For those who believe in a God who performs miracles…
...we usually think of a miracle as a gigantic and spectacular, one-of-a-kind event. Miracles can leave a person awestruck. They can be a sight to behold. The Bible contains the stories of many of them in both the Old and New Testaments.
But for those who are familiar with the many biblical accounts of miracles, we know that not all of them are earthshaking events. Many of them were done in a low-key fashion where there were only a few observers present, or none at all other than the one who received the miracle.
Such was the case with me. Just recently, a miracle came my way when I didn't expect it. It came in the form of an ordinary letter. It was a message from God, and it arrived via the United States Postal Service. How simple is that?
The Lord knows my thoughts, and He knows my heart with all its hidden pain. He also knows about my past and the deep wounds of sorrow which, although He has forgiven me and no longer holds my failings against me, continue to come to the surface every so often to haunt me.
It was during one of these moments of silent despair when the letter came from a friend whom I hadn't heard from in a number of years. She and her husband used to write every now and then. But her husband, whom I was very close to, developed cancer, which he eventually succumbed to.
Now a widow, my friend moved on to make a new life for herself. And as it so often happens with relationships, people gradually lose contact with their old friends. This is what happened to us. We lost contact. Years passed. But at some point, the Lord put it on her heart to write me. He had a message for her to give me, and it was just what I needed to hear.
My long-lost friend picked up her pen and wrote the following:
"The good Lord spoke to me through His Word. He told me not to live in the past. Not to allow it to clutter our present because it will lead us into a state of perpetual shame. That's not God's plan, and it could keep us from obtaining the victory that the apostle Paul spoke of in his letter to the Philippian church. 'Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us'" (Philippians 3:13-14).
She went on to say, "We can't let our past hold us back. We have to let go of our past and fasten our hearts to the future." When I read this, I knew it was not just my friend writing to me, it was the Lord Himself. Unbeknownst to her, she confirmed the very issue I had been dealing with for the past week.
I've been walking with the Lord long enough to know when I experience a genuine miracle, and this was one of them. And it was a quiet miracle at that. No lightning bolts shot across the sky. The ground didn't tremble and shake. But my heart did.
D.B.
But for those who are familiar with the many biblical accounts of miracles, we know that not all of them are earthshaking events. Many of them were done in a low-key fashion where there were only a few observers present, or none at all other than the one who received the miracle.
Such was the case with me. Just recently, a miracle came my way when I didn't expect it. It came in the form of an ordinary letter. It was a message from God, and it arrived via the United States Postal Service. How simple is that?
The Lord knows my thoughts, and He knows my heart with all its hidden pain. He also knows about my past and the deep wounds of sorrow which, although He has forgiven me and no longer holds my failings against me, continue to come to the surface every so often to haunt me.
It was during one of these moments of silent despair when the letter came from a friend whom I hadn't heard from in a number of years. She and her husband used to write every now and then. But her husband, whom I was very close to, developed cancer, which he eventually succumbed to.
Now a widow, my friend moved on to make a new life for herself. And as it so often happens with relationships, people gradually lose contact with their old friends. This is what happened to us. We lost contact. Years passed. But at some point, the Lord put it on her heart to write me. He had a message for her to give me, and it was just what I needed to hear.
My long-lost friend picked up her pen and wrote the following:
"The good Lord spoke to me through His Word. He told me not to live in the past. Not to allow it to clutter our present because it will lead us into a state of perpetual shame. That's not God's plan, and it could keep us from obtaining the victory that the apostle Paul spoke of in his letter to the Philippian church. 'Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us'" (Philippians 3:13-14).
She went on to say, "We can't let our past hold us back. We have to let go of our past and fasten our hearts to the future." When I read this, I knew it was not just my friend writing to me, it was the Lord Himself. Unbeknownst to her, she confirmed the very issue I had been dealing with for the past week.
I've been walking with the Lord long enough to know when I experience a genuine miracle, and this was one of them. And it was a quiet miracle at that. No lightning bolts shot across the sky. The ground didn't tremble and shake. But my heart did.
D.B.
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