When we wake up in the morning, we never know what a day will bring.  Someone didn’t even wake up. 

On any given day someone has a heart attack, an upsetting diagnosis, serious accident or injury, a job eliminated, a divorce finalized, a sudden death, an important relationship ended, victim of a crime.   

These things happen to someone somewhere every day. In light of all that can happen, when we live through an ordinary day without a personal catastrophe, or knowing about one, that is a miracle in itself.  

A Miracle

One day it dawned on me that I am thankful for what I see.  Am I thanking God for what didn’t happen?

I love flower gardening and grow lots of flowers.  One day I was weeding and pruning flowers that are in front of the wooded area in back of my house.  When finished, I decided to prune the holly bushes.

As the branches fell to the ground, I would pick them up and place them in a bag.  When I got to the last bush, as I reached down to pick up branches, my hand went across something solid under the bush.  When I looked to see what it was, there was a huge copperhead snake curled under the bush.

I was terrified.  I couldn’t believe it.   The snake had every opportunity to sink its teeth into my neck or face, yet the Lord protected me from the unseen danger.  Copperheads are the type of snakes that are most likely to bite.   In North Carolina there are more copperhead bites than all other snake bites combined. 

It was a miracle.  

Story time

A person’s alarm clock did not go off as scheduled which made her late for work.  Because she was late, she was unable to have coffee with some co-workers she enjoyed starting off the workday with.  For lunch she went to a restaurant.  It took what seemed like forever to get her meal. Late again.

Nothing was going right that day.  When she got home she was going to relax and soak her aching feet.  As soon as she was getting ready to plug in the foot massager, the power went off in the house.

She couldn’t believe how rotten her day had been.  She prayed and asked God why He would allow almost everything to go wrong when she had not neglected to pray for a good day.

The Lord replied: “You overslept because there was a reckless, speeding driver that was going to crash into someone. If you had been on the road at that time it could have been you. 

You weren’t able to have coffee with co-workers because the conversation was a lot of gossip and complaint about the company you work for and I didn’t want you to become embroiled in the controversy ahead. 

Your lunch was delayed because the chef was sneezing and not feeling well.   Another chef had to be called to replace him.  This caused a delay in meal preparation which prevented you from getting sick from possibly contaminated food.

I know you really wanted to have a nice foot soak, however, there was a short in the wiring.  If you had been able to plug it in you would have been electrocuted.”

A Miracle.

So many times, we don’t understand what is going on behind the scenes.  We blame God for not answering our prayers when He is answering them.  A prayer for safety.  A prayer for job security. A prayer for health.

1 Thessalonians 5:17-18 (KJV)

“Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”

Christians are to trust God and be thankful in every situation.  He knows and does what is best whether we understand it or not. I’ve learned to be thankful for the miracles God has performed in my life even though I can’t specifically say what some are.

Miracles are not always manifested in spectacular ways.  They can happen during an ordinary day in what didn’t happen.

Question for Reflection:

Are you thankful in every situation, or quick to complain and blame?