A Miracle on Friday
Rethinking miracles
Dear Fellow,
I was born and still live in a Christian home, but I became a believer and follower of Jesus when I was 16.
Welcome to April, good Fellow! Welcome to the second quarter of the year. Have the best of it, good Fellow!
Following Jesus has been a progressively slow growth process over the years, for me. I am still learning anew every day on the journey. The event this piece is about to unravel is one among the numerous instances where my faith finds nourishment to grow.
It was a Friday. The first Friday in March this year. I was conversing with a friend and I talked about some things I hope to achieve by the middle of the year. It involves money. It worried me a bit that the financial strategy to meet the needs was not in sequence with reality. After we talked a little further, a statement I had learned at the start of the year (from another instance) came to mind. The statement is, Besides and beyond income, God provides! I shared the statement—a personal affirmation, really—on my WhatsApp status. Another friend replied to the post.
‘ . . . because God provides what is needed when it is needed!!!’ That was his response. In less than a minute or two, my phone beeped. It was a notification from my network providers. I got a mobile data gift. It wasn’t a gift from my network provider, neither was the sender described. My only guess would be Skyle, my friend who sells mobile data and offers other similar services. I reached out to Skyle to confirm the gift was from him. He wouldn’t admit or deny he was the sender. No one else was a good guess but Skyle. Non-admittance and non-denial were cues enough. I let out my thanks and didn’t stop there. “You should know,” I told Skyle, “that the gift came at the right time.”
Just before the gift came I had too little data to last me for an hour, let alone for a task I must accomplish later in the day. I had no idea how I will purchase data for later in the day, and here came Providence. Before adding another statement, to point Skyle back to the post he responded to earlier, he did. ‘As soon as I saw that,’ he wrote, ‘He told me to send it to you.’
What joy? What wonder? What hope?
I have read of men who spoke with God as one to a friend (see Exodus 33:11). I have heard of men who hear distinctly the voice of God. I have learned of a woman who spoke with an angel from God (see Luke 1:26-38). I believe all these, but it is a reality I am adjusting to gradually. When Skyle told me he didn’t merely act on his own discretion by sending the data, it drove the message home. I needed to really conceive Him as Jehovah Jireh, The Provider—to really believe until it becomes a conviction. And here was an addition to the impact.
It may take a series of events to breathe life to the knowledge that God is Provider, that in spite of our income He provides for our needs. However, I am hopeful and learning to trust that He is always on time; just when the next event is due, He is present to say “Action!”
Oh, how the Lord fans a sparkle of faith!
God knows about you—every detail of your life, even your doubts. Tell Him about your doubts and your reasons, if they are genuine. First, you must put your doubts about His existence on the line and call out to Him from wherever you are. Without aid from another human, speak to THE ONE who listens from wherever and in whatever language you know best. You can begin with, “Dear God.”
Delight in the wonders He wrought, good Fellow.
Your LetterMan,
Tongjal, W. N.
N.B.: Next week Friday is Good Friday, a commemoration of the death of the saviour of the world—Jesus, the Christ! A Friday to recount the precursor to the greatest miracle (the resurrection of Jesus) and even His death was a miracle in itself.