The more people I speak to about miracles, the more stories I keep hearing! Since most people are too busy to write in themselves, I thought I would sum up some of the miracle stories I've been hearing of late. Feel free to send YOUR stories to my email address at Spiritglogal7@comcast.net and I'll add them next time!
A friend, Teresa, told me about TWO times she nearly died of hypothermia - once with some friends on a hiking trail, wearing only a tank top and shorts. It started getting late and cold, and her friends got ahead of her on the trail. She started getting groggy and finally lay down and started to lose consciousness. If it weren't for her friend's dog returning to find her in that state and running back to her friends, pulling on their clothes to finally get them to go back and find her, she believes she would have died on that trail.
The same friend related how she was driving in a friend's pickup to drop someone off, only to find after that that her gas tank was empty! This was a local road that was to be closed for the season the next day, so no one would have been able to come and look for her and once more she was dressed too lightly for the weather and after some time started getting cold and very tired. A man driving a truck with a usual route was surprised to hear a strong, repeated "nudge" telling him to get off his usual route and turn off onto a small, out of the way road, where he discovered Teresa already starting to fall asleep and was able to revive her and get more help - just in time!
I was with a friend when we went to hear evangelist Mario Murillo at a church near my friend (and boss's) house near Tacoma, WA last Nov. 9. I told her about my healing of my knee at one of his services 34 years ago and immediately she said she wanted to go the next day. So we went. He went up to her at one point and told her that God was touching and healing her (because it was a sensitive area, he didn't announce what it involved). She knew immediately, she said, and accepted in faith that she was healed. When she went back to her doctor after the fact, this doctor, who had acted so SURE about her diagnosis, changed her mind, not being able to "find" what had been diagnosed, and my friend was able to share her newly re-found faith with the doctor as well as build her own!
HALLELUJAH! God is SO GOOD! Share YOUR stories to encourage others and I'll add them to this blog! We ALL need to bolster our faith in the God who STILL does miracles - especially during such difficult times as these in the lives of most people around the world today! Trust God and be blessed today.
Welcome to Springs in Baca, based on Psalm 84, a quiet place to reflect and be encouraged by a fellow pilgrim, on our way to our eternal Home.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Miracle Stories - First of many!
Recently I asked friends and readers for your stories of God's miracles for the purpose of encouraging one another in this time of increasing chaos and bad news. I believe that the more stories we hear of God's interventions into our daily lives, the greater our faith will grow in His character and nature and the more we will abound in hope and be in an ever-increasing position to help and encourage others, many of whom might just be in a similar place as you once were, lacking hope. Second Corinthians 1: 3-4 tells us that God comforts us so that we can comfort others in their times of trouble.
Since then, I have been asking friends of mine about their personal stories and have gotten quite an earful already. Tonight one friend sent me an email about a miracle involving her granddaughter. Here it is in her own words. Get ready to praise God!
My nine year-old granddaughter, Sage Isabella Clements-Gallagher, is somewhat of a walking miracle. On June 25, 2003, when she was 16 months old, she accidentally drowned in her parents’ backyard koi pond. Her mother discovered her, floating face up, and called 911 immediately. There just “happened” to be a Shoreline Fire Dept. paramedic taking a lunch break in their neighborhood, which I believe had to be the provision of an all-knowing God. Sage had no life signs for at least 20 minutes before the paramedics tried one last strategy and got her heart started again. She was rushed to Children’s Hospital.
As soon as Doug & I heard of the accident (shortly after they arrived with her at the hospital), we asked every church with which we had any connection to put Sage on their prayer chain, and within a short time she was being lifted up in prayer by people around the world. Although the doctors treating her at Children’s Hospital thought it would be best if she died (because they thought she would be severely brain damaged), she not only survived, she made a full recovery! After being hooked up to all kinds of tubes in the hospital ICU for a whole month after the accident---and receiving several years of traumatic brain injury (TVI) therapy thereafter---she now has minimal speech and motor-skill impairment. She is a bright, cheery and active little girl---brimming full of life. She is entering the fourth grade this fall and does not require any more TVI special assistance. What a blessing she is--- and all the glory goes to God!
Now - email YOUR story and will publish it here so that others may also be encouraged. Shorter ones can be combined in one posting. Let me know what you think of the story (and storiES, as they start to come in!
Be encouraged in Jesus!
Since then, I have been asking friends of mine about their personal stories and have gotten quite an earful already. Tonight one friend sent me an email about a miracle involving her granddaughter. Here it is in her own words. Get ready to praise God!
My nine year-old granddaughter, Sage Isabella Clements-Gallagher, is somewhat of a walking miracle. On June 25, 2003, when she was 16 months old, she accidentally drowned in her parents’ backyard koi pond. Her mother discovered her, floating face up, and called 911 immediately. There just “happened” to be a Shoreline Fire Dept. paramedic taking a lunch break in their neighborhood, which I believe had to be the provision of an all-knowing God. Sage had no life signs for at least 20 minutes before the paramedics tried one last strategy and got her heart started again. She was rushed to Children’s Hospital.
As soon as Doug & I heard of the accident (shortly after they arrived with her at the hospital), we asked every church with which we had any connection to put Sage on their prayer chain, and within a short time she was being lifted up in prayer by people around the world. Although the doctors treating her at Children’s Hospital thought it would be best if she died (because they thought she would be severely brain damaged), she not only survived, she made a full recovery! After being hooked up to all kinds of tubes in the hospital ICU for a whole month after the accident---and receiving several years of traumatic brain injury (TVI) therapy thereafter---she now has minimal speech and motor-skill impairment. She is a bright, cheery and active little girl---brimming full of life. She is entering the fourth grade this fall and does not require any more TVI special assistance. What a blessing she is--- and all the glory goes to God!
Now - email YOUR story and will publish it here so that others may also be encouraged. Shorter ones can be combined in one posting. Let me know what you think of the story (and storiES, as they start to come in!
Be encouraged in Jesus!
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Miracles: Reasons for Hope
Everyone needs hope. In this world and in this time where everything seems to be turned upside down and inside out, when right is called wrong and wrong right, and when people's hearts fail them for fear, earthquakes and hurricanes hit unlikely targets (like NYC!), people are deceived in every arena of life, and Jesus' name can be used as a curse word but not in any other realm of public life (other than church), it seems that we need reasons for hope more than ever.
It is for this reason, primarily, that I would like to change the focus of this blog - for awhile anyway - to one that proclaims good news, specifically news that demonstrates that we still have a LIVING, LOVING God who CARES and INTERVENES MIRACULOUSLY in the affairs of humankind - TODAY!
But I don't want this to be a one-woman show blog! In order to accomplish this goal, and reach the most people with the encouragement we ALL need, I need to ask for your help! In two ways. First, I need to hear your stories of ways God has and IS moving in the miraculous: healing miracles, amazing conversion stories, and more. I KNOW they're out there!!! Sometimes here in America we become too "sophisticated" or "smart" to believe, and as a result, we fail to see God's workmanship in miraculous ways all around us, and more sadly, we fail to give God the "space" to perform His wonders that are often reported by missionaries from places WAY out in the "uttermost parts of the world" where they haven't been corrupted by "sophistication" and they still believe that God is willing and ABLE to do the "OUT THERE" miracles! So, tell me your (or others' substantiated) stories of God's awesome power to share with people from ALL OVER the world! That ties in with my second request/need of you: in order for the most people to benefit from the encouragement of this blog, I will need YOU to tell others ABOUT it, to people across the globe! If you know of missionaries, evangelists, pastors with ties to ministries around the world, etc. - pass on this blog address and encourage them to write down their miracle stories so that MORE and MORE people will be encouraged, and hopefully nonbelievers would see the overwhelming evidence of God's moving in this world and come to Christ!
Please - spread the word and send in your stories so that MANY would know, be encouraged and be blessed, and so that Jesus would be glorified! I can't wait to hear your stories! Bring 'em on!
Here's a preview: just a tip of the iceberg, two, actually, and true.
In 1976 I was a new believer (about a year into my salvation), living in NYC. Seven years before I was running in my apartment in just my socks to get to the phone and slipped, skidding several feet and landing hard into the door jamb of my parents' bedroom. OUCH! It hurt, and was x-rayed but it showed nothing. However, days became months, which became years and the pain increased. More tests and more nothing. To make a long story short (or less long), after 4 years I had exploratory surgery and was told that "the ligaments supporting the kneecap had "stretched out" and weren't holding it in place any longer; additionally, I had fibrosis, which they told me "comes from chronic arthritis." In short, I was told to "wear high heels and get used to the pain. There's nothing we can do for you." That was in 1973, at the age of 17. But God had other plans! Three years later, at a large church in Queens, NY, an evangelist came to speak and I went with several friends to hear Mario Murillo speak. What I didn't know was that he had a ministry in which God gave him words of knowledge about miraculous things He was going to do and they were done! At the end of the first night, my faith was encouraged, but the best I could say was, "It would be nice." But I wasn't holding my breath. On my way out the door, though, God spoke to my heart (loud enough to almost have been audible!) He said, "You're coming back tomorrow and I'm going to heal you." I remember all the next day thinking, whenever my knee strained and pained, "Tonight my knee isn't going to hurt anymore." Well, since this is already getting too long, I'll spare you the details. But as you can probably guess by now, this story wouldn't BE included here if it DIDN'T happen. It did. And 34 years later, not only is my knee still healed, but once again God used the same evangelist to unexpectedly heal my back after a car accident three months prior to last November, only 3,000 miles away from the original "scene." So you see, I KNOW first-hand, that God is still IN the miracle-making business!
Now it's YOUR turn. Send your miracle stories to my email address: Spiritglogal7@comcast;.net. The sooner I get them, the sooner I can share them. And pass this blog address on so many others can be blessed as well, and tell their stories. Can't wait to read them.!
It is for this reason, primarily, that I would like to change the focus of this blog - for awhile anyway - to one that proclaims good news, specifically news that demonstrates that we still have a LIVING, LOVING God who CARES and INTERVENES MIRACULOUSLY in the affairs of humankind - TODAY!
But I don't want this to be a one-woman show blog! In order to accomplish this goal, and reach the most people with the encouragement we ALL need, I need to ask for your help! In two ways. First, I need to hear your stories of ways God has and IS moving in the miraculous: healing miracles, amazing conversion stories, and more. I KNOW they're out there!!! Sometimes here in America we become too "sophisticated" or "smart" to believe, and as a result, we fail to see God's workmanship in miraculous ways all around us, and more sadly, we fail to give God the "space" to perform His wonders that are often reported by missionaries from places WAY out in the "uttermost parts of the world" where they haven't been corrupted by "sophistication" and they still believe that God is willing and ABLE to do the "OUT THERE" miracles! So, tell me your (or others' substantiated) stories of God's awesome power to share with people from ALL OVER the world! That ties in with my second request/need of you: in order for the most people to benefit from the encouragement of this blog, I will need YOU to tell others ABOUT it, to people across the globe! If you know of missionaries, evangelists, pastors with ties to ministries around the world, etc. - pass on this blog address and encourage them to write down their miracle stories so that MORE and MORE people will be encouraged, and hopefully nonbelievers would see the overwhelming evidence of God's moving in this world and come to Christ!
Please - spread the word and send in your stories so that MANY would know, be encouraged and be blessed, and so that Jesus would be glorified! I can't wait to hear your stories! Bring 'em on!
Here's a preview: just a tip of the iceberg, two, actually, and true.
In 1976 I was a new believer (about a year into my salvation), living in NYC. Seven years before I was running in my apartment in just my socks to get to the phone and slipped, skidding several feet and landing hard into the door jamb of my parents' bedroom. OUCH! It hurt, and was x-rayed but it showed nothing. However, days became months, which became years and the pain increased. More tests and more nothing. To make a long story short (or less long), after 4 years I had exploratory surgery and was told that "the ligaments supporting the kneecap had "stretched out" and weren't holding it in place any longer; additionally, I had fibrosis, which they told me "comes from chronic arthritis." In short, I was told to "wear high heels and get used to the pain. There's nothing we can do for you." That was in 1973, at the age of 17. But God had other plans! Three years later, at a large church in Queens, NY, an evangelist came to speak and I went with several friends to hear Mario Murillo speak. What I didn't know was that he had a ministry in which God gave him words of knowledge about miraculous things He was going to do and they were done! At the end of the first night, my faith was encouraged, but the best I could say was, "It would be nice." But I wasn't holding my breath. On my way out the door, though, God spoke to my heart (loud enough to almost have been audible!) He said, "You're coming back tomorrow and I'm going to heal you." I remember all the next day thinking, whenever my knee strained and pained, "Tonight my knee isn't going to hurt anymore." Well, since this is already getting too long, I'll spare you the details. But as you can probably guess by now, this story wouldn't BE included here if it DIDN'T happen. It did. And 34 years later, not only is my knee still healed, but once again God used the same evangelist to unexpectedly heal my back after a car accident three months prior to last November, only 3,000 miles away from the original "scene." So you see, I KNOW first-hand, that God is still IN the miracle-making business!
Now it's YOUR turn. Send your miracle stories to my email address: Spiritglogal7@comcast;.net. The sooner I get them, the sooner I can share them. And pass this blog address on so many others can be blessed as well, and tell their stories. Can't wait to read them.!
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Miraculous Interventions
Earlier this summer a couple of friends loaned me a dvd set called "Against All Odds." It's about the many ways God miraculously saved His people just in the past century: from World War 1, when a British major was inspired by the biblical account of Saul and Jonathan in a way that led to an amazing victory against a Turkish garrison to the 1948 establishment of the Jewish homeland to a 1976 hostage situation leading to a miraculous rescue at Entebbe airport, and SO many more miracles I wouldn't have room to include here. If you can get hold of this movie or series, RENT IT!
After hearing SO MANY recent negative national as well as world events, from natural disasters - floods, fires, famine - to man's inhumanity to man - I know I don't have to name specifics for you to get the picture in your own minds, I was once again reminded of this 13-episode series and the incredible power and goodness of the GOD of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It won't let go of my heart and head. I find that particularly when things around me and this world are getting increasingly INsane, stories of triumph and the miraculous offer a weary world much- needed hope, encouragement, courage and a reminder that God is STILL GOOD and STILL IN CHARGE!
Not that we can't be encouraged by God's Word, the Bible - we can and MUST, and the more of IT we get into our minds and hearts, the more transformed we will be and the more we will trust God's CHARACTER. This is not an either/or game, but both/and. By looking at the biblical, historical events and records, we see how God worked (and works in the present at times, though He is not a God who repeats methods in a cookie-cutter manner). And more importantly, by keeping our eyes on Jesus, we will grow more into His image as He intends for us.
So, I got an idea - likely whispered into my ear by God or one of His angels. And I would LOVE to hear what you think of it. What about a blog that centers around more such TRUE MIRACLES from around the world! How much greater would the faith of believers grow in order to embolden us all and how many others who don't yet know this loving, miracle-working God might come to know Him as a result?
My only remaining question is this, which is where I will need your help (as well, of course, as God's): I need to get the reports of the miraculous to share! The wider out this net can be spread, the more hope and encouragement can be built! I have a vision of this ministry expanding as well: a television or internet component dramatizing some of the true life miracles for all to see! But that's a long way off. If you hear about a miraculous event or story -(preferably first hand) healing, deliverance, salvation of an unlikely person (a Saul-to-Paul-like transformation), miraculous rescues and many other such faith-building stories - and have or know who to contact to corroborate the story - PLEASE - email me with your stories to Spiritglogal7@comcast.net and tell your friends, church members, missionaries - anyone who might have access to such stories to do the same and pass on the request to as many others as you think might be equally interested.
My pastor said that He has been emboldened to pray and ask God for greater and more amazing things that could only happen through God. That's what this sounds like too - forget the "box" - this concept blows the box (along with my mind) - right out of the stratosphere! Where evil and darkness abound, how much brighter does the light of God shine! All I can say is, if this is in fact, His idea, then the stories will come and many will be blessed. I can't wait for it all to start! Go GOD!
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