When miracles don't happen...

Finally, after a long series of setbacks, I arrived at my new home. It hadn't been an easy move, and my former landlord had tried everything to make it harder than necessary for me to move out.

But now I was finally at my new place and could take a breath. Or at least I thought so. That's when the next series of setbacks struck. I suddenly got so sick I could hardly talk or walk. Then the lights went out—a power failure. Without power as I was, I tried to find a solution, but there was still one more issue: my former landlord called, saying, "I'm going to take legal action against you..."

You know, friend, when you're physically battered and everything is too much for you, your thoughts can become very dangerous. There's a space of milliseconds in which you have to be very alert. Those milliseconds decide whether you start to believe the lies or continue to trust God. But how can you trust when there is absolutely no miracle to be seen?

friend, the miracle isn't always what happens externally. How I would've loved, at that moment, to have heard my former landlord call and say, "I'm sorry, I overstepped the boundaries. Let's drop it." Or that I would've gotten better immediately. But the miracle looked different in that moment...I just had to want to see it.

The miracle is that God is God, and you are in Him.

"Before you believed in Christ, you were separated from Him…You were without hope and without God in the world…But now you belong to Christ Jesus. He spilled His blood for you. This has brought you near to God. Christ Himself is our peace…" (Ephesians 2:12-14, NIRV) 

friend, you don't always need the answer to your problems…you need the reminder of God's nearness! Because yes, as the verse says, Christ is your peace, even in those situations that seem devoid of a miracle. Maybe the miracle is not the answer to your current problems but experiencing God's peace, His nearness.

That's what I'm praying for you today—His peace—until you experience the miracle you long for.

God is with you, friend.