Believe
Are you someone who watches UFO programs on TV? Do you love the special effects in movies or find yourself captivated by stories of impossible things coming true?
I think there is something in all of us that wants to believe miracles can happen. We want to know there is something bigger than ourselves at work. We want to believe that the impossible might actually be possible—and maybe even experience something miraculous in our own lifetime.
Surveys suggest belief in miracles and supernatural experiences is more common than we might think. According to a CBS poll, 38% of Americans say they have personally witnessed a miracle or experienced what they believe was supernatural intervention. More than 55% of physicians have reported witnessing recoveries they considered miraculous.
Maybe we aren’t as skeptical as we think. Maybe we want to believe.
If you have watched Ted Lasso, you probably remember the simple yellow sign he hung above the coaches’ office: BELIEVE.
That sign gets a lot of screen time throughout the series. It gets torn down, put back up, questioned, and embraced.
Isn’t that a little like our own belief?
We want to believe. But belief gets harder when we don’t experience the hope or change we wanted. When life gets hard, prayers seem unanswered, or things don’t turn out the way we planned, doubt creeps in.
Sometimes we may even choose not to believe at all.
What happens when we stop believing? Does God stop working? I don’t think so. But I do wonder if sometimes our unbelief keeps us from recognizing what He is doing right in front of us.
I’ve had several experiences in my life that have made it very difficult for me not to believe.
Miracle #1
About ten years ago, I experienced a shock to my system: I was diagnosed with breast cancer.
As the tests continued, I kept thinking there had to be some mistake. I wasn’t so much in denial as I was shocked. I felt healthy. I had no symptoms. I certainly didn’t feel like I had the capacity to fight a disease.
Over the next five months, I went through surgery and radiation. I followed my doctors’ instructions and took care of my body. I also had an incredible community of friends and coworkers who cared for us, prayed for us, and walked beside us.
Some people might say medicine healed me. Others might say God healed me through medicine.
I believe both can be true.
I believe God chose to heal me through medical treatment and prayer. But I also believe He gave me something else: an incredible peace that the cancer would not return.
Ten years of mammograms later, that peace remains.
Miracle #2
About a year later, I woke up one morning with severe back and neck pain. It seemed to come out of nowhere and quickly became constant.
The pain traveled down the backs of my thighs and wrapped around my knees. It hurt to sit, stand, and even walk up hills.
I sought medical care, and after six months of appointments at Mayfield Clinic, we were no closer to finding answers or relief. We tried painkillers, physical therapy, dry needling—everything short of surgery.
So many people were praying for me.
I believed God could heal me, but I also remember thinking, I already got a miracle from God. How many does one person get?
One Sunday, a few friends came to our house and prayed for me with my husband. During that prayer time, my husband began repenting and praying. (Sometimes letting go of past feelings can open us or others up to healing.)
And something happened.
I could physically feel the pain moving down my back. Then it left.
My neck and back were instantly healed.
The pain never returned.
I can’t medically explain what happened that day. I believe God used that prayer time to heal me, and I believe I experienced a spiritual miracle.
Miracle #3
A few years later, my husband, Dave, suddenly lost the hearing in his left ear and experienced significant hearing loss in his right.
It happened instantly, and we had no idea why.
He went to a hearing specialist who couldn’t explain it either. The doctor prescribed drops and told him they would work within a few days if they were going to help. The next option involved a needle through the eardrum—a riskier procedure that might work.
About a week later, with no improvement in his hearing, Dave left on a motorcycle trip with some friends.
Before they left, the wife of one of the riders asked Dave if she could pray for him. She prayed that his hearing would be completely restored.
Dave thanked her.
Nothing happened.
At least not then.
Halfway through their weeklong trip, the group rode through a small town. At the stoplight, the man whose wife had prayed for Dave rolled up and asked, “How’s your hearing?”
Dave suddenly remembered hearing a pop in his ear as they had ridden past a fire station.
When they stopped for gas, Dave checked his hearing…
It was back.
Completely.
When he returned home, he went back to his hearing specialist. The doctor couldn’t believe it either. There was no hearing loss and no need for hearing aids.
His hearing remained normal until years later, when radiation treatments affected it.
I believe God healed Dave through the prayer of a woman who didn’t even know the full extent of what he was going through. The healing didn’t happen while she was standing there. It didn’t happen on her timetable.
She simply had the faith to ask.
Miracle #4
By now, you may be thinking, Geez, can these two people just stay healthy?
I hear you.
We all have things in life that challenge us in one way or another. Health has certainly been one of ours.
In 2022, Dave was diagnosed with throat and tongue cancer.
What followed was a brutal six months of treatment and surgeries and then nearly two years of lingering side effects. He had virtually no saliva. Food tasted awful. And depression settled in.
As those two years passed, we prayed—a lot. So did many other people.
But our hope was wearing thin.
I wasn’t sure what our life would look like three or four years down the road.
Then we had an opportunity for our pastor to pray for Dave.
Why not?
When the pastor asked what he wanted prayer for, Dave asked for his saliva to return.
There wasn’t any saliva at that point, but the pastor prayed. Then, he stopped and asked Dave to spit into his hands. Dave had a small amount of spit.
The pastor then placed his hands around Dave’s throat and began to pray.
Dave had his eyes closed. As the pastor prayed, Dave said he felt something like marbles rolling from his ears and underneath his jaw.
The pastor stopped and asked, “Do you have saliva?”
Dave thought maybe there was a little.
So the pastor prayed again.
When he finished, Dave could spit into his own hand.
As we walked out of church, we discovered something else: his taste had returned too.
Over time, the depression lifted as well.
It was life-changing.
People still ask us, “Does he still have his taste?”
YES. The miracle stuck!
So, How Do You Experience a Miracle?
After hearing these stories, you might be wondering, How can I experience a miracle in my own life?
I wish I could give you a formula.
I can’t.
God isn’t a genie in a bottle, and faith doesn’t guarantee that everything we ask for will happen the way we want it to. I’ve prayed prayers that seemed to be answered miraculously, and I’ve prayed others where the answer wasn’t what I hoped for.
But my experiences have taught me a few things about living with a heart that is open to what God might do.
1. Look for what God is doing.
Pay attention to the good. Look for movement, change, healing, unexpected provision, restored relationships, perfect timing, and moments you can’t quite explain.
Sometimes miracles are dramatic. Sometimes they are incredibly quiet.
2. Start with the faith you have.
You don’t need perfect faith.
Start where you are.
Have enough faith to ask. You can even start by simply praying, God, help me see what You are doing.
Faith means believing there may be something happening that you cannot yet see or understand.
3. Listen to other people’s stories.
Hearing what God has done in someone else’s life can build our faith and help us recognize His work in our own.
Read stories of miracles. Ask people about their experiences. One book that has encouraged me is Holy Moments by Matthew Kelly.
Other people’s stories remind us to keep our eyes open.
4. Watch. Pray. Remember.
Keep praying.
Pay attention to what happens—slowly or instantly.
Journal about it. Write down the things you can’t explain. Record the prayers that were answered in unexpected ways. And when God moves, tell someone.
Let other people pray for you, too.
I don’t understand why some prayers seem to result in miracles and others don’t. I don’t understand God’s timing, and I certainly don’t understand all the ways He chooses to work.
But I have seen enough in my own life to believe that He does.
Maybe belief isn’t about knowing exactly what God is going to do.
Maybe it’s simply having enough faith to keep asking, keep watching, and keep your heart open to the possibility that God may be doing something you never thought possible.
