Encouraging Miracles in Faith: "A Prayer from the Heart"

The same today as He was yesterday and will be forever: Heb 13:8

Jesus’ own words from the Bible say this: “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26. This is some statement! Is it true? Of course! But how can we encourage children to expect, and to believe, that God can still do miracles today?

How can we encourage children to expect miracles?

In my book ‘A Prayer from the Heart’ God is moving people across the world to answer Chris’ prayers! Shani, comes all the way from India to fulfil the desire of Chris’ heart! God has moved her entire family half way across the world for this! This is all part of God’s plan.

And Chris’ family has come all the way from Sri Lanka to be part of God’s plan for Shani! God is willing, and wants to do whatever it takes to bring these two children into each other’s lives! The storyline has another instance of God doing the miraculous.

For instance, what are the odds that this new girl at school, whom Chris likes so much, is part of the family who have just moved in next door? Perhaps you see this as nice, lovely …but not quite miraculous? In my heart, I feel that this is pretty much a miracle. The way that God brings people together in friendship beats statistics. We can, for instance, be working at the same company as someone and only get to speak to them years later. My parents, for example, worked in the same hospital for 2 years before they actually spoke to each other. All in God’s timing!

The impossible in my life?

If you had asked me when I was 25 years old if I would ever become a ‘happy-clappy’ Charismatic – I would have given a resounding N-O-O!! And if you asked that same 25-year-old if she wanted to publish a children’s picture book – you would have got the same answer. At that time, there was no desire AT ALL to do either of those things. God had to do the impossible, the miraculous: to change my heart.

In early 1987, the 27-year-old me rushed out of a prayer meeting at the first hint of the ‘Charismatic’. In the October of that same year, I attended another Catholic prayer meeting- not realising that it was Charismatic! But this time I was open to the movement of the Holy Spirit. I wanted to stay! Believe me-that took a miracle on God’s part!

Similarly, once I realised that the story God had nudged me to write needed to be ‘out there’, to help Catholic children fall in love with God- I didn’t miss a heartbeat. Now, I am doing all in my power to make this happen. And the Holy Spirit continues to guide me every step of the way..

Passing it on..

How can we encourage an expectant faith in children for the miraculous? I think by modelling it ourselves and making sure that we take every opportunity to show them when God does the miraculous. The Eucharistic miracle of Lanciano which took place in 700 AD, Italy is a good one to talk about and to show images of. Truly, our God is a God of the impossible!