Everyday Miracles

When is the last time you remember witnessing a miracle?

Something happened.
Some of you know that when we were moving into our current residence, we had to break our lease at our apartment, incurring an almost $700 fee, on top of rent. Plus, we had to pay rent simultaneously for the house. Well, this was in May, at the time that the economic stimulus checks were first being distributed. We filed our taxes electronically very early, so we figured we would have our stimulus deposited in our bank account early on--sometime around when we were moving. Perfect timing, right?

Well, the day that the stimulus was supposed to be deposited came and went, and nothing appeared in our bank account. Through some research, Bo discovered that people with some student loans would not receive their stimulus checks; the checks would be garnished to pay for the loans. Bo has many student loans, so we sadly figured that this was the case with us.

Dire financial difficulty followed, but we made it work because we didn't have a choice. We knew God had a plan that would eventually work everything out, so we tried to focus on that. Now, I'm not saying that there weren't times of crying and asking Him "WHY?????" but we were asking "why?" in faith, knowing that there was a good reason. It was difficult, but we tried to keep our faith alive. I prayed many times, "Lord I believe; help my unbelief!" (Mark 9:24).

Flash forward to yesterday afternoon.
I was having a blah day. Not terrible, but certainly not great. As I walked to the mailbox yesterday afternoon, I prayed, "Lord, please let there be something good in the mail. Just something to brighten my day a bit and power me through until Bo gets home."

This was probably the most directly-answered prayer I have ever prayed. I opened the mailbox, and the first thing I pulled out was an envelope that had printed on it "A Message About Your Economic Stimulus Check." I was very curious, but I figured it was just a letter explaining why we didn't get the check, etc.

The next thing I pulled out of the mailbox was our economic stimulus check. I could tell what it was even before I opened it; I could see the printed check through the window of the envelope. My eyes were as big as saucers--no, as big as dinner plates--as I opened the envelope thinking, "Wow! This means $900 extra that we weren't counting on, right before vacation! I can't wait to put this in the bank so that we don't have to worry every time we fill our rental car with gas!"

I opened the check and flipped it around to read it.
It was for $1500.
For some reason, even when we had expected the check, we had only expected $900.
So there in my hand was not only a check we hadn't expected, but it was for $600 more than we ever even imagined it would be.

I literally broke down in tears. When I called Bo to tell him what had happened, he thought something terrible had happened because I was sobbing and crying tears of incredible joy and SHOCK!!!! When I finally did get to tell him, Bo was absolutely speechless.

God is so good. He knew exactly when this money would be needed, and He sent it to us--not late, but exactly on time. Exactly.

So yesterday I experienced my own personal miracle.
But as I sat pondering that fact, I began to think about how spoiled people are. I mean it takes something that obvious for us to turn our praise and focus to God, when every day, if we are really looking, we can see miracles all around us! I mean just the fact that the sun rises in the morning should be enough. Just the fact that the earth is positioned exactly correctly so that we are not fried or frozen should be enough. Just the incredible human body that we vainly walk around in every day without a second thought should be enough!!

And so I am overjoyed and yet humbled by my miraculous stimulus check. It is a reminder of God's miraculous goodness, and yet it is also a reminder of my failure to appreciate Him on a day-to-day basis. Of course I am going to try to change that, but in the meantime....

"Lord, I believe; help my unbelief."