Miracles? (Moms' E-mail: February)

Here is my thought for the week: Have you ever thought much about miracles? Sometimes it seems we don't see too many, but sometimes I wonder how many miracles God performs that we are just never aware of. Like, how many times has He prevented a car accident that you didn't know was about to happen? How many unsavory characters has He diverted from your life path (or your children's)? How many illnesses has He kept you (or your loved ones) from catching? I'm starting to see more of these "hidden" miracles as I look back at my life, though I'm sure I have only a small glimpse of what He's been up to.

We often ask "why" when we do encounter difficult challenges in our lives. Why did ___ get cancer? Why did God let ____ happen? We've all been there. But, do we thank Him for taking care of all the things we aren't even aware that He is taking care of? Something to think about. I'll give you an example from my life. Just over a week ago, I was toasting some bread in my toaster oven. I was scrambling to feed and clean up both my kids while hoping to get a bite in somewhere myself. You know the drill. Amidst the chaos of the breakfast affair, my ears tuned in to a quiet "click" that signaled the end of the toasting cycle. I just happened to turn around and look up from my multi-tasking fiasco in the dining room toward the kitchen and was surprised to behold a FIRE burning in my toaster! I ran to the kitchen and stood there like an idiot for a few seconds, trying to figure out how to squelch the flames and mentally estimating how much time I had before the wooden cabinet beneath would catch fire and then the kitchen and my house... Suddenly, a made a dash for the fire extinguisher which we had located under the kitchen sink. Dash is stretching it a bit, since I had to maneuver a child lock to access the cabinet and finagle a bit to get the extinguisher out of the never-opened box it came in. I pulled the pin, aimed and the trigger wouldn't depresss! I was beginning to feel a bit anxious--and was it my imagination, or was the fire growing?!? It turns out the mounting bracket was still attached to the extinguisher. Once I removed it, I aimed once again and--Josiah instantly materialized under my left elbow and asked what was going on. I yelled, "Get back!" and then "PSHHHHHHHHT!" The fire was out. Fwew! There was a nice coating of yellow powder covering most of one end of my kitchen. I could have been grumpy about that, or the fact that I now needed a new toaster oven, or that my toast was, well, toast. But, I have no idea what kind of disaster was avoided then. I trust that God was there helping me through the whole situation. My toaster was lost, but my kitchen was spared, my house was spared, and much more importantly my children and myself were completely unhurt! I think this verse applies here and speaks to the tough times we've had as well as those we've avoided. We can trust Him, even when it doesn't make sense, even when it's much worse than a fire in our toaster. That's good news!

Romans 8:28 28
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Take a moment to thank God for working for our good in all things--even we are completely unaware.

Have a great week.

In His Grace,
KP