Miracles

I believe in miracles. Like, the water-to-wine kind of miracles. I think they happen all the time--much more frequently than we realize. I have felt them in my life and seen them in the lives of others around me.

Once when I was a little girl my mom and brother and I were driving home to Oregon through the mountains in LeGrand when a thick snowstorm started. We had planned on staying the night with family in Idaho, but, anxious to be home, my mom thought instead that we would keep driving and surprise my dad by arriving home a day earlier than planned. The snowstorm we now found ourselves in was a complete white-out; we couldn't even see the hood of the car. There was no place nearby to stop and seek shelter, and the edges of this particular stretch of road were full of steep embankments and cliffs. We had no cell phone. No one knew where we were. Our situation was frightening and dangerous. My mom was afraid to stop and afraid to go--what if we got stuck? Or buried? Or hit from behind? What if we drove off the road that was now invisible and icy? We inched ahead at barely a crawl. Finally my mother stopped the car, turned around, and explained through tears that we were in great danger and we needed to pray. We did. My brother and I hunkered down in that backseat and prayed our hearts out. Suddenly, a huge semi truck drove up slowly behind us. He honked his horn a couple of times in an indication that we should follow him. He carefully drove around us, then in front of us. His tail lights glowed through the snowstorm. He waited for us to get behind him, then drove on slowly, guiding our way through the mountain pass. At one point the snow let up enough that my mom thought we were through the worst of it; she honked and waved her thanks and drove ahead. Again the storm returned and she was blinded completely; again the truck came and finished leading us down the mountain to safety. Miraculous.

Many times when my heart has been aching I have awoken to a day that was beautifully gray and rainy--one of my very favorites. It has felt to me like a personal gift from God, soothing and peaceful. Miraculous.

Once I attended the funeral of a high school friend of mine who loved rainbows. Many of my high school classmates were in attendance. As the service ended and we exited the building, the most beautiful, bright rainbow was reaching in a wide arc across the entire sky. It stayed there--crisp and clear--while we all just stood there in amazement and remembered Courtney. Miraculous.

A few years ago David was hit by a pickup truck while he was driving his motorcycle. The girl driving the pickup hit him so hard that it totalled his bike and pushed it into the truck in front of him, and that truck into the car in front of it, and so on until there was a 6-vehicle pileup. David was thrown from his bike. He should have landed in a crumpled heap in the bed of the truck in front of him, but he somehow--miraculously--landed on the ground to the left of the truck. They drove him by ambulance to the nearest hospital. They treated him for road rash and one fractured vertebrae. That's it. One fractured vertebrae. The paramedics, ER physician, neurologist, orthopedic guy, and police officer on the scene each said they didn't know why David was alive. The neurologist told us something like, "Based on the speed of the pickup and the point of impact, you ought to be dead. But if not dead, at least paralyzed." He told us that that David's vertebrae should have severed his spinal cord. It was inexplainable why it didn't. David healed completely a few months later and has had no long-term repercussions. Miraculous. And as if that's not enough, the money we received from the girl's insurance company paid for our van outright--another miracle, since by that time I was pregnant with Dane--a decision we felt was led by God--and had no way to fit our soon-to-be-family-of-five into our Maxima.

Two nights ago Kai started wheezing again. We gave him a breathing treatment and put him to bed. He woke up in the middle of the night in serious distress, struggling to breath well. I got him up and hurried to give him another breathing treatment. In the middle of the treatment, I realized it wasn't helping much. We stopped. David put his hands on Kai's head and gave him a blessing. (In our church, any man who is at least 12 years old and is doing his best to follow God can be given the priesthood. We believe this priesthood is God's power. It is used the to bless and help others. If you want to know more about how Mormons view or use the priesthood, I recommend visiting www.mormon.org and searching "priesthood". That whole site is a really great one for learning accurate information about Mormons.) When David was done, we continued giving Kai his breathing treatment. His body started responding to it. When it was done, we were able to put him back to bed. Kai has continued to respond to the medications our doctor gave us, enough that we have been able to keep treating him at home. Miraculous.

I could go on and on. Times when I've found extra patience or time for my children when I had none. Checks that have arrived in the mail as gifts, at times when money was extra tight. Peace in my soul when I should have been stressed. Lost items that have been found. Having a great answer come to me when my kids have asked a super tough question. Illnesses that were over unusually quickly. Relationships that were healed. I know in my heart that God watches over us, loves us, and comes to our aid. I think that if we have the eyes to see, we'll realize miracles happen all around us, all the time. I am sure of it.

Have you experienced miracles?