KEY TO MIRACLES

Could thanking and praising God be the key to miracles? Praising God is the way to get through anything! Thankfulness is always the right attitude, but what about the things for which we don’t feel thankful?

My 12-year-old daughter, Suz had a beautiful, calm disposition. Her little brother Shane’s goal, at that time, was to upset her, and she was beginning to get angry with him. He stepped on her cat’s tail. He also snooped through every drawer in her room. I admonished and reprimanded Shane for his behavior. I also asked God how to help Suz keep her calm, happy disposition.

This Bible verse came to mind, “In everything give thanks, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thes. 5:18) It’s easy to thank God for all the good things. What would happen if we obeyed God and actually thanked Him for everything; for hard things, upsetting things, and things we didn’t want in our lives? I told Suz that if she would thank God for every irritation in her life for 30 days, I would also. We each made a list of the things that upset us and listed every way that these hard, upsetting, or irritating things might be a blessing in disguise. Every day we thanked God for allowing these things in our lives.

Praying over this list changed our lives! I hadn’t been aware that God was working in my life until I looked for the blessing in each irritation, and I thanked Him for allowing it.

Somewhere during the 30 days, joy came, as I clearly saw how the difficult things were blessings in disguise. My daughter had become aware of the dangers for a cat in this world. She knew that she could not always be there to protect her cat, but that God could always see and protect it. She talked to God and gave her cat to Him. The cat still lived at our house, but it’s owner was now the Lord God Almighty! No one ever stepped on God’s cat’s tail again, and it lived a long and healthy life. Faith and positive attitudes blossomed for us!

I’m thankful that all of this happened. We received the habit of thanking God for everything. Sometimes it was something hard, and we thanked God just because we trusted Him. We even learned to thank Him through tears. Each time we trusted God and thanked Him, He made it all work together for good! I remember the following miracle He did many years later.

My husband became angry at our next-door neighbor and decided to build an ugly wall on the boundary-line between our two properties. I tried to make peace but was not successful. Then I tried to reason with my husband to not build a spite fence–but his mind was made up!

I got on my knees and told God about the whole thing. Through tears I explained that there was nothing I could do to stop him from building something ugly and horrible, to get even with our neighbor. 1 Thes. 5:18 came to mind, “In everything give thanks, for this is God’s will in Christ Jesus for you.” I told God, “Okay God, I thank You because You said to thank You about everything, and because I trust you.” I wiped my tears away and went to bed. It was beyond my control, and I gave it all to God.

We got a call the next day from our daughter, Suz, who was now an adult, living several hours away in the California mountains. She called asking if we could come and bring something she needed, so we took the camper and left for the weekend.

While we were gone, the neighbor built a beautiful decorative wall where Dick had made plans to build his ugly fence. When we got back, we saw the wall and it was beautiful. Dick actually liked it and that was the end of his plan to build an ugly wall. God intervened and turned something ugly into something beautiful. I think He did it because I obeyed and thanked Him in everything. Even when we don’t feel thankful, we can thank Him just because we trust Him. I believe it is the key to miracles!

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