unknown amount of time. but what if I tell you that all you have to do is trust in God and return to him so that you may be free of the traps of this world. No I am not telling you to leave your husband, wife or job I am telling you that if you turn to GOD he will provide you with what you need to get you through the storm. He will not only just get you through the storm, you will come out victorious! (I cannot wait to tell you about what he has done in my family and husbands lives to restore us)
An aquarium may seem like a way to live comfortably, maybe your aquarium is filled with gold and luxury cars but it is still a trap! Trust me when I say that trusting in God is much more fulfilling, you not only get what you need but he heaps blessings upon blessings. I accidentally turned to the wrong place in Isaiah but then I realized it was the correct place!! Another one of those small everyday miracles!
Isaiah 47:8-15
Now therefore hear this, you lover of pleasures, who sit securely, who say in your heart, âI am, and there is no one besides me; I shall not sit as a widow or know the loss of childrenâ: 9 These two things shall come to you in a moment, in one day; the loss of children and widowhood shall come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and the great power of your enchangments. 10 You felt secure in your wickedness; you said, âNo one sees me:; your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray, and you said in your hear, âI am, and there is no one besides mle. : 11 But evil shall come upon you, which you will not know how to charm away; disaster shall fall upon you, for which you will not be able to atone; and ruin shall come upon you suddenly, of which you know nothing. 12 Stand fast in your enchantments and your many sorceries, with which you have labored from your youth; perhaps you may be able to succeed; perhaps you may inspire terror. 13 You are wearied with your many counsels; let them stand forth and save you, those who divide the heavens, who gaze at the stars, who at the new moons make known what shall come upon you. 14 Behold, thney are like stubble; the fire consumes them; they cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame. No coal for warming oneself is this, no fire to sit before! 15 Such to you are those with whom you have labored, who have done business with you from your youth; they wander about, each in his own direction; there is no one to save you.
