I love the story I am going to share this Memorial Box Monday. Although it goes all the way back to 1975, it serves as a powerful reminder of what God can and will do –
just because He loves us so!!
As I’ve mentioned briefly before, my dad was very abusive.
He, in fact, took the word to a whole new level.
Since I had accepted Christ as a little girl
all I wanted to do was please the Lord.
I was an obedient, respectful daughter,
yet because of his hatred toward me,
I walked on eggshells. I was scared to pieces of him
and what he would do to me.
Everything and anything would set him off
and it would be horrible.
It was my junior year of high school and
I had been dating our pastor’s son.
His parents happened to be painting the outside of their home,
so I went over to help paint.
His parents eventually went inside and
he and I continued painting one of the sides of the house.
It happened to be Spring and it was super windy.
Really, really windy. I was wearing hard contact lenses
and my eyes were dry, probably from the wind,
and all of a sudden, literally, one of my contacts
was grabbed by the wind and
blown right out of my eye!
My first thought was, “Oh no….my dad is going to kill me.”
Even though I had my own part-time job and
paid for all my own expenses
(including this possible replacement contact),
it wouldn’t matter. I knew what would
happen if my dad found out. And the thought
sent me into a panic! I started to cry
and at the same time I started to pray,
out loud, and with passion!!
“Jesus you know where that contact lens is!
You know what is going to happen
if my dad finds out! Please, Lord, please show me
where that contact lens is! Please!”
I continued to plead with the Lord to
show me where it was.
From a human perspective,
one little lone GREEN(!) hard contact lens
blown by the wind?
Not any chance of ever seeing it again!
There was green grass everywhere!!
Really it looked useless to even try to look.
My boyfriend didn’t know what to do.
He was a kind-hearted, shy kind of guy
but he just had that glazed look on his face.
The situation looked impossible!!
But I started to look – first on my shirt…..
then he helped me look
through my long, long brunette hair.
My boyfriend and I both looked at the grass.
How in the world could we find a teeny,
tiny contact lens in this wind while
standing in a yard surrounded by grass?
We looked at our paint pan, the paint can and the brushes.
We checked my hair again.
Again, I looked all over my shirt, on my shoulders.
It was so windy that from a human
perspective this looked ridiculously impossible.
But I knew that God could do anything –
if He could part the River for the Israelites
to walk through on dry ground,
if He could give sight to a blind man,
if He could feed a crowd larger than 5,000
with 2 small loaves and 5 fish,
if He could hold the mouths of the hungry
lions closed while Daniel spent the night
in their den,
if He could allow 3 obedient men
if He could allow 3 obedient men
to hang out without even being slightly burned
in a fiery furnace –
{the same fiery furnace that had killed the men
who had merely gotten close enough
just to throw the three guys in in the first place(!)},
if He could take one jar of oil and
fill a bazillion empty jars from that same one jar of oil
for a widow and her son…..
then it was not too big of a task for my
God to show me where that fly-away contact lens was!!
So I got down on my knees and started looking
through the blades of grass. My boyfriend got down
and started looking too. Of course,
I knew that there was also the possibility
that one of us had stepped on it, but I asked the Lord to
pull it out and make it whole….
just please Lord return my contact back to me.
We continued searching for probably about 45 minutes.
Slowly, carefully, moving aside each blade of grass,
inch by inch. Nothing. I was not going to give up.
{I’m guessing my boyfriend thought I was nuts.}
It really did look impossible.
The same wind that had whipped it out of my eye,
was still blowing, so just how far could it have gone??
Really, anywhere!!
But I knew that I was serving a Miracle-working,
Mountain-moving, Awe-inspiring, Gasp-giving God,
and I totally, completely believed that He was
going to show me exactly where it was.
I was not going to give up until He did!
He could surely point me to exactly where it was.
And if it had blown 500 feet away,
He was more than capable of having a ministering angel
pick that thing up and put it where I could find it!!
We continued looking – I was not going to give up!!
I pleaded,
“Show me Lord where exactly it is!”
Probably over an hour had passed and all of a sudden
I felt the Lord whisper to me,
“Stand up!”
So I stood up.
Then I waited.
Again, I felt Him whisper with His still small voice,
“Walk over there, I will show you when to stop.”
My boyfriend was watching me.
I walked, slowly gingerly toward where I felt He had said to go.
I kept walking, so carefully tenderly taking each step.
All of a sudden, now probably 12 feet from where we had been painting and looking, I felt Him say,
“Bend down and part the grass!”
I bent down, and in one exact movement,
I literally parted the grass and there probably
two inches down tucked in the blades of grass
was my tinted green little hard contact lens!!!!
I am crying as I type. I grabbed that contact lens and
started screaming and jumping up and down and
squealing and rejoicing at what God had done!!
I ran to my boyfriend,
started screaming and jumping up and down and
squealing and rejoicing at what God had done!!
I ran to my boyfriend,
“LOOK! LOOK!! Do you see what God has done?
Do you see where it was??
DO YOU SEE?
He told me exactly where to look.
God showed me where it was!
Did you see that??”
My loving Heavenly Father understood completely
what would be in store if I had come home
without that contact and He had miraculously
answered my prayer!!
He had spoken so precisely –
He had done it in such a dramatic way!!
He had shown me where it was, many,
many feet from where it had all started.
It was an amazing time of faith-building for me.
It was an amazing time of again,
learning to recognize and hear His voice.
The other thing that struck me that day was that
He had not done it instantly.
I couldn’t help but wonder and think that
He had wanted to see if I would
persevere in my trust of Him.
What if I had looked at the situation and said it was impossible?
(Which it sure would have looked!)
(Which it sure would have looked!)
What if I had only looked for a little bit and given up?
The hour that we searched, against all human odds,
He had been building my faith.
And I do believe He was testing my faith.
He was wondering if I would give up or
would I trust Him that He was going to show me.
Would I give up after a few minutes?
Would I give up after a half hour?
Would I give up?
So now, let me ask……
are there some things that you are about to give up on?
Are there some things that look impossible?
Is there a specific situation that you think is just too big?
If it is too big humanly speaking – then it’s perfect!!
Because our God is waaaay bigger!!! In fact, He is HUGE!!!!
I learned a valuable lesson that day and it is contained in this verse:
And without faith it is impossible to please God,
because anyone who comes to him
must believe that he exists
and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Hebrews 11:6 NIV
Is there a time that God has surprised you with a miracle? What story do you have to tell? Please share your specific Memorial Box Monday story by linking with your permalink below
{problem with Mcklinkly website and have
an email in to him…will have one up shortly, I’m sure!
Please check back to link yours.}
If you are uncertain what a Memorial Box is, read about it here….
I have always loved this story:O) Thanks for sharing. It really encouraged my heart!
Loved this! Thank you!
WOW! Boy did I need to read this today, and of all days today. I read your blog all the time, but don't comment much. I HAD to comment today. We are literally days from boarding a plane to China and are short $5000, but I know GOD will provide. It is our faith that has kept us going this long, and our faith that will see us to the end. He is amazing. I am in tears reading this now because I know that miracles are possible and that is exactly what we need right now.
http://www.mattmandi.blogspot.com
That was exactly what I needed to hear about something I've been praying for/about. Thank you!
What a BEAUTIFUL story of Gods love for you! Made me cry! Janet
I am so sorry that your dad was abusive to you as a little girl 🙁 I was in tears reading your contact lens miracle, how so beautiful!! that the Lord spoke to you and led you to it, AWESOME!!!!! 🙂 🙂
I bet this is etched in your pastor's son friend's memory forever as well!!! 🙂
p.s. I was wondering what MBM story to put in, and I just remembered something really cute and funny thing that happened, I remembered it because of your contact lens story, it's kinda related 🙂 🙂
I did think about sharing it as a MBM some days ago, just to keep it in memory and not to forget it, but I thought, probably not… but since your post reminds me of mine, I'll post it 🙂
Our God has a sense of humour! 😀
This reminds me of when me and my hubby were on a walk a few months after we got married. We were on a jetty which stretched out over the sea and his wedding ring slipped off his finger because it was really cold. It fell down into the rocks below which was about 20 feet down. All the rocks were covered in thick seaweed and it just seemed like it was completely impossible to find it.
We prayed and prayed and looked, but the tide was coming in and it was getting unsafe for us to be down underneath the jetty so we were about to climb back up the ladder. We prayed once more, outloud together and then my hubby just bent down and picked it out of the seaweed.
It was seriously a miracle because it just seemed so impossible that we would find it as it was such a huge area it could have been in, and I was so gutted because it was his wedding ring.
But only God! Isn't he wonderful!?
Can I just say that this is one of my favorites of your MBM stories that you've shared? 🙂
Thank you Linny! I SO needed this message today. There is a huge part of my life I have been praying for for years – to get my girls and I out of the area we live in – and I have been feeling so hopeless. I needed this reminder that God is bigger than my financial struggles and His eye is even on the single adoptive mom. Back to prayers!
And I do believe He was testing my faith.
He was wondering if I would give up or
would I trust Him that He was going to show me.
Would I give up after a few minutes?
Would I give up after a half hour?
Would I give up?
This is God speaking! To me thru you! Thank you Linny for posting this MBM again – seems I am not the only one who needed this very thing at this very moment. WOW-thank you Jesus for making it plain. Brought me to tears.
Love,
Julie
I hope this is the right way to link.
I just posted this because, well because it is a story I needed to remember.
I hope this is the right way to leave a link
http://lookingeastagain.blogspot.com/2011/12/divine-adjustment-on-way-to-divine.html
I have lurked on your site for several months and really enjoy the story of your family. I didn't think I had much to share.. until last night. I am excited to begin my first MBM post and share the perfect news.
oh, tears, tears, tears!
thank you, linny.