It's a Miracle!?
Throughout my life as a Christian, I have often observed where God is at work and looked for ways to join Him. Our missionally focused church has offered many opportunities and matched my enthusiasm to join other world travelers to be among God’s heroes established in the mission fields across the continents. Evidence of His activity and grace rest in my memories and subconsciously reinforce my faith. Perhaps the consummate dependence on Him from the home front to foreign cultures, climates, and countries has led to the overuse of the term “miracle”. Many of us toss the term “miracle” into the flow of everyday life, when rather than a miracle, a surprise of grace sweetens the predicament and causes us to be in grateful awe.
In the Bible, a miracle is a supernatural event performed by God that is beyond the power of nature or human beings. It's an extraordinary event that demonstrates God's power, sovereignty, and divine intervention in human affairs. Miracles are distinct from blessings in that miracles are specific, extraordinary interventions that demonstrate God’s power, while blessings are the good things God provides. And miracles are beyond natural law. They are events that cannot be explained by natural laws or scientific principles. Examples of miracles include the parting of the Red Sea, healing the sick, raising the dead, and Jesus’ miracles during his ministry.
I have seen countless examples of God at work, but I have not seen a miracle in Orange Mound. A miracle must have no other explanation but the intervention of God.
We dwell in daily drama at The House in Orange Mound. The dilemmas of “hood life” refresh our prayer life throughout each day. Chronic illnesses plague all of our employees and their families. Dependable transportation is unaffordable. These predicaments are common to all, pervasive, and resolved often with prayer. The illness dissipates, the car starts, and the treadless tires get replaced. But though I can’t explain them without God, they are not considered miracles.
Reflecting on the Lord’s surprising grace is the dailiness of life in the Mound. It instructs and enlightens us to His presence and preference for the poor. Grace is the specialty of undeserved gifts God often proffers bountifully without being consulted.
From recent weeks, here are a fraction of the surprises and blessings of His handiwork for which we did not pray.
· He brought a family member, who has made regrettable choices, to our house for lunch, and she sang of her desire to repent and trust the Lord for her addictions.
· He opened the enrollment with one slot remaining at a superior high school, and a granddaughter was able to slide into her best fit possible in the fall to continue her education.
· He has brought 4 ladies to apply for ownership of the 5 houses under construction on our block.
· He has caused all our seedling plantings to thrive in our new gardens.
· He has kept our temperamental air conditioner working through these stifling, humid, and hot days.
· He has enlightened a kind doctor with the proper diagnosis for one of the ladies who had been given the wrong medicine for her asthma and was failing in health.
· He has provided work and sustenance for the ladies who have needed extra hours of work this summer.
· He has brought fresh marketing strategies for our coming gift promotions.
· He has opened new portals of food pantries for a lady who lost her SNAP benefits.
· He has inspired others on our block to repair and refresh houses.
· He has raised the credit score 50 points for one of our employees.
· He has protected us from harm.
· He has brought us favor among donors and foundations.
· He has led us in the discovery of His love and mercy in studying His Word.
· He has renewed our faith.
· He has released a family member from jail for good behavior.
· He has brought attention to our product line through the media.
· He has sustained our cash flow.
· He has brought us new customers.
· He has protected our property.
Most of us are unaware of the common grace that abounds in one week in the Mound and even in our own lives. While God is blessing us, He is keeping our neighbors under our grace cloud as well. His mercies are fresh every morning, and His indiscriminate kindness to believers and unbelievers is without measure, and sadly, often without notice.
But even when the blessings of His grace are not immediate or tangible, like many in this list, His grace is still unmatched and unending. As the classic hymn reminds us,
Sin and despair, like the sea-waves cold,
Threaten the soul with infinite loss;
Grace that is greater– yes, grace untold–
Points to the Refuge, the mighty Cross.
Grace, grace, God's grace,
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
Grace, grace, God's grace,
Grace that is greater than all our sin!