On Miracles
This picture was taken on December 7, 2023, at my granddaughter Livy’s preschool Christmas program. I told everyone God had given me a miracle for my birthday because this was the day my husband Don and I found out Livy had been released by her neurosurgeon.
Livy’s healing was truly a miracle story for our family. But our greatest miracle (and yours too) was set into motion in millennia past; it is the greatest story ever told.
Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst (1 Timothy 1:15).
Olivia’s Story
Our sweet Olivia Grace Wade arrived on August 28, 2019, the second child of our oldest of three sons, Stephen, and our oldest daughter-in-love, Kristen.
Livy was several weeks premature. Either before, during, or shortly after birth, Livy suffered a serious brain bleed (grade 3-4; the most damaging). Stephen and Kristen were led to believe by some that Olivia would never walk or talk. Rejecting the negative prognosis, they began praying for and fighting for their newborn.
Livy’s First Miracle
Our tiny, premature girl underwent brain surgery to place a shunt when she was only a few days old. The ensuing weeks confirmed the shunt was doing its job. Miracle one. Now to get her to eat. The hemorrhage impacted the biorhythms of feeding, making it impossible for her to get enough nourishment by mouth. She ate through a nasogastric tube, and later through a stomach feeding tube, the first two years of her life.
Those were exhausting years for our children. They were dealing with so much more than an infant and a toddler (our high-energy grandson, Will, is two years older than Livy). Kristen, a nurse, literally kept Livy alive through infections with high fevers, double kidney surgery, double ear tube placement, and feeding tube failures and replacements. She and Stephen slept (when they slept) with bags packed, always ready for a trip to the hospital.
My colleagues at Love Worth Finding prayed for Livy continuously through this time, as did our other children, Kristen’s parents and grandmothers, and so many Christians in our children’s circle. Colleagues sounds like such an insignificant term to describe the people who surround me here at LWF. If you ever get a chance to work at an organization where people are faithful to hit their knees on your behalf, take the job!
Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing (1 Thessalonians 5:11).
Multiplied Miracles
As she grew, Livy more than defied the odds. Though small, God made her mighty in the walking and talking department. The eating came along as well once her stomach tube was removed.
Finally, just after her fourth Thanksgiving, Livy’s neurosurgeon agreed it was time to try shunt removal—something that is possible for only about 3% of children with brain shunts. This required a week in the hospital that included an initial surgery to close off the shunt and confirm it was no longer needed, and a much longer surgery to remove both the shunt and the tubing that once carried excess fluid to her stomach.
After a follow-up visit to remove sutures and another visit just to make certain everything looked great, our chattering, singing, dancing, cartwheeling granddaughter was released by the neurosurgeon, giving me the greatest birthday gift I’ve ever received. It is a miracle only God could accomplish.
He is the one you praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes (Deuteronomy 10:21).
Where’s My Miracle?
You may be asking, “Where’s the miracle for me, or for my loved one?” Perhaps you’ve prayed and lost someone to cancer, as I did my best friend in 2007. Maybe someone you love is imprisoned in her body or her mind, as my mother was for the last decade of her life following a hemorrhagic stroke. Perhaps you have a health condition for which there are no answers, as I do with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome in my feet and legs.
I’m not whining about those things—or asking for sympathy—they’re just reality, as so many trials and sorrows are for you.
Miracle stories are wonderful, and often captivating, but not every story ends with a supernatural healing or a storm that blows off course and misses populated areas.
Even when Jesus was ministering on Earth, He didn’t heal every sick individual or calm every blast of wind. That wasn’t His mission. He came to make us not just eternally well but eternally HIS! Just like the people who followed Him around Galilee because they were looking for miracles, if we focus our eyes on signs, wonders, and sensational events, we will miss the greater miracle: Jesus Himself.
Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom (Psalm 145:3).
Jesus is the Miracle!
The miracles Jesus performed during His earthly ministry did more than meet needs. They testified about Jesus’ deity, His supremacy, and His power. They also demonstrated His mission and His ability to bring about the most astonishing feat of all—the regeneration of the human heart.
This regeneration—the greatest of miracles—is the one that began millennia ago in the Garden of Eden with the promise of a Savior who would bruise Satan’s head. It is the miracle that was brought forth in Bethlehem, accomplished at Calvary, and celebrated with an empty garden tomb. It is the miracle that will finally be fully realized when Jesus receives His spotless bride at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. (See Scripture notes below regarding these events.)
And it is the miracle each of us must continually rehearse in our minds. If I could get up tomorrow morning and walk through the day without pain, but I’d refused Christ’s Lordship, I’d simply be the walking dead! Because Christ’s ability to save sinners like me is the greater miracle, I have joy and purpose even with pain. Of course, I still pray for healing, but I know God has my best in mind with His timing. Jesus the Miracle lives in me whether I experience healing in this life or the next.
For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all (2 Corinthians 4:17).
But if I were you, I would appeal to God; I would lay my cause before him. He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted (Job 5:8-9).
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight (Proverbs 3:5-6).
He's Your Miracle for Eternity and for Today
Before that heavenly wedding banquet, Jesus’ ability to work in and through us while we are in our mortal bodies is demonstrated by His miracles recorded in the New Testament.
Pastor Adrian Rogers preached several sermons on Jesus’ miracles that are summarized in a booklet you can download at no cost, Does Jesus Still Do Miracles?
The booklet examines seven New Testament miracles. In each case, meeting the physical need was the lesser miracle; the greater miracle was Jesus’ demonstration of His power and ability to meet a deeper spiritual need. These miracles show us that Jesus is the answer to all our questions and troubles in this life. Jesus Himself is the miracle that reverses disappointment, removes doubt, overcomes disability, fulfills desire, defeats despair, banishes darkness, and cancels death. Download the booklet and look closely at these miracles and the metaphors behind them. You will see Jesus as the Miracle that can bring transformative power to your life right now.
If you prefer, you can examine these miracles one at a time by signing up for the no-cost seven-day email challenge, 7 Ways Jesus is the Miracle You’re Looking For.
This content is also available in the Bible study, Jesus is the Answer, which is suitable for individual or group study.
Listen to this interview with Adrian Rogers about the biblical perspective on miracles.
Can We Pray for You?
Please reach out. Our staff, volunteers, and board members pray for each request that comes in to Love Worth Finding. Submit a prayer request on our Pray for Me page.
Scripture Notes
Savior who would bruise Satan’s head: Genesis 3:15
Birth of the Savior in Bethlehem: Micah 5:2, Isaiah 9:6 and Luke 2
Jesus’ victory on our behalf at Calvary: Isaiah 53:5, Romans 5:8, and John 3:16
Jesus’ triumphant resurrection: Matthew 28:2-7, Mark 16:5-7, Luke 24:6-7 and Romans 6:8-11
The Marriage Supper of the Lamb: Revelation 19:6-9
All Scriptures in the article above are from the New International Version of the Bible.
