Are They Miracles??

It's November and that leads me to think about things ... about how I have this great house that I worked my a$$ off to buy.  I signed the papers in December 2009 and realized today that this is where I've lived for the longest stretch of time in my life ... not counting my growing up years.  And that made me smile!  

I thought back to the time when I was trying to find a house to buy.  It was not an easy thing for me because I didn't know what I wanted to buy, or where.  I perused a lot of listings and would get easily discouraged because things were too over priced, or too large, and finally just kind of gave up, taking a break from the pressures.  And then in the middle of one night, a word came to me:  Impala.  And I remember thinking about that word for a few days, and just assumed that it was God's way of telling me about the car I needed to buy (at the time I was driving an Olds with 160,000 miles).  My realtor called me and said he has a listing to show me.  It was a cute house, on the small side and close to the bus lines, which were my two must-haves.  But something didn't feel quite right.  So the realtor suggested another house around the corner from this one, a foreclosure.  It was empty, and a little bit ugly because of the weird paint color on the inside.  But I liked it.  Making a decision to spend $100k was .... well, I usually tend to sleep on large purchases.  I told my realtor I'd call him and let him know.   I think I waited like 15 mins then called him back, said "make an offer"!!

Here is it, 12 years later and I'm still convinced that this house was meant for me.  So does that fall under the category of miracles?  In my mind, it does.  Because while we tend to think that a miracle is something usually related to health, as in being unexplainably cured of cancer, but maybe a miracle is something that happens and it's our perspective that makes it feel like it's a miracle.  Because in the "real world", how can an low-paid retail worker who's single afford a down payment on a house?  how can she qualify for a mortgage on her salary?  To me, it was a miracle.  Everything fell into place as if it was meant to be.  I saw the house on Oct 30, and signed the papers on December 9th.  

It was a wonderful miracle for me. :) 

Answered Prayers

Today, I was thinking about answered prayers.  Growing up, I often heard "be careful what you pray for, you might get it!"   There are two different kinds of prayers, or maybe I mean there are two different ways to pray for the same thing.  Sometimes we find ourselves praying that we find our soul mate.  But what happens if we pray for the grace to become the woman our soul mate would be attracted to?   Both could have the same outcome, but coming at it from different directions.  Sometimes we find ourselves praying for more money.  But maybe we should be praying for a change to our relationship with money?   Or we might pray for a change in our situation, when what we should be praying for is peace of mind, no matter which outcome occurs.

I watched a 7th Heaven episode where a kid with a troubled background wrote a letter to "the man who works for God" and asked him to pray for all the kids who have troubled backgrounds and signed it "anonymous".  When the main character couldn't let it go, he found the kid.  And this kid explained that if the congregation was praying not just for himself, but for all kids in the world who's lives were troubled or touched by violence, it might be enough to change the world. 

We've all had what we consider "unanswered prayers", and if you really think about it, maybe it was for the best.  Some of my prayers have gone unanswered, and after giving it time, I've come to realize that the answer was "no" to allow me more time, space, wisdom, and experience to prepare for a different time when the answer is going to be "YES"!!