Everyday Miracles

I was watching more of The Bible tonight, and I’m up to the sections about Jesus. It’s so beautifully done – and so well done. Some of the scripture passages take on such a strong visual meaning already, and then to see them is at times breathtaking and extremely moving. The section I finished tonight is the betrayal and arrest of Jesus, and I found myself asking Him, “Why did you do it?” And just after I asked that question, the character who plays Peter said, “Speak to me, why are you letting them do this to you?” At that point in the movie, Peter is trying to find out what is happening inside the High Priest’s court, and he’s asking Jesus to speak to him the way that I sometimes find myself asking a God I cannot see to speak to me.

At that point in the movie, Jesus doesn’t answer, but I’ve found in my experience that if He doesn’t right then and there, there is always a reason why He makes me wait for His answer. My questions are usually so mundane in comparison to Peter’s question, and my own as I watched the movie, knowing the next many hours will be agonizing ones for the One who is Lord. He could have given up and said enough of all of this at any point – He could have decided at any point that none of us was worth it, because I know for a fact that there is nothing in me that makes my life worth anything special, never mind the agonizing death He endured. But He doesn’t see it that way, and He didn’t then. He walked all that way to Calvary knowing exactly who each and every one of us was and what we would do or not do in our lives, and even knowing what a mess we can make of things, He still kept walking, because that’s the kind of God He is.

It is hard for anyone to believe that there is a God who loves us just as we are – it’s not that He wants us to stay where we are, but He loves us exactly where He finds us at any point in our lives. He wants us to take hold of Him so that we can be all that He has made us to be, and He wants us to give Him access to our hearts and minds so that we can be healed and cleansed and made whole again, but no  matter what we’ve done in our lives or what has been done to us, no matter what sins we’ve committed or the sins that have been committed against us, no matter the way we’ve been living our lives without Him, when He calls us, He is calling out of a love that knows no bounds. When we answer that call, He breaks all of the bonds.

Some of the most moving passages in the movie tonight were those when He healed the sick and forgave sins. I think it was a combination of the stories themselves and the way they were portrayed combined with my own knowledge of just how He does what He does. I know that before I said yes to His call, I was so lost I didn’t even know I was lost, and somehow, without my even understanding how, I have been healed in so many ways that I have been completely changed. And the changing and renewal just keeps going – He promises to break every yoke, and that’s exactly what He does.

In Revelation 21:3-5 John writes, “And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying or pain; the first things have passed away.’ And He who sits on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’ And He said, ‘Write, for these words are faithful and true.’”

I have not seen a vision as grand as John has, but I’ve seen the miracles in my own life. When I first started writing this blog, a friend suggested that I call it “Everyday Miracles,” and there are miracles that happen every day. It all began with a birth in a manger, a man who had the power of God but chose instead to lay it all down out of love for a thankless people. Why did He do it? I don’t think I’ll ever fully know, but the only answer I’ve ever been able to come up with is just love.

Blessings,

Jannie Susan