Open the Eyes of My Heart

Many little and some not so little miracles, or signs and wonders some might call them, have been blessings to me. Sometimes the real miracle is the fact that I didn't miss it. I remember going for walks, even as a small child, and I would ask the Lord not to let me miss a thing. Please Jesus, I want to see everything you have to show me. People would often ask me why these things happen to me, and why don’t these things happen to them.  I truly believe these everyday signs happen for everyone, so the key is to remember to say your “please don't let me miss anything Lord” prayer every day. God created us to have a relationship with him, all we have to do is be open.

So, this first story is funny, like lots of them are, because as much as we pray and we want to do God's will, we still spend a lot of our time thinking our will is better. For years I would wake up, usually around 3 AM, with a nagging thought to write all this stuff down. Pretty sure this is what they call being called to do something. Of course, I would ignore it, just lay there, and I'd say my prayers. I would pray for the people I promised to pray for, but in the back of my mind was this “please Jodie write this down.”

Finally, one afternoon, I was in between customers, and God was bugging me again in my mind. So, I said to Him, “really God? If you want me to write a book, you'll get me a computer. I can't picture myself writing this book with paper and a pencil.” A little bit bratty I know but Jesus knows my heart. Sometimes I treat Him like a dad, and when you look at the Ten Commandments, God is number One, and our parents are number four, so respecting our parents is a big deal. Anyway, because God can be funny, ten minutes after my ridiculous request, my next customer came in the door, sat in my chair and the first thing he said was, “You wouldn't by chance be needing a computer, would you?” I was stunned, all I could think to say was, “Shut up! Are you kidding me? Can I write a book with it?”  “Well yeah, it's in my car and I have a printer that goes with it.” was his reply. Oh, my gosh, this seems a little too unreal, why am I doubting? God always knows what he's doing. He loves to show himself to us, he delights in us, and desires more than anything to have a relationship with us. Even when we are bratty. So, after giving my friend his haircut, we went out to his car and got the computer. We set it up, remember this is before computers were in every home. That night I started writing my book. The bad news?  I don't know how to write a book. I thought I could just write it like I talk. Just keep going. But that wasn't working out. So, after a couple of nights of trying this, I thought well, I'm just going to put it away and will have to just keep praying.

Soon, it started happening again. I was waking up at three or four o'clock in the morning. I had to tell God that it turns out I don't know how to write a book. (Like He didn’t already know that.) You are going to have to send me someone, somehow, to help me. I did ask him why He would wake me up so early in the morning/ middle of the night. He said Jodie, this seems to be the only time I can catch you being quiet. Funny!

       A couple more days go by, and out of nowhere I hear from Scott, a former student I had in confirmation class. I answered the phone and he's frantically talking, “Jodie, you're not going to believe what happened to me last night. I woke up at two this morning with strict instructions to call you today. I’m supposed to tell you to write a page of miracles today. You cannot hang up until you say yes.”

A page of miracles?  I was so excited to hear from Scott, but I really had no idea what he was talking about. What does that even mean, a page of miracles, what the heck? He really didn't know either, but he told me he couldn't hang up until I said yes. After a few minutes, I finally just had to agree and say yes, so he could get on with his day. The minute we hung up, of course he called me right back and he said, “it's a table of contents!” Oh…ok, that makes sense… a page of miracles… list my stories, it doesn't have to be one long story. I can do that.  “Thank you for calling and thank you for being a listener.”

You would think the story was finished here, right? Um, yea, not so much…A few hours went by and my cousin from out West called me with pretty much the same story. She said that she too woke up around two AM. I was a little freaked out and told her to shut up! I guess that’s my usual first response. I then told her what Scott had said to me and she couldn't believe it either. Oh, my gosh, OK I will get going Lord, and write our book. Sweet Jesus I will need your help!

John 2:5 His mother said to the servers, “Do whatever He tells you”