When You’re Longing for a Christmas Miracle

 

A couple of years ago I heard a story about a young woman courageously standing up at a meeting and sharing her recovery story of heroin addiction.

She now has three years clean.

A miracle of all miracles, if you know anything about heroin addiction.

I’ve spoken to many alcoholics and addicts who have begged God to deliver them from their addiction. My father was one of them.

God did not choose to heal them instantaneously.

Instead, the Heavenly Father led them down a different path of healing, such as the twelve steps–a pathway to honesty, spiritual and emotional healing, and service to others.

Their miracle and healing did not come as they had expected or prayed for.

But, it still came.

My father battled stage four bile duct cancer. His relationship with two of my older sisters had been estranged for years, until his cancer.

Through the softening of all of their hearts, in the middle of cancer, God gave them a true Christmas miracle in their relationship with our dad. A supernatural healing took place in all of their hearts and none of them could quite explain it.

Their miracle and healing did not come as they had expected or prayed for.

But, it still came.

Today I’m thinking about a people who two thousand years ago were in desperate need of a miracle. They must have been staring into that open sky full of stars wondering if God was there anymore.

God had not spoken for four hundred years. No prophet. No messengers. No angels. They were awaiting the Messiah He had promised.

I’m sure they looked for Him wherever they went wondering, “Is this Him?” They were waiting for the King who would come and rescue them. Finally, after hundreds of years, the silence was broken, in the cry of a babe born of virgin birth in a dirty manger.

Talk about the unexpected. Of course we know many rejected that He was the Messiah, most were disappointed.

Their healing and miracle did not come as they had expected or prayed for.

But, it still came.

I’m thinking we have a lot in common with the Jewish people of Christ’s day. Let’s admit, sometimes we are disappointed at the way God chooses to do things.

And we question His timing.

And if we’re really honest, we look up to heaven in times of deep suffering and waiting, and begin to wonder if He is still there.

It seems a lot happens with us in the waiting room, in the dark hours of the night and in the periods of silence. I’m learning in the waiting room is when God is preparing us to experience something glorious, though our minds cannot fathom it.

I wonder if the four hundred years of silence wouldn’t have happened, if the Jewish people would have had a deep craving for something more

I wonder if the heroin addict would have had instantaneous healing, if she would have went on to share her story and in doing so, bind up the wounds of others.

I wonder if my dad and sisters relationship would have been healed long ago, if they would have experienced the supernatural.

And lastly, His followers who at first doubted Him, argued with Him about his death, witnessed Him resurrect– I wonder if looking back they realized what God had accomplished was painful, messy, and glorious all in one.

Even though it did not happen how they had expected or prayed for. 

Maybe what we need to realize is the Christmas miracle we are longing for, the one we need most, was already given. 

Maybe what we need to realize is our craving and longing for Him is a gift of grace.

And that after long periods of silence and thinking He has forgotten us and after searching for Him everywhere, the silence will be broken.

In the cry of something beautiful being birthed from our pain. It may not come in the way we had expected or prayed for.

But, our healing, our Savior, will come anyway.

 

(image source: canstockphoto.com)

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17 comments on “When You’re Longing for a Christmas Miracle

  1. OH MY! When the confirmation that EVERY THING that’s been in your heart all week is directly from the Father! …
    Just a mess of Happy Tears & goosebumps over here!
    Thank you again sweet friend for being so Faithful!!

  2. I love how God works, His timing has been part of the Bible study I am in. I am currently on the other side of waiting and looking back and God’s perfect timing. We waited over a year for the House we bought and moved into in September. We are continually in awe of God’s blessing to us in this house and how it was His perfect timing and all for His glory!

    • Joy, we went through something similar with our house, it makes you appreciate it more doesn’t it? Have a wonderful Christmas. 🙂

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