Do you believe in miracles?

You always hear about the miracles that Jesus worked in the Bible. Every once in a while you hear of something incredible that happened to someone who knows someone who knows someone. It is easy to say we believe in miracles, but I don't know if I ever really believed what I said. I think God is trying to teach me that He still works powerfully in the lives of those who have faith because these last couple weeks I have been hearing story after story after story.

It started with my mothers group that I lead on Sundays. I have been meeting with them for almost five months, but they are finally opening up to me. As I listen to their life stories I am amazed. They have nearly no access to medical care and have told me many of their family histories when someone was seriously ill and then somehow recovered. One mother was suicidal because her husband left her. She was also pregnant at the time. But she picked up a Bible and started to read. That was a year ago and she probably participates in the group more than any other. She is totally different now. I count that as a miracle.

This lesson in miracles continued on this last mission to La Union. On several house visits the woman told me about ways that God had worked in their lives. The first told me about how she had serious heart troubles and was in the hospital. She could hear everything, but couldn't open her eyes or move. The doctors thought she was dead because her vital signs stopped and her husband has crying over her. She could feel his tears on her cheeks. She prayed to God and then opened her eyes to comfort her husband. And that was just one woman. There were several others.

Whether you call these miracles or simply God working in people's lives, it is humbling to hear. Maybe the reason we find it hard to believe in miracles is because we don't trust in God. We are self-sufficient. We can go to the doctor. We know where our next meal is coming from. When something goes wrong there is a safety net. The people here have none of that. They know their absolute and total dependence on God. It is something profound that we can learn from them.