Miracles! Miracles! And More Miracles!

Oh, my goodness! Do you have any idea how big God is? Do you realize that He is truly in control? I know we say it and we sing it, but do you believe it? Have you ever experienced life when you completely surrendered control of your life to God? Have you resisted the temptation to pick up those reigns of control when you feel things racing out of control?

I assure you that when you do, you will see God working in your life. You will see the individual care he puts into personally working on YOUR life. It is truly something awesome to see!

I am awestruck that someone as huge as God, who created EVERYTHING would choose to place his attention on someone as tiny as me. But He does. And He is personally trying to work in your life too.

I am witnessing miracles! True, living, breathing, real miracles! But I don't believe God was able to work those miracles until I was willing to relinquish control. See, He gives us the freedom to make our own mistakes. I think back to when the Israelites kept asking Samuel for a King. He kept telling them that they didn't need one. But they kept pushing. They wanted the illusion of control. They wanted to stick with something that was familiar to them. They wanted to stay inside their comfort zone. But an illusion was all it was.

1 Samuel 8(HCSB)

When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as judges over Israel. His firstborn son's name was Joel and his second was Abijah. They were judges in Beer-sheba. However, his sons did not walk in his ways—they turned toward dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice.

So all the elders of Israel gathered together and went to Samuel at Ramah. They said to him, "Look, you are old, and your sons do not follow your example. Therefore, appoint a king to judge us the same as all the other nations have."

When they said, "Give us a king to judge us," Samuel considered their demand sinful, so he prayed to the LORD. But the LORD told him, "Listen to the people and everything they say to you. They have rejected you; they have rejected Me as their king. They are doing the same thing to you that they have done to Me, since the day I brought them out of Egypt until this day, abandoning Me and worshiping other gods. Listen to them, but you must solemnly warn them and tell them about the rights of the king who will rule over them."

Samuel told all the Lord's words to the people who were asking him for a king. He said, "These are the rights of the king who will rule over you: He can take your sons and put them to his use in his chariots, on his horses, or running in front of his chariots. He can appoint them for his use as commanders of thousands or commanders of fifties, to plow his ground or reap his harvest, or to make his weapons of war or the equipment for his chariots. He can take your daughters to become perfumers, cooks, and bakers. He can take your best fields, vineyards, and olive orchards and give them to his servants. He can take a tenth of your grain and your vineyards and give them to his officials and servants. He can take your male servants, your female servants, your best young men, and your donkeys and use them for his work. He can take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves can become his servants. When that day comes, you will cry out because of the king you've chosen for yourselves, but the LORD won't answer you on that day."

The people refused to listen to Samuel. "No!" they said. "We must have a king over us. Then we'll be like all the other nations: our king will judge us, go out before us, and fight our battles."

Samuel listened to all the people's words and then repeated them to the LORD. "Listen to them," the LORD told Samuel. "Appoint a king for them."

See, God tells us we are free to choose to do things our own way, but He warns us that the road we travel, if we choose to pave it on our own, will be a rough one. But so often we choose the long, hard, rough road just because we can set the direction in which to walk. But the other road, although it travels into the wilderness, although it leads into territory unfamiliar to us, is riddled with miracles. All we have to do is allow God to direct us down that path and He will reward us with them.

Well, He is rewarding me. Thank goodness I made it through at least the first dark, scary tunnel, and have arrived at the other end to witness the light and the first set of miracles. I can't wait to tell you the story about them. But those miracles are still being performed, and the story is still incomplete. Ah, but what a story it is going to be.