MAKING MUCH OF MIRACLES

Floating in a Miami pool one midwinter, Pastor Mark Batterson had what he calls an epiphany.  As he admired the shimmering sunlight on the water, “a question fired across my synapses: What’s really happening when what’s happening is happening?”  He was thinking about that sunlight, emanating from the star we know as the sun, which he later read is 93 million miles away, and 333,000 times the mass of Earth.  He also learned that sunlight travels incredibly fast – 186,282 miles per second – so the rays he saw shimmering on that Miami pool got there in only eight minutes and twenty seconds.  Miraculous! 

“Most of us take everyday miracles for granted.  This book is about taking them for gratitude.  Why is that so important?” he asks.  “Because whatever you don’t turn into praise turns into pride!  It doesn’t just rob God of the glory He deserves; it steals our joy.”  Mark points out that we praise God for anomalies and epiphanies, which is right, but tend to overlook and underappreciate everyday miracles.  “There is a fine line between the mundane and the miraculous.  If you see the miraculous as mundane, life becomes a bore.  If you learn to discern the miraculous in the mundane, welcome to wonderland,” he exclaims.     

GOD MOST HIGH (BIGGER THAN BIG)

Starting with the observations of Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe in 1592, and those of his protégé, Johannes Kepler, Mark goes on to emphasize the vastness of God’s creation, according to current data.  “Astronomers now estimate the existence of more than two trillion galaxies, only two of which are visible from the Northern Hemisphere – the Milky Way and Andromeda.  Each of those two trillion galaxies has an average of one hundred billion stars.

The very nature of our stunningly creative God is also a miracle, Mark believes.  “It’s not easy parsing God’s personality, but one undeniable dimension is playfulness.  This is the God who created us with the capacity to laugh,” Mark says. The fact that humans (and animals) have both the ability and desire to be playful is a miracle to be enjoyed regularly.  “Jesus pushed the playfulness envelope further than anyone.  He said that we can’t enter the kingdom of heaven unless we become like little children, and part of becoming like little children is recapturing what they are best at – playfulness.”  And just how do we do that in our serious world?  “Whether we’re playing with Legos, playing games, or playing music, God takes joy in our enjoyment.  It’s a reflection of His playful personality, which we greatly underestimate.  In the words of C.S. Lewis, ‘Joy is the serious business of Heaven.’”   

GOD MOST NIGH (CLOSER THAN CLOSE)

That God is not only marvelously creative and vast, but is much closer than we often think, especially when we’re hurting, is another aspect of His character, Mark says.  “A Harvard study conducted in 2020 found that 61 percent of young adults ages eighteen to twenty-five experience serious loneliness.”  He refers to surgeon

general Dr. Vivek Murthy, who says that loneliness also has serious implications on our health.  “As modeled by the Trinity, relationship is what we were created for.  From the get-go, God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone.’  Without healthy relationships, there are serious side effects.  Even Jesus had his disciples!  Our love for Christ overcomes racial tension, political polarization, and a dozen other things that divide culture. While we must acknowledge mistakes made in the name of Christ, the church has done more collective good than any organization on earth, and there is no close second.  And there is no backup plan. The transformational power of community is one of God’s most life-giving miracles – don’t miss it,” he implores. 

GOD MOST GOOD (GOODER THAN GOOD)

One of Mark’s many illustrations of God’s supreme goodness is the story of Joseph Merrick, born in 1862 in Leicester, England.  “Few people have suffered from more physical deformities and abnormalities.  All ten of his fingers were stubs.  His head was twice the circumference it should have been.  His disfigured mouth made his speech nearly unintelligible.  His right arm was twice the size of his left arm and his legs barely supported his body weight.  In nineteenth-century England, there was a perverse yet popular form of entertainment known as human novelty exhibitions.”  Joseph Merrick was the headliner in one such freak show, which promoted him as “half man, half elephant.”  

In a London hospital, Joseph piqued the interest of a surgeon, Dr. Frederick Treves.  “In a carefully orchestrated experiment, the good doctor arranged to have a woman walk into Merrick’s room, smile at him, wish him a good morning, and shake his hand.”  The effect was amazing.  ‘As he let go her hand, he bent his head on his knees and sobbed until I thought he would never cease,’ Treves said.  That single smile was the turning point of his life.  It unlocked the little boy within.  ‘He told me afterwards that this was the first woman who had ever smiled at him, and the first woman, in the whole of his life, who had shaken hands with him.’  Over time, Dr. Treves found Joseph Merrick to be more intelligent and articulate than he would have ever imagined.  Dr. Treves managed to smuggle him into private boxes of London theaters to watch plays and listen to operas.  He took him on field trips to the countryside, where Merrick loved listening to songbirds, chasing rabbits, and picking wildflowers.  Toward the end of his short life (at age 27), Merrick’s common refrain was this: ‘I am happy every hour of the day.’” 

Along with the call to look for, recognize, and celebrate miracles, which Mark terms, “Carpe Wonder!” he would have us turn that wonder into gratitude for and fellowship with our wondrous God.  “’You have made us for yourself,’ said Saint Augustine, ‘and our heart is restless until it rests in you.’  Seek the God who is seeking you,” Mark exhorts.  “As you do, I pray that you rediscover the God who is bigger than big, closer than close, and gooder than good.”

MORE ABOUT MARK

Born in Minneapolis, Mark grew up in Naperville, Illinois, a Chicago suburb.  When he was just five years old, his parents took him to see the 1975 movie, The Hiding Place, produced by The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.  The film chronicles the story of Corrie Ten Boom’s family hiding Jews during WWII and the consequences for all. The story significantly influenced Mark, who soon came to Jesus as his Savior.  By the time he turned nineteen, Mark realized that he had been asking Jesus to follow him instead of his following Jesus.

Mark attended the University of Chicago on a scholarship, playing basketball and majoring in pre-law.  After a prayer walk through a cow pasture, he felt called to full-time ministry instead of law, and the next year transferred to Central Bible College in Springfield, Missouri.  Mark later married Lora Schmidgall and eventually earned a Doctor of Ministry from Regent University.  He’s now the author of 25 books including his first published title, In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day and The Circle Maker, one of many New York Times Bestsellers.

The Battersons moved to Washington, DC in 1994 to direct an inner-city ministry.  Mark has served as Lead Pastor of National Community Church since 1996.  Their first service in 1997 was attended 19 people, today, the church’s two campuses see 4-5 thousand coming weekly.

For more information on Mark Batterson click the LINK! And for more information on National Communiy Church click the LINK as well! 

CREDITS

New York Times best-selling author of 25 books, latest: A Million Little Miracles,
Multnomah, 2024 / Lead Pastor of National Community Church (NCC) in Washington, DC,
since 1997, with two campuses; the other in Springfield, VA / NCC owns and operates
Ebenezer’s Coffeehouse, The Miracle Theatre, and The DC Dream Center, and is currently
developing a city block into The Capital Turnaround for events, a child development center, a mixed-use marketplace, and co-working space / Doctor of Ministry degree, Regent University / Married to Lora, three adult children: Parker, Summer, and Josiah

Tuesday, February 22, 2022. As the world braces for a Russian invasion into Ukraine, Tony and Sarah Witbrod board a flight headed to the port city of Odessa. Sarah said, “The government knew that we had plans to be in Ukraine and had sent us an email that said, 'do not travel.' That we are evacuating all Americans out of Ukraine. 'If you choose to go to Ukraine, you're flying on your own. No one will come and get you.'" 

The couple had a compelling reason for ignoring the dire warnings. Lives were at stake. Two Ukrainian children, both with special needs, were waiting for Tony and Sarah to adopt them. Three of the couple’s 6 children at home in Douglas, Wyoming, had also been adopted.  

“From the second we pursued them, they were my children and they were my responsibility the same as any of my other, my other children,” said Sarah. “And so to choose not to get them would be like losing your children. And it wasn't an option.”

Tony said, “The moment you say yes during that process and you see a child and you see that face and you're like, no matter what, like we're, we're bringing that kid home and that kid's going to live here forever.”

The couple made it to Odessa, and the next day took custody of the children; one year old, Caius, a boy who needed surgery for a condition affecting his joints, and two year old, Junie, who was born with a rare genetic disorder and desperately needed a bone marrow transplant. They were scheduled to fly to Poland the next day, Tuesday, the 24th. That morning at 3 am, those plans would change. Sarah said, “Like the loudest boom. I can't even describe it unless you've, it's just the loudest boom. And then everything just kind of, the air, the walls, everything just shakes and you just, like, it takes your breath." 

“Russia had invaded,” said Tony. “It was real. We get an email on our phone that says, 'your flights have been canceled, find other means of transportation.' And then right with that, the state department saying, 'where are you? We need to know your location. If you move like what's going on? Tell us your plan.'”

By then, all Ukrainian airports had been shut down, and the Wibrod’s needed a new plan to save themselves and the children. “I thought, next step, what do we do now?” said Sarah. “We knew what their future held. We know we knew that if they didn't get out, that was it. There was nothing for them there.”

The couple prayed, contacting friends stateside to pray as well. The closest, and safest, airport was in Bucharest, Romania, 400 miles and two countries away. So with the help of their interpreters, they crossed into the country of Moldova on Ukraine’s western border. From there, they drove all day and night, racing along dirt roads. 

Finally, they reached Bucharest, but by now their funds were depleted, and airline tickets had quadrupled in price. Tony said, “Just the exhaustion has really kicked in and that...that nervousness of like, man, if anything goes wrong, like we're not leaving these kids, but we got to get home to our other six kids. And just going forward like blindly through that faith in that like, next step, next step, whatever we can do, whatever we're allowed to do, we're going to do the next step and we'll get going.”

Within a day, supporters from the US had come through and Tony and Sarah had enough money to purchase the last two seats on a plane to Warsaw. Tony said, “Like you literally felt the power of prayer from across an ocean in the middle of a war when everything was just chaos and unknown.”
“There's this, a picture that I have of, of Sarah, she's holding Caius when we landed in, in Poland after like a flight that we shouldn't have been on. Like how, how it all worked out like that at the last minute and with everything being so chaotic. But the hardest part for me is a picture of my wife looking more tired than I’ve ever seen her in her life, clutching a baby in his blanket, and that was the hardest part.”

A week later, they were back home where Caius and Junie were welcomed with loving arms. Sarah said, “I had a faith that if, if I’m supposed to go there, then the way will be made for me to get there. And so that's kind of the faith that I was traveling on.”

Ever since then, Caius and Junie have lived a life surrounded by a family who loves them. Even though both continue to have medical needs, and they’re still looking for a bone marrow donor for Junie. Sarah and Tony have never questioned their decision. “When you are called to something you really want to show up because really amazing stuff happens,” said Sarah. 

Tony said, “So, I would say to someone who, to someone who was considering adoption, but thought it might cost too much or it might be too hard or too difficult, it, it'll change your life. Our lives are so much richer and so much grander and amazing because we said yes.”  

“When God invites you to live something that's bigger than you could ever imagine, you show up because it's going to be awesome. And it is, it has been every time,” said Sarah. 
 

8-year-old Charlie said his parents always seemed to be fighting and didn’t seem to care about their kids.   

“Our household was often in chaos,” admitted Jemis, Charlie’s dad. “Frequently I would argue with my wife. All I thought about was having fun, drinking, and being happy.”

“When we got drunk, we would not care for our children,” added Leny, the children’s mom.  “Domestic violence was a common thing for us.”

One day a neighbor invited Charlie to a Sunday school in Indonesia where they live. There he watched a Superbook episode by CBN Animation called the “The Final Battle.” It was the first time he’d ever watched a Bible Cartoon.  “In that story I learned that God defeated all demons,” said a serious Charlie.

At the end of the episode, Charlie prayed with his teacher to become a Christian. He said “The Final Battle” also triggered him to pray for his parents.

“I wanted God to defeat the devil that gripped my parents,” he said.   

Just two weeks later Charlie’s mom Leny went to church.  “The first time I went to church, I was trembling like someone who was scared!” she said.  “I was afraid I might faint. The sermon seemed to pierce my heart! That day, I cried!”   

Leny said the Lord has truly transformed her heart.  “Jesus is changing everything!” she added with tear filled eyes.   

Charlie continued to pray, and 2 weeks after that his dad came to church!

“On Saturday night,” said Jemis, “I decided that I would go to church the next day. I didn’t tell my son because I was a little afraid. So that night I secretly prepared my shoes and clothes.”

Charlie’s parents now attend church every week and also prayed to become Christians and the change in his family has been dramatic.      

“Now my parents no longer fight and they no longer drink,” said a smiling Charile. Through Superbook my family and I came to know Jesus! Thank you and God Bless you!”

“I just loved it right away. It talked about like worshiping nature and respecting animal spirits. And like it was the first thing where I had this outlet where I could be like dreamy and sensitive and a child.” Alyssa explained. 
 
Alyssa Leone’s journey into new age didn’t start as an adult trying to “find her inner child”. she was 13,  looking for a way out of the nightmare of sexual abuse from a “friendly” neighbor. it had started when she was five.
 
“I'm thinking my only value is sex. I remember just getting depressed. I remember getting anxiety. I- I couldn't rest because even when I did try to sleep, I would have these nightmares of this guy.” She continued. 
 
The nightmare would get worse. Alyssa’s mom not only dismissed her daughter’s claims about the abuse, she married the abuser. They attended catholic mass regularly. Hearing about god’s love rang empty.

"I thought first maybe he doesn't exist. And then I thought, well, if he does exist, he doesn't love me. Like he's not for me. He loves those kids over there that have like a mom, a dad, a house, a normal childhood.” Alyssa reflected. 
 
As a teenager, with her depression and anxiety growing, Alyssa had one question. Why? in her mind, meditation and eastern mysticism, held the answers to peace and understanding. 
 
"And that's the point where I'm like, ding, light bulb moment, I'm on the right track because I always just wanted to know why. Like why did I grow up like that? Why do other people grow up normal? Why? And I felt like karma and reincarnation was my answer to that.” She continued. 
 
By the time she moved out at 18, Alyssa was immersed in new age and witchcraft.
 
“It really makes you believe that you're in control. 'Cause it's this idea that like we're all gods, I'm gonna make my life better, my own way, on my own accord in my own way." Alyssa further explained. 
 
“it felt like a fulfillment of prophecy. I was like, this is where I'm supposed to be. This is what I'm supposed to be doing.”
 
In the coming years, Alyssa would marry and have two children. She continued practicing witchcraft meditating, using healing crystals, and calling on spirits just trying to find peace. After thirteen years she realized it wasn’t coming, and she wanted out.

“I'm getting worse. Like my depression is worse. My anxiety is turning into panic attacks. Nightmares I've always [00:14:30] had are turning into sleep paralysis. And at that point I was like, there is a darkness here and I don't understand it.” She admitted.

At the recommendation of a coworker, Alyssa decided to see a trauma therapist, …who happened to be a christian. When she talked about god’s love, Alyssa still wasn’t buying it.

“I thought to myself, I'm in 'cause I need help. And even though my, the therapist was a Christian, I, in my new age belief system, I believe the Christian God didn't love me, but I thought all paths led to the same source or the same God.” Alyssa further explained.

One night in bed, she had a terrifying episode of sleep paralysis.

“And this time it's different because I'm levitating about four feet out of my body and I can't move. I see my child just being horribly abused and I can't look away. I can't move, I can't do anything. . I'm turned to look to my other side. I see my other child being horribly abused and I can't do anything.” She recalls fearfully. 

It was then Alyssa remembered something her therapist told her to do.
 
“I knew that I needed to call on the name of Jesus. But I'm paralyzed. I can't do anything. So I get out in my head, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. And the second I do two opposing forces meet. And that force that's ripping me out is still there, but suddenly a more powerful yet gentle and loving force meets it and is slowly bringing me back down into my body. when I get back into my body, I can move, I can breathe. And I know two things for certain that changed my life. I know that Jesus is Lord of everything. The next thing I know for certain is the darkness. The demonic bows down to the name of Jesus.” Alyssa confessed. 
 
“in that moment I was like, I've screwed up basically my entire life up to this point. Like, Jesus, I don't know what I'm doing. I know you're Lord of everything. Like take it, like take my life, take my kids, take my like, take whatever you wanna take from me. Like I will drop everything and follow you.” She reflected, 

 
A lifetime of anxiety, depression and nightmares were gone. The next day, Alyssa threw away her crystals, tarot cards, everything associated with the occult.  

Today she and her family are committed, faithful followers of Jesus Christ.
 
“if you're ready to like give up the control, like there's a more peaceful life. Um, Jesus wants to take it over for you, you know, like he wants to heal it. He wants you to give it over to him. And that feels so much better than trying to fix it yourself.” She concluded.