Inspiring Book on Miracles Spans Divine and Mundane

Miracles are For Real

By James L Garlow and Keith Wall

Have you found yourself praying for a miracle? You are not alone. Author Jim Garlow is praying for his wife’s full recovery from cancer. And in the middle of that horrendous journey, he wrote a book on miracles. Other people’s miracles. 

Incidences such as a child falling 30 feet from an apartment window to cement below and recovering fully days later, against all medical prognosis, and a woman lifting a two ton vehicle when a man was about to be trapped under it are documented alongside stories of people ‘finding contacts’ in foreign countries against all odds.

I found this book amazingly inspiring and down to earth at the same time. The stories are carefully chosen from trusted friends and sources, so say Garlow and partner writer Keith Wall. These stories will astound you, warm your heart and most of all, encourage you to look for your own miracle. 

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Bethany House Publishers in return for my honest opinion.

Clean Up - A Bite at a Time

January is the official month to clean, purge, and organize, or so it seems everywhere you look. Magazine articles, sales ads and blogs are touting the best way to de-clutter, and fit an entire life into a series of containers, large and small, to simplify the business of living.

For the first few days, ok-weeks, of the new year, I was resistant, but that was probably because there was so much Christmas to be put away that tackling anything else seemed overwhelming. So now, with 2011 Christmas jammed into the container in the garage, and spilling over in some cases, I have succumbed to the pressure of all those ads, and perhaps with a jump start from a free book I downloaded onto my android amazon kindle, I am now on the wagon.

Getting control of your 'things' is never easy if you have even the average amount of stuff we Americans accumulate. I've found that I tend to hoard due to feeling the financial pinch, (what if I need this later and can;'t afford it? *panic*) and this year hasn't been stellar for either extra money, or less stuff.

So I wrote out a jobs list for our family so everyone could have a part in the clean-up. There were daily and weekly tasks, as well as a laundry schedule. Every person has their own designated day to do laundry. With six in the house and only one of them male, well, you can imagine the laundry.I got a little scared to try it all at once, so I procrastinated a couple days and then hit upon what I think is the perfect solution.

After looking at the list several times, and talking it up to the kids, I am taking it slow, and only institute one major change at a time. I've decided we'll tackle the laundry schedule first, and then when that becomes routine, we'll proceed to the cleaning schedule. In the meantime, we'll make do with our patchwork cleaning.

It's probably just as well that cleanup begins in January. It may take me to the next January to get organized!

Yes, I Did Take a Shopping Cart

Ironically, the only time I've seen a police car on my street recently, was the day my car decided  not to start, and I had to walk to the grocery store, 'borrow' a cart, promising to give it back. The manager at the store was kind and understanding, and readily gave me permission to take the cart and return it.

I was just emerging from my street on the return trip with the empty cart in tow, when the patrol car slowed, and stopped beside me. The officer eyed me warily, asking what I was doing with the cart. Several answers, in retrospect would have made an embarrasing situation funny - or maybe not.

"I plan on stealing it and using it to transport illegal drugs around the neighborhood."

"I always take this cart; I'm surprised you haven't noticed before."

"I'm homeless and I'm going to raid the trash cans at the park for plastic and aluminum."

"Can I get your name? I'd like to put in a good word for you at the station. I'm awfully glad you're out here checking the neighborhood!"

-and my personal favorite-

"I'm researching attitudes of policemen towards low income society."

He gave me a grudging pass and moved on. It felt a little like when I was a child and everyone else had jumped on the bed, but when I got on, Mom walked in the room. 

We want to be thought well of, don't we? Even when all appearance shouts otherwise!

At any rate, I'm going to be a bit less judgmental when spying someone else with a shopping cart.

Full Nest

Fruit bowl overflowing with bananas, apples, oranges and tangerines.












Food from all over the world crammed in the pantry.

 


 Old silver-plate and white, lacy doilies stacked in cupboards.














Music books from ancient times to modern struggling to keep within their boundaries near the piano. Bookshelves spilling out their treasures into stacks on the floor. Autographs of friends and guests scrawled on the 'graffiti wall' in the coat closet. Care packages waiting to be sent to Germany and South Korea.




A garage full of Christmas decorations, camping gear and sewing projects. Logs piled up on the back porch.








Sound equipment, cds, dvds in bedrooms, living rooms. Schoolwork on coffee tables. Bills and files on the counter. People talking, eating, watching movies, reading books, doing homework and cleaning up their belongings in every nook and cranny.

This ain't no empty nest, baby! This is my life.


And I love it!

Real Women Make Quiche

I am wrapping up and putting away lights and greenery, seeing  bare walls once again, and tasting the onion quiche-lets I made this morning while still remembering with a wistful mental glance the Yale professor  from Connecticut I watched online this morning as he talked, his crisp shirt still marked with a crease on one side from being in a new wrapper, of poetry, publishing and syllabi.

And I wondered why it was that instead of being one of the listening, bobbing heads I could barely see in front of the camera, as he spoke of Yates, Hughes, and Frost, I was making quiche-lets, and boxing up Christmas in Sunny California.

This is where I live. This is what I do.

But I still wonder.

The Empty Boxes

Well, it's over for another year. The empty boxes are stacked up, trash can overflowing with discarded who-knows-what. We have been blessed with another Christmas! Despite my fears and misgivings, I was able to bless my children with gifts, and in the eyes of any second or third world onlooker, they are spoiled.

The fact is, I rub shoulders exclusively with first worlders, and compared to the average American, our Christmas was modest. That's not to say we were not extremely blessed and thankful. We revelled in the day, in wonder at our blessings.

But the truth is, each morning our boxes are all empty, no matter how full they may have been the night before, and we await the filling of ourselves from the Master Giver, from Whom all Blessings Flow.

Gloria In Excelsis Deo!

Feasting

I've been feasting lately. Don't worry. It's not a holiday binge, although on second thought, maybe.

You know how athletes in training, and kids who are growing eat you out of house and home, because they use up calories so fast they can't seem to get enough? Well that's how my spiritual life has been lately. I've been running a faith/trial  marathon, and I can't seem to get enough encouraging, admonishing, and correcting words if I go too long without truth-the kind you get from reading the Bible or attending church. I feel a need to contemplate a steady diet of truth to soothe my battle-scarred soul. I'm a bottomless pit!

It really is remarkable how you can be hungry for truth, get some, and the next hour, need more.

Proverbs says the wise man is hungry for truth. I hope I'm getting wiser. I've certainly devoured my quota of truth lately. How about you? Any truth feasts?

Thy words were found, and I did eat them. -the Bible