Twenty years ago, our family experienced a miracle. My daughters (3 years old and 6 months old at the time) were buckled into their car seats traveling down the highway at 65+ miles an hour with their babysitter. They were on their way home when something fell out of the truck they were following. The car they were riding in hit the object and flipped in what some bystanders described as something they had only seen in the movies.
When the EMT personnel arrived, they assumed the worst. This was the kind of accident that included fatalities. People didn’t leave the scene walking…much less alive.
The babysitter and both girls did walk away alive. The worst injury was a broken foot, soreness and a few scrapes.
A Season of Miracles
God was with my children that day. He performed a miracle. Even the smallest details were looked after. The way the car flipped caused it to land more on the passenger side. Had the car landed on the other side, my older daughter would have been crushed as she was sitting upright in her toddler car seat (as opposed to my younger daughter who was laying down in her infant car seat).
Christmas is a season of miracles.
“This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit.” -Matthew 1:18 NLT
It’s easy to skim that last sentence about the Christmas story. Mary had never had sexual relations, yet she became pregnant. It’s common knowledge among most of us, so we jump past it. You know this, but that is a miracle. Add this to a baby born to a virgin: an angel appearing to Mary, an angel appearing to Joseph later on, earlier an angel appearing to Elizabeth and Zachariah, Elizabeth conceiving and bearing a child in her old age, a star led a group of astrologers on a path to Bethlehem to witness the Christ-child, a host of angels serenading shepherds in the fields.
Christmas is a season of miracles.
Miracles…today
The miracles aren’t limited to 2,000 years ago either. It’s a season to remember and reflect on the miracles God is doing right now. It might be a miracle that you experience today, or it could be remembering the miracles God has performed in your life in the past. The miracle could be life and death like the birth of Jesus or my daughters surviving a wreck. Or it could be a little less dramatic.
I think about how God helped our family sell property and homes in order to find and move into our current home. It’s good for me to reflect on God leading Kia to her current studio building which she rented for a while and purchased a few years ago — all a miracle. I think about how time after time God has provided for our family; we rarely if ever are in need. Sometimes I consider the incredible group of friends my son has…after he prayed for them. I remember how God used science to heal Kia’s body from some serious physical issues.
Miracles for when life isn’t easy.
Christmas is a season of miracles, but it doesn’t guarantee a life of ease.
Mary gave birth to the savior of the world…in a shed. Mary, Joseph and Jesus fled from Israel to Egypt because a crazed ruler committed genocide to eliminate potential rivals. By the time Jesus was in the world ministering, Mary was a widow. Mary watched her first born child die the death of a criminal.
That’s a lot of pain for one woman to bear. Mary did bear that pain. And consider this: Was Mary able to bear her pain because she remembered how God worked in her favor early in life? Is it possible Mary reflected on the miracle of Jesus’ birth, so she was able to muster the hope for a miracle in his death too?
Remember your miracles!
My encouragement for you this Christmas season is to reflect on the miracles from your life. What has God done in your life for which their is no logical explanation?
Take a few moments today to write down these acts of God – big and small. Hold onto these miracles, because they will help you to muster hope when life isn’t easy.
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