Miracle - God used my Grandpa (Melanie)

I was 29-years-old, a wife, the mother of a two-year old daughter and six months pregnant with my second. My marriage of 11 years was having some problems, but nothing that I believed we wouldn't be able to work through. My grandpa, who I was very close to, had been ill, but I had great hope he would recover just as he had so many times in the past. I had a nice home, a newer car, money in the bank, and the privilege of being a full-time stay-at-home mom. I was, for the most part, content.
One night I had a vivid dream. I was standing at the base of some mountains that resembled the Sierra Nevadas where I had lived as a child. My Grandpa was there, wearing his cowboy hat and holding the reigns of a horse. Ahead of me was a path that curved into one of the mountains. The path and the mountains seemed to go on forever. In my dream, I was terrified and said to my grandpa, "No, please, I can't do this alone." My grandpa sadly shook his head, but then sternly said, "You have to.” I asked him, “can't you go with me?" Again, my grandpa shook his head no, yet said, "I'll always be with you." I started to cry. Grandpa said, "I've already given you everything you need; remember what I've taught you." I turned to the trail ahead of me and knew that I had to travel down the path before me. The next day, my family and I found out that my grandpa had terminal lung cancer. Three months later, exactly one week after my baby girl was born, my grandpa died. In the course of the following year, my marriage disintegrated and my husband became obsessively controlling and abusive. My health deteriorated to the point of nearly crippling me. Shortly after my youngest daughter's first birthday, my husband filed for divorce. I felt alone and abandoned.
Though I believed in God and had accepted Christ as a child, I hadn't been to church in nearly 20 years and knew little about Jesus. However, at this rock bottom point in my life I found myself praying daily. I started attending a church, though not regularly. The next several years were some of the most difficult of my life. My ex continued to terrorize and harass me, often using our children to accomplish this (and hurting them in the process). I struggled to work, pay the bills, and eventually go to school, all while fighting legal battle after battle, dealing with the police, etc. Yet God worked miracle after miracle in my life. At first, I didn't recognize them for what they were, because I didn't know God, but as I learned more about Him, and started living by His Word, the more I loved and trusted in Him ... and the more He was able to work good in my life.
Not too long ago, I remembered the dream of my grandpa. I realized, finally, that the one who had spoken to me in my dream was not my beloved grandpa, but instead, it was God. God knew at that time in my life, I wouldn't have recognized Him - so He used the image of my grandpa -- an image that meant love, protection and wisdom to me. Even though I wasn't following Him at the time, God was watching over me! He led me down the path that led me to Him.

Miracle - Inspiring Message (Marlene)

I was channel surfacing tonight and landed at Crossfire. There stood Aaron preaching the Word. How we tend to feel important in our fancy vehicles, fine clothes and worldly stuff all while covering up the fine shine that God gives us when we accept Him. As I sat there basking in my Lord's plan for me, I want to live a life where God is the skipper of this boat. Aaron, I thank you for your message tonight (March 01, 2008). I feel you ask God to direct you with your sermon and I got it loud and, clear. I am so glad Oregon has been blessed with you and your beautiful wife. Keep on doing what the Lord has Gifted you to do and needs you to fulfill. May God Bless you all, Sincerely Marlene

Miracle - Reaching Out (Michael)

I had an amazing night last night and I wanted to share part of it with everybody so they can know that God still moves. Last night I was watching the movie, Facing the Giants. I strongly recommend that movie to everyone. At the end of the movie, I was just swamped with the presence of God. I started praying and thanking him for everything. That went on for a while and I put on some music to do a little worship. I started thinking and at first i thought it was just me getting distracted but, wait to hear the rest of the story before you decide what was really going on. I started thinking about how some of my brothers and sisters in Christ over here have taken issue with some of the people that I hang out with. I Then started thinking about Jesus and the people he surrounded himself with, for instance: tax collectors, prostitutes, etc. After I finished my little worship service I got out my bible and started reading where I left off in Luke chapter six.
When I finished that, I started reading the other book I'm studying right now called: “One Thing You Can’t Do in Heaven” by Mark Cahill. As I was reading I noticed a scripture that he quoted and it looked so familiar. I had just read it. The scripture was: Luke 6:22-23. It states, "Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of Man's sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy:for, behold your reward is great in heaven: for in like manner did their fathers unto the prophets." Now it was pretty obvious that Jesus was trying to get something through but I still didn’t have the whole message. I read on in the book and he started talking about some of the times he has reached out and saw fruit. He started talking about ministering to prostitutes and how that always ruffles feathers. He then goes on talking to a woman whose feathers he had ruffled. He asks her if she shares the good word with prostitutes. Her answer is “no.” He then asks about her family. She answered “no.” Then he asked about her church and she responded ”no.” Then who is giving them the message? He then states something that rings so familiar to me. He says, "It was ok for Jesus to be a friend to tax collectors, prostitutes, and sinners, but it is apparently not ok for us.” As if that wasn't enough to get my attention, there's more. After I finished my chapter of that book, I picked up my bible study booklet that we're going over today. I hadn't looked at the booklet until that moment. I opened my bible to the passage specified and what do you know, it's the scripture at Levi's house right after his calling where Jesus is eating with the tax collectors, prostitutes and sinners. The passage is Mark 2:13-17, I suggest you read it. So was all this just a coincidence? That's highly doubtful. What are the chances of all that happening in order? Not very high. What can we take from this? I think Mark Cahill said it best, “there are only three things that can happen when you share your faith the person can accept Christ, you can plant a seed, or they can reject you and God.” On the surface it may look like only two of those are winning situations, but after looking at Luke 6:22-23, we see that even that has a winning outcome. So what excuse do we have not to share our faith? The other thing that we learn is everybody deserves to hear the Word of God, regardless of who they are. The healthy do not need a physician, the people who know where they are don’t need a map. Regardless of what others may say, we as Christians need to spread the Word to the lost. That is the great commission given to us by our Lord Jesus Christ.