Miracles by Design

Some miracles are huge, like the sudden healing of my son’s aneurysm, sparing him from almost certain death – and some are just little evidences of God’s presence in our lives.

My experience today is of the latter variety – just a little itty-bitty miracle.

In my last home, I had a wonderful solarium where I spent time talking to God and praying for my family and other concerns. My glass patio table was perfect for studying because the design  accommodated a leaf from the dining room table and so I could have all my Bible study books right there without being piled all over the table.

In this new place, everything fit perfectly except the glass table. There was no room for it and so it has been sitting forlorn in storage. I’ve been feeling miscombobulated because I haven’t figured out a designated spot for study.

This morning, I said, “Lord, You must know how I could arrange things so that I’d have a designated spot to meet with You and study Your Word…”

No sooner had I prayed the prayer than the perfect solution popped into my head. All I had to do was move the love seat in my bedroom from the window area, put it at the foot of my bed, move the glass table to where the love seat had been and bingo – a perfect, designated prayer and study spot!

So – you don’t think this was grand enough to qualify for a miracle? That’s okay because I do. I guess you kinda had to be there! 🙂

Finally unpacked in my new home! After all the drama of having to move and struggling to find God’s direction for the path ahead – I’m home!

My friend Jane-Anne stayed until about 2 a.m. after the movers left on Wednesday and we plowed through box after box, eventually turning confusion into the cozy charm of a my new abode. We were exhausted (having been up since 6 a.m.), hot and sweaty with the high humidity, but determined to finish the kitchen, living room and dining room that night. Indulging in intermittent showers, we finally put the last detail in place.

Every once in awhile during the move, the Lord would give me a special little boost – like the little scripture in the bottom of a box, handwritten my my mom who died in 2005, “Old things have passed away – all things have become new,” and the little scrap of paper that spiraled from nowhere to the floor – a scrap with a hand-drawn ballerina on one side and a little note on the back, “I love you Grandma, love Bethany.” Treasures amid the mess.

Today, I’ve organized my office and am back at my computer, ready for the next leg of this journey called “life.” I wonder what is ahead. It was so strange that I had to move and my work with 100 Huntley Street ended at the same time. I know God has a plan – but what is it?

When my life came crashing down in 2006 and I had to go back to school and develop a new career, I desperately needed income. One Wednesday afternoon, Jane and Jane-Anne and I were praying that God would open a door for work for me. When I got home, there was a message on my answering machine from Karen Stowell, the editor of the Crossroads Compass, asking if I would be interested in being the graphic designer for the magazine! The message noted that a couple of other people were being considered for the position, but if I was interested, I could let her know. That information didn’t worry me one whit, because I knew the job was mine! There was no way that our prayer could be followed by such a remarkable ‘coincidence!’ This was a God-incidence and I knew it. I just had to wait for confirmation – and it came a week later! That was the beginning of a wonderful 22 months of designing the Compass with Karen, followed by two months where I was given the position of interim managing editor while Crossroads made the transition to doing the magazine internally with its merger with CTS.

And now I’m ready for the next step. How wonderful to know that the God of the Universe is my agent, out there opening the doors for my career path. Sometimes I think it would be so amazing if He could just phone and deliver His messages!

NOTE – Please pray for my sister Dona who will have surgery for colon cancer on Aug. 3rd.

Today, rather than sharing a story of something wonderful God has done, I’m asking for prayer for two more miracles. I just found out today that two very special people, my sister Dona and a friend, Carol Ann Carter, have been diagnosed with cancer – Dona in her colon and Carol Ann in her breast. Please pray for both of them for recovery. Dona has five grandchildren and a son and a daughter and their spouses who love her so dearly an would miss her terribly if anything should happen to her. Carol Ann has a son and a daughter with a very rare disease and she is so needed by her family.

The moving truck will arrive tomorrow morning at 8 a.m., so I’d better get back to Port Perry (I’ve been working at the new place in Uxbridge) and get some sleep!

Another day packing, loading, unpacking box after box as I travel back and forth from my home of four years to my new digs. The moving van will arrive bright and early Wednesday morning, but I’m trying to accomplish as much as possible myself because I’ll be paying the movers twelve dollars for every five minutes of their time! Once again I’m writing when very tired, but I must share the amazing goodness of God.

This has been a crazy time. When I was told three months ago that I had to move, I found it very difficult to look for, much less find, a place to rent – and now I believe that it was because God had a perfect spot prepared for me, but His timing had to be synced with the circumstances. I now wonder if the unfruitful journey of exploring the possibility of purchasing may have been a diversion to keep me busy while the right home for me was being prepared. Had I settled for renting the best thing I could find at that time, I would have missed God’s best!!!!

I first met Dennis, my new landlord (a distant cousin), on July 5th, just two days before I hoped to have the down payment for the house I hoped to purchase. The one week extension on the condition gave me time to think more deeply about the possibility of renting from Dennis. By the time I realized that the down payment wasn’t going to materialize, I had switched mental gears from the diversion that had kept me occupied, to the actual provision of the Lord.

This afternoon, my friends (Jane and Jane Anne) arrived to help, neither being aware that the other was coming. It was so exciting to take them together to see the new place. We loaded up their vans and my car and off we went for the 15 minute trek from Port Perry to Uxbridge. When we arrived at the new place, they were amazed to see how perfectly it fits my needs – just the right size, beside a park for Lola, kitchen cupboards that match the wood of my furniture, wall colours that could not have been more perfect if they had been chosen with swatches of my fabrics, a landlord who has worked so hard to make everything perfect for me, living in the same house with his delightful mother (downstairs) who loves the Lord, having family (albeit distant) right there for me, a fireplace, beautifully appointed, etc. etc.

The fact that the house number is #7 was not lost on Jane and Jane Anne – the number of God’s completion! The fact that I was born in Uxbridge, have lived all across Canada and am now returning to the place of my birth has special significance. It feels so right.

Tonite as I prepare for bed, I am in awe at the goodness of the Lord and His provision. He did it! He planned it, prepared it, provided it and now I can rest in His fulfilled promise to care for me. It is truly amazing to be able to see the pieces of His plan fall into place. Thank you, Lord. You are amazing. 🙂

As I write, Lola (my four-year-old cockapoo) is curled at my feet with no desire to be anywhere else in this wide world – or to be with anyone else. She and I happily co-habitate in the simple delight of each other’s company.

Pets are wonderful gifts from God. Following my divorce, I was very lonely and shall never regret adopting Lola. She truly has been a life saver.

I have had many pets through the years – cats named Pasha, Geraldine, Zoe, Agatha, Clara Tabiltha, Mrs. Krinkletail, Sox, Hooligan Gilligan, Mr. Gump, Brother and Portia; dogs named Waggo, Zsa-Zsa, Samantha, Beaureguard, Morgan, Summer, Bailey, Zachariah, Charli and Lola; a bird named Theopholus and a raccoon named Farley.

From time to time, they have had physical challenges as we all do. However, from experience, I have found that we can ask God to heal our pets and He will!

There was a time when Tabitha almost lost her house privileges! She started to urinate in the corners of the house and on soft things like pillows! Before banishing her to kitty heaven, I took her to the vet, where she was diagnosed as having crystals in her urine – a very painful malady because the crystals are difficult to pass. Her prognosis was not good. The doctor aid he had never seen such a severe case!

I’ll never forget laying my hands on that sweet little cat, asking God to heal her. Lo and behold – He did. From that day forward, she never had another painful crystal attack.

Tabitha is now living with my friends, John and Nancy Bobaljik, who adopted her and Clara when I had to move from my house. They have taken such wonderful care of those cats that they are now 16 years old! Thank you Lord, for taking care of even little Hooligans!!

Here it is after midnight again and I’m just starting to blog. I’ve been moving all day and am exhausted, but feel great because I got my new kitchen all organized today – must take some pics for the blog.

My new landlord has been wonderful about getting everything tickety-boo for me before the big move. He’s been putting up crown molding, painting, installing a new washer/dryer etc. etc. – all very physical stuff and tonight he was telling me how much pain he is in daily with his back. He went on to describe the seriousness of his condition. I was amazed because he has been working so hard with no complaint. I asked him if I could pray for his back and he agreed, so I did.

I told him about a young girl by the name of Misty who had had a similar condition to his. She had fallen out of a truck at the age of 16 and was unable to ski or do other active things with her friends. She wasn’t a Christian, but one night there was a faith-healer speaking in Lindsay and I asked her if she’d like to go with me and see whether God might heal her. She agreed, but the speaker gave no opportunity for anyone with back problems to receive healing that night. It was all about headaches, rotater cuff problems, etc. On the way home, I asked Misty if she was disappointed. When she nodded that yes, she was, I said, “Well  if God is God, then He should be able to heal you just as well in your kitchen as at a church. Do you want me to pray for you when we get to your place?” Misty agreed, but in my mind I was thinking, “Lord  what have I done? If you don’t heal this girl, You and I could end up looking very silly, very fast!”

When we arrived at her place (a charming old, two-storey farmhouse), I arranged two kitchen chairs facing each other and asked her to place the heels of her feet in my hands. I could tell that one leg was longer than the other. When I asked her about it, she said yes, that she knew it was, but the doctor couldn’t do anything about it. He had suggested the possibility of having to fuse her spine when she got older.

In the Name of Jesus I spoke to her skeletal system and commanded it to come under the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ and to be properly aligned according to His perfect creation. When nothing happened, I spoke to her body once again in the Name of Jesus. Suddenly I realized that the heels of her feet were even.  When I asked her if she felt anything happening, she exclaimed, “Yes! I feel as though my back is being pulled right out!”

I suggested that she stand up and see what was happening. She wriggled around and could hardly believe that the familiar pulling was no longer there! She then ran up and down the full flight of steps in great excitement. I told her that it seemed to me as though God loved her so much that he had given her a miracle that millions of people in the world would love to have, revealing His reality to her. Further, I said that if I were her, I’d be accepting Him into her heart. She agreed and we prayed together for salvation and the infilling of the Holy Spirit. It was very exciting!

Now – will my new landlord experience the same healing? I don’t now. The outcome is not my responsibility. I simply did what I was supposed to do as a believer (Mark 16) which is to lay my hands on the sick and pray for their recovery. The rest is up to God – but I can hardly wait to see what He is going to do!

In 2005, I discovered that I had a brother, five years older than I – my father’s only son. I had always wanted a big brother but never dreamt that it would happen like this. I cried for three days, mourning the loss of the reality I had known, before concluding that I needed to celebrate this new relationship and enfold it into my new reality.

When Richard discovered that he had a sister who writes, he decided to try his hand at it and started whipping off novels, not to publish, just for his own interest. I was amazed! It seemed that there was nothing he could not do.

At the time, I was in the middle of writing my first work of fiction. I suggested that we should exchange our manuscripts and critique each other’s writing. Richard agreed and, because we live a three-day’s journey apart, we both bundled up our unfinished epistles and took them to the post-office, knowing they would doubtless cross in the mail.

My package had contained 372 pages. When I received Richard’s package, I was stunned to unwrap 372 pages.

This might not seem like a miracle in the ordinary sense of the word, but when God is at work in a situation, it seems as though there are far too many “coincidences” to be normal, run of the mill, happenings. I like to call them “God-incidences.” We don’t always know why they happen but I love to see His fingerprints in my life. 🙂