On Miracles

Last week, Matthew volunteered to give a talk in Primary. His topic was miracles, which I thought was fitting, given our current situation - though I doubt that you ever get to a point in your life when you don't need miracles :) Anyways, it's given me a lot of food for thought, but more on that later.
Matthew helped write the things about Jesus' ministry, and I helped him come up with experiences from our family. He did an awesome job, and just to a brag a little bit, he's a really good reader :) Here it is:

Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and He is a God of miracles.

Heavenly Father is Jesus' father, and Mary was his mom here on earth.

While on earth, Jesus performed many miracles.

A miracle is when something happens that you didn't think was possible and that you probably couldn't do on your own. They come from the power of God. They take prayer and faith to happen.

Jesus healed sick people, he raised a man from the dead, he fed 5,000 people with just a few fishes and loaves of bread, and the greatest miracle of all: His resurrection.

Miracles can still happen today.

Fifteen years ago, my Grandma Hays had colon cancer. She had priesthood blessings and many people fasted and prayed for her. She is healthy and well today. Even her doctor said it was a miracle.

When my mom was in high school, my Great Grandpa Wilson needed to have surgery on his heart. On the morning of the surgery, my mom's family knelt in prayer for him. Later that day, he called to say that right before he went into surgery, he had a vision of my mom's family praying for him. He was grateful for that small miracle that gave him peace and comfort when he needed it most.

We can pray for miracles. My dad is looking for a job. It has been really hard. My family prays everyday for the blessing and miracle of a good job for my dad. We have faith that our prayers will be answered.

Miracles can be big or small, but they do happen.

***

Good stuff right? I also like the Primary scripture for this month. It is 2 Nephi 27:23:
"For behold, I am God; and I am a God of miracles; and I will show unto the world that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and I work not among the children of men save it be according to their faith."

And, after a little research, I found another scripture, Moroni 7:35-38, which says that if miracles (among other things) cease, it is because faith has ceased first. God will grant unto us miracles, but we have to have faith that it will happen.

So, needless to say, miracles and faith have been on my mind a lot this week, as well as how weak and lazy I've become since having kids...and how I use that as an excuse to be weak and lazy too much...and how I need to fix all that :)

And you know what else has been on my mind? Romans 1:16. Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems like as member of our church, sometimes, we don't openly praise God enough. I understand the importance of keeping sacred things sacred, but I also understand how important it is to share our testimonies and spread the gospel, and we can't do that by keeping our mouths shut all the time. So here goes (for I am NOT ashamed of the gospel of Christ):

I believe in miracles. I whole-heartedly believe in miracles. I believe in the small miracles that happen everyday, that we sometimes write off as coincidence, and I believe in big life-altering-can-this-really-be-happening-it's-too-good-to-be-true miracles as well. I am earnestly fasting and praying for one of those big miracles right now, and I have faith that this miracle will be given to us. I can feel it. I know that God loves us, and I know that all good things come from God. I believe that sometimes we are asked to pass through difficult things so that we can more easily recognize His hand in our lives, and to more easily feel the Spirit, and to learn to rely on the Spirit - to rely on Him. And I know that if we let Him, God can make something beautiful out of our most difficult struggles. I know that He can take all of the heartache, pain, fear, frustration, disappointment, anger and tears, and make of it something incredible. I know this is true, and I testify of it to you in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.