Have You Ever Held a Miracle?

I’m not talking about newborn babies or any living creature. I’m referring to something into which you have poured yourself out with the only intention to serve the Lord.

This week I was blessed with just such a happening. Four years ago, I had a great revelation in my spiritual walk.

I was saved at thirty-five and soon joined a church. My wife and I became very active in the youth ministry there and my walk progressed. We moved a few years after my salvation and joined a church there, and then soon moved our membership to another church where we stayed many years.

I taught the men’s adult Sunday school class and even preached several messages at that church. Eventually, my work became so invasive and time-consuming with travel and I began to fade away. Oh, I attended when I could, but I certainly wasn’t as involved as I had been.

Work travel waxed and waned as did my spiritual dedication. When our oldest grandson was born I felt closer to God than I had ever been; that time was truly a wonderful experience. Work again became consuming, and I faded away again. Several years later, we moved to the neighboring county and I retired.

My heart yearned for that closeness to God, and I was seeking God daily. I have a difficult time explaining how I yearned to be back in that place where I felt as if I was walking with our Lord. It was a time of much prayer and calling out to Heaven.

One day, I was walking over to my shop when I was stopped in my tracks by a voice in my head. You see, I had seen many successes in my life and my career, received many accolades, and known several proud moments in my career accomplishments.

But that day, that wonderful day on the way to my shop, that voice told me that all I had accomplished, all the effort I had expended, and the accolades that came with it, had no value in the Kingdom of Heaven. I was instantly devastated, heart-broken at the thought of living 58 years and not having accomplished anything of real value.

I stood there frozen in time thinking how my life had been a tragedy, in a manner of speaking. Right there and then, I cried out to God and vowed that from that day forward I was going to serve God with all my heart and soul.

I began to pray like I had not prayed in years and read and studied the Word. I began listening to sermons and teachings from preachers and theologians every day. I researched Biblical history and put a lot of effort into trying to understand the hearts and minds of those whom God inspired to write the Bible. The day of my revelation, I called a dear friend who has been preaching for over 40 years and told him of what had happened.

Brother Jeff and I began talking almost everyday, and I would share what I was studying and had learned. It wasn’t long before Brother Jeff began to tell me I needed to write these things down. So, I began to write and send them to Jeff. A few months passed, and I was sharing with not only Brother Jeff but also with some missionaries and evangelists I know. My writings were mostly teachings, with a few short stories and even a poem once in a while.

I haven’t written anything which I did not feel inspired through prayer and contemplation of the Word. If I do not feel inspired, then I do not write; there is no plan or outline, just inspiration and love for my Savior. Soon there were a hundred writings, and then two hundred. My friends in the clergy encouraged my writing, and Brother Jeff began telling me that I needed to put my writings in a book. 

The writings were translated into Spanish and the Guatemalan dialect, and preachers in Central America began to use them in sermons preaching the writings God had prompted me to write. Brother Jeff would daily tell me my writings needed to get out to everyone and they needed to be in a book, and I would typically respond, “When God inspires me to do that, I will.” 

I continued writing and honestly wasn’t praying for or even thinking about a book. Just the fact that I was writing was amazing to me. I had never enjoyed writing anything—letters, book reports, items for work or anything else—in my entire life.

One morning after my prayer time, I was contemplating Scripture in my quiet time with the Lord, and again, just as that day walking to my shop, I heard a clear voice in my head. This time it said, “Find a publisher.” I had no idea of the process of getting a book published, so I walked into my study area and did an online search for Christian book publishers.

There were several; I saw a list of the top five and read through them. I chose one and made a call. I have to admit, I was quite nervous but the person I spoke to was kind and very helpful. I was informed as to what I needed to do and how to submit my transcript and the format it needed to be in.

The next several days were spent picking which of the writings to include, how many (there was 238 to choose from), and then getting them into the proper format. I’ll pause to say this: seldom does a day go by that I do not say to someone that God’s timing is always perfect! I believe that with all of my being, and He has shown me that time and time again.

Little did I know the miracles had already begun.

The publisher had informed me, when I submitted my transcript, that it would take up to three weeks for the review board to come to a decision to either reject it or accept it for publishing. I had read many stories of authors being rejected over and over by big publishers, and some ended up self-publishing.

I submitted my transcript the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, understanding this would more than likely add a week to the review time. Never in my wildest dreams did I believe it would be accepted. Three days later I received an email that my transcript had been approved! This was the Friday after Thanksgiving. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I read the approval.

I knew they were off work on Thanksgiving day, so that meant my transcript was approved in a single day, that being the day after I submitted. And so the process of copy-editing began—review, a few small changes (mostly punctuation), and review again. Then came the introduction, special thanks portion, and a short bio, and then cover design and page layout. Everything seemed to take weeks, and I still couldn’t believe it was ever really going to happen.

This week I received a box with the first ten books. I opened it and pulled out a copy. As I held it, I began to weep. I fully grasp the miracle this book is! I never planned to write a single thing and even when I did begin writing, a book was the furthest thing from my imagination. I just kept weeping and between tears while looking at this book with my name as the author, my mind raced through all the incredible things that happened for this to become a reality, and I wept more.

So I can say this: Yes, I have held a Miracle—inspired by My Lord for His purpose, with his blessing. It will soon be available through major retailers and book outlets in the English-speaking world. My greatest prayer is that the words in the book Things to Consider will instill a desire to read God’s Word in more depth and give the reader a better perspective of how the Bible applies in our daily lives.

It is the Bible that should inspire us to sing, and not singing that inspires us to the Word!