“Whether you believe in miracles or not, I can guarantee that you will experience one. It may not be the one you’ve prayed for, but a miracle none the less.” Ordinary Grace
Randy and I were blessed to have next door neighbors in Newborn that literally saved our lives in so many ways! Miss Margaret and Mr. C.A. were an older (eek 70’s) couple who were so happy to have the new minister and his family live next to them! They fed us from Mr. C.A.’s garden, babysat when we needed a grandmama, taught us to garden, brought us left overs, had coffee with us in the mornings, and kept us up on all the gossip and the connections in the community.
In the summer of 1977, there appeared one day a letter from the IRS which informed us that we owed the government $157.45 (I remember the amount to this day), due before the end of the year. We made less than $9000 a year, so the amount owed might as well have been a million.
As God would have it, a former CPA, Stoney, lived across the street. We crunched numbers every way possible, but because I had withdrawn my teacher retirement, we owed the $157.45.
Summer became fall and still no way to get the money. One afternoon as we were sitting in our back yard worried and deciding which one of us would go to jail, our friend, Sammy, who lived behind us walked over. As he walked, you could hear pecans crackling under his feet from the pecan trees which filled our back yard. Those things had become such an annoyance to us, but suddenly that annoyance had the potential to be a blessing!
In that moment, we both looked up at those pecan trees, and it was as if God had sent us a miracle! Mr. C.A. confirmed that we could get money for selling pecans! Miss Margaret and Sammy volunteered to help, we got grocery sacks, and went to work! We even had Rob out there with a bag. I don’t remember how many bags we loaded into Mr. C.A.’s truck that day, but I know that when Randy came home, he was smiling and waving crisp $10 bills! Sixteen ten dollar bills to be exact! Just like manna from heaven we had all we needed! We paid taxes and had a couple of dollars for a treat!
Miracles happen every day. They don’t have to be large ones, they can just be ordinary ones. I thank God for all kinds of miracles!!
“What is impossible with man is possible with God.” Luke 18:27