Many of us have witnessed a miracle either in our own lives or in the life of another. It can be anything: a life-altering event that couldn’t have happened in the natural, or a coincidence that you were certain was not, or even the miracle of perfection in the tiny flower we call the Virginia spring beauty.
First, let’s define what a miracle is:

• The most common definition: “An event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws, and is therefore considered the work of a divine agency”
• A second, watered-down definition: “A highly improbable event, which brings pleasant consequences”
• The final, least thrilling definition: “An amazing achievement”

Look at the progression of these three definitions. What do you see? I see a methodical retreat from anything related to God until He is removed from the picture, a retreat that ends with a glorification of SELF. Do you see it?

The miracles we experience, when we tell them to a skeptical and an unbelieving culture, are unmercifully stolen from us. Chance meetings with people who are on our hearts are passed off as coincidence. Unexplained healings become mistakes made at the hospital. A time-saving parking space is random luck. The perfection seen in creation is called “evolution.”

Let me tell you the story that put this writing on my heart. My son suffered a head injury in 2021. A cat-scan revealed a skull fracture and blood on his brain. As time passed, he stopped talking; he stared blankly at the ceiling, and his hands stopped moving. The doctor said there was fluid on his brain and his brain was swelling. His condition was deteriorating, and he needed to get to surgery immediately.

As I drove alone to St. Louis, the report from the hospital after the helicopter landed was that our son was in surgery, and the first step was to see if there was any swelling or fluid on the brain. If so, they would have to stabilize him and wait for the swelling to go down. This could take days. If the conditions were favorable, then they would perform the surgery immediately.

I prayed and worshiped God as I drove on that dark, two-lane highway. My wife did the same in the helicopter. In the natural, the surgery would be postponed until the fluids were drained away and the swelling went down, but we don’t live by the natural. We live by the Spirit.

The next phone call revealed that my wife was giving her consent for immediate surgery. There was no swelling and no blood on his brain! Amen!

We knew right then that our son would be brought through this by the mighty and loving hand of God.

Then I started telling this story to friends and family, I didn’t receive the soul-saving response I naively expected. Instead, I heard things like, “You can’t really see what’s going on just from a cat-scan.” And, “That’s why you always get a second opinion.” Or, “The first doctor wasn’t a neuro-specialist, so he wouldn’t know.”
I heard this so much, and I’m ashamed to say, I started to believe it. Sure, the people from our church claimed it was a miracle, but I wondered if they were repeating the same words they always use in these situations. I wondered if the majority was right.

I struggled with this for weeks until our son received a letter in the mail from a woman from our church. At the end of the letter she wrote with boldness, surety, faith and simplicity, “This was a miracle!” That is when the revelation came, when God spoke. I realized the world had succeeded in softening my faith; diluting it.
In that moment, I realized that if I was going to have this miracle…

• I needed to claim it and hold onto it
• I needed to declare it with total faith
• I needed to decide whether I was going to believe it or not

From that day on, I haven’t doubted the miracle that took place on the cold February night. The one where God Almighty laid His hands on my boy and personally prepared him for surgery. I repented and asked God to forgive my unbelief as shame filled my heart.

But remember this: every time you come through a trial of faith, you come out a stronger Christian than when you went in. You come out with more heavenly knowledge, a greater realization of your need for grace, and a closer bond with your heavenly Father.

Remember the synagogue leader whose daughter Jesus raised from the dead in Mark 5? How about the woman who He healed from a twelve-year illness when she touched Jesus’ cloak during that same interaction?

I suspect people made similar comments to them. “Someone made a mistake; the girl was not dead after all. You should have asked a professional to look at her.” Or “What a coincidence, your twelve-year illness has vanished. Maybe when you were pushed down in that large crowd it fixed something inside you!” These are miracles performed by Jesus Christ, in real time, and I would have to assume that there were people who made these statements.

Hold on to your miracles. The world will deny them, just like it denies Jesus Christ, just like it denies God Almighty.

Mark 10:27
27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”
Jeremiah 32:27
27 “I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?