The Miracle Recipe
December can be one of those more (read: way more) expensive months of the year. I currently work for minimum wage and that’s okay, because I love my job and I’m so grateful that God brought this job (the most awesome colleagues included), but in December it was not okay. The month had barely begun and I already had financial struggles coming my way.
So what did I do? I started complaining to God about my salary. If only I earned more I would not be in this uncomfortable situation. But I have to tell you, it’s often in these uncomfortable situations that we learn most about the greatness of our God. If I may fast forward to the happy ending: at the end of December I not only had had enough money to get by, I even had money left over to put into my savings. It was my last miracle of 2014. But, it was not the complaining that did it… So do you want to know the "miracle-recipe"?
STEP 1: INVOLVE GOD
“Seek the Lord and His strength; seek His face continually.” –1 Chronicles 16:11
I so often catch myself talking to God about my needs and desires. I ask for miracles concerning love (a husband, to be precise), financial help and security, direction in life... And you know what? It’s a good thing to talk to God about that. Because the first step towards your own personal miracle is to share your needs and desires with the only One who can give us the exact answers we need.
“Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.” –Jeremiah 29:12
Last December I took this step not by asking, but by complaining to the Lord about my situation. Not the best way to accomplish this step I have to admit, but at least I went to God. I want to encourage you to keep involving God in every part of your life, dearest. God can work in our lives best when we acknowledge that He has (and is) the answer.
“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” –1 Corinthians 2:9
STEP 2: LOOK AT WHAT IS ALREADY PRESENT IN YOUR LIFE
“But He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they found out they said, “Five, and two fish.” […] And when He had taken the five loaves and the two fish, He looked up to heaven, blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and the two fish He divided among them all. So they all ate and were filled. And they took up twelve baskets full of fragments and of the fish. Now those who had eaten the loaves were about five thousand men.” -Mark 6:38,41-44
Our God is amazing, do you know why? We can complain to God about all the things we are missing in our lives, but when you look back at a miracle that happened in your life you can see that God used the (little) things to create a miracle. So while we were thinking we had nothing, God found something and multiplied it.
[pullquote width="300" float="right"]“Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see.” –C.S. Lewis[/pullquote]
When I was done complaining to God, I started looking at the financial blessings that I did have and it was at that moment that God showed me ways to multiply those blessings. If you keep looking at what you don’t have, you will not see the amazing blessings that are already present in your life. God wants to use those blessings for miracles, but He wants us to appreciate them first. So dear sister, look around you: what do you have in the house?
STEP 3: HAVE FAITH
“And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.” –Mark 5:34
In order to see the ingredients for your own personal miracle, you have to have faith. Why? Our God is a positive God, who sees opportunities where nobody else sees them. If you start looking at your life from God’s perspective, i.e. if you start having faith, you will see ingredients that you never saw before. It is then that you realize that God deserves all the glory for the miracle that is surely to come. Because our God always provides.
[pullquote width="300" float="left"]“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” – Hebrews 11:1[/pullquote]
I already told you the outcome of me having faith: God didn’t just help me overcome my financial struggles, He even gave me a bonus (literally). It truly was a miracle from God. He gave me so much more than what I asked for (read: complained about). If I wouldn’t have involved God, looked at the blessings that were already present in my life, and had faith in my Almighty Father, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you about this miracle, because it wouldn’t have happened. I tell you, God is amazing!
My dearest, I pray that God will give you your own personal miracles. Involve God, look around you and have faith!
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