Miracles on the Mission Field

Hello, tender friends!

I’ve always loved this story about God multiplying candy as he did the bread and fish in the Bible. The youth pastor and his family at the church where Anthony I met were missionaries in Costa Rica for years. As missionaries, they organized frequent outreaches that included serving meals and passing out necessities.

One such kids’ outreach included goodie bags of candy. Based on previous outreaches, they expected about 40 kids, so they made 60 goodie bags.

God had bigger plans that day though. The pastor and the staff got nervous as they saw 40 kids show up and then 60 and then more. Kids kept pouring through the entry to get in, and they knew that they we’re going to run out of goodie bags.

The pastor and the staff obviously didn’t want to send kids away empty-handed. They prayed that God would multiply their candy goodie bags.

Over 200 kids showed up. The staff kept passing out goodie bags, until every kid had one. They had goodie bags left over despite only having supplies for 60 bags.

“I guess God really wanted these kids to have cavities,” the pastor joked.

It’s amazing, isn’t it? We don’t typically expect God to move in these ways in daily life.

This is something I’m working through now. I believe stories about miracles, I have experienced miracles myself, and I want to raise Jacob to boldly petition the Lord for miracles, believing that they are possible.

But it’s also important to think about how to respond when God chooses not to provide a miracle

Jacob wants tangible results every time we pray. The other night in bed, as we curled up he said, “Mommy, I want God to give me more miracles. God has only ever given me one miracle. That one time that my finger really hurt and I prayed, God made it stop hurting. But I haven’t had any other miracle!”

I explained that I had also prayed for many things throughout my life that God chose not to give me. I explained that it’s important for me to remember the prayers that God has answered and also remember the times that I have heard him direct my path.

Right now I’m trying to temper the “success stories” of the Bible that often appear in children’s curriculum with the difficult reality that God doesn’t always provide a miracle even though he’s always capable of doing so.

Lord, help me strike the right balance.

Okay, that’s all for today, tender friends! Thank you for stopping by and thank you for sharing!