Have you ever experienced a miracle in your life? Whether you realize it or not—everyone has. A miracle is when we experience the intervention of a Divine agency. The very gift of life is often referred to as a miracle. If you are breathing—you are a miracle. The very breath of life is being shared with you at this moment and it comes from Source.The miracle we most often think of and long for is a removal miracle. A removal miracle is when something difficult is removed from our lives—something like an illness or injury or difficulty. We pray for miracles all of the time. The Apostle Paul prayed for a removal miracle. He refers to a “thorn in the flesh” that plagued him. He says that he asked God three different times to remove his affliction, but that the response each time was, “My grace is sufficient for you.”
This shows us a third type of miracle---the miracle of grace or the coping miracle. God doesn’t always remove our struggles, but God does give the grace and coping skills to handle them one day at a time. The answer to this type of prayer is one that usually disappoints us. We are still experiencing a miracle. We are still alive and learning and growing. But it is in the midst of our affliction that we are doing so. As a result, we often miss the fact that we are experiencing a miracle. We just want to have the difficulty removed.
There is an old belief that trips us up that tells us that if we were really loved we would have a perfect life—or at least a life of relative ease and without major traumas like chronic illness and injury or the death of those close to us. We feel deserted if these things are allowed into our lives and when they come and are not removed, we can feel as if God has abandoned us.
The word grace is related to the word gratitude. What an interesting thought to substitute the word gratitude into the statement, “My grace is sufficient for you.” My gratitude is sufficient for you. Gratitude for life and all that we are given opens the path to coping and acceptance and happiness. Gratitude allows us to experience a grace-filled life. A life filled with gratitude is a coping miracle. It can only come from Spirit.
In order to be grateful we have to be accepting that God is watching over us and caring for us. We have to open our hearts to the presence of God even in the presence of difficulty and struggle. Gratitude makes the struggle easier.
Where have your greatest areas of growth occurred and under what circumstances? Were they during times that were easy and without difficulty? From my experience, the times of greatest growth and insight for me have come as a result of my most trying experiences. It is through the struggle to accept, learn, grown, and practice gratitude that I have learned about the grace and love of God.
We are often disappointed in God when difficulties are not removed from our lives. We are a bit like children at these times and feel that maybe miracles really don’t happen anymore. But the miracle of coping, the miracle of grace, is always available to us. We can be a living miracle and fail to see that in reality our prayers have been answered, just in a way other than what we were hoping for.
Instead we have been given the gift to cope. How well we do that depends on how much gratitude we can embrace. It is one of our most difficult lessons in this life. How well are you doing at seeing the miracles in your life today? When you start to recognize them, you will realize that God is indeed very close. You have not been abandoned after all. The Spirit of gratitude is ready to descend on you as soon as you realize the gift of answered prayer.
Your life is a miracle—one that is unique. Your gratitude allows you to see it for the miracle it is. Go on a treasure hunt today to discover the miracles in your life. You will be surprised how many you have missed.
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