Growing up I always perceived "miracles" as something huge and dramatic. The obvious examples are the Red Sea, the birth of Christ, the Resurrection...those kinds of things. When I became a mother, I realized that life itself is a miracle. Then, I had an experience during a particularly stressful time in my life, that showed me God is in everything and miracles are everywhere, we just don't often acknowledge them.
I was always forgetting my keys. I couldn't EVER find my keys...until my husband put a set of key hooks right by the door to the garage. Ever since, I have faithfully placed my keys on the hook instead of in my purse or pocket. Honestly, I am about 98% compliant with the key hook. We have had them in every home since we first discovered that was a solution to my daily key crisis of our first few years of marriage.
2001 was a horrific year. We had a dozen deaths in our family. I had a miscarriage, gained 40 pounds and had a thyroid storm that resulted in permanent hypothyroidism. My husband and I sold a house, moved, took new jobs...literally everything on the "top ten most stressful events" list was occurring all around us on a daily basis.
One day, in the midst of the storm, I got a call from the babysitter. She had been in a car accident and couldn't come watch my daughter. I was going to be late for work and I was making a back up plan. My husband was stuck in traffic as he had already started working his new job an hour away while we were showing our house. My back up plan was to meet the babysitter's mother with my 3 year old and go to work. I reached for my keys on the hook and....nope, not there. I frantically searched the entire mud room, kitchen, dining room...everywhere. I looked on every counter, table, window sill...everywhere.
Now, I can be emotional, but I do not randomly burst into tears very often. I literally cried out to the Lord...so much so that I upset my child. Her reaction snapped me to my senses and I paused. I held and comforted her and I prayed. I just simply said, "God, you know I am about to break. I can't take one more thing. Father, please show me my keys so I can do what I have committed to do, today. Thank you, Lord...." And I just thanked Him over and over. When I sat my squirming kid down and opened my eyes...there, directly in front of me on the window sill were my keys.
Some will be skeptical and say my keys were there the whole time. That's fine...don't believe me, that miracle wasn't for you. I know. I know I had already looked there, several times. I know that God did a little miracle just for me. He knew I needed a minute and He knew I needed a miracle. I got a little closer to Him that day. My perspective on miracles changed and I had a peace that was a little deeper than I had ever known.
That moment helped me get through the move, the new job, the rest of the tragedies, 9/11, and watching friends have babies when I had just lost one. I was able to have joy in one of the most trying times of my life. I can't explain it, but that experience transformed me. My God is big...but sometimes His miracles are small and intimate and personal. That doesn't make them less life changing. May you grow closer to God in small ways and big ways and always.
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