taking miracles for granted

A tree fell on my car last night.

No, for reals. Examine:

The blue thing is a tarp over the smashed-out window of my darling car.

It was all quite miraculous. That spot is actually my mom's claimed spot on her and my dad's driveway, but my husband had parked our little car there when he went over for dinner before a meeting he had to go to. My mom parked elsewhere--her car is a minivan, so it wouldn't have had just the window smashed out. It would have been toast.

No one was hurt, even though the tree that fell was totally huge. The tree falling could have been a serious disaster, and instead, everyone was safe and sound and even the car is not as broken as it could have been!

When my dad called me to tell me that a tree had just fallen on the car, I couldn't say anything because I was so stunned. Surprised. It was funny because I had literally just been thinking, in the maybe five minutes before he called--"Why is it that horrible things keep happening to all my friends, and not to me? Shouldn't something horrible happen to me? Why does this make sense?"

And then a tree fell on my car, so, take home lesson: never wonder why bad things don't happen to you! Haha!

But then as I hung up the phone, I just laughed and felt this amazing peace. This thought came into my head: "YEAH! This is the beginning of one FREAKING AWESOME MIRACLE!"

And that idea has just been so strong in my head I can't shake it!

And I don't even want to!

As I was putting my teething baby to bed for the 75th time last night, I was pondering this and I wondered--am I starting to take miracles for granted?

Ha. I thought it as if taking miracles for granted were a bad thing. And then I realized:

We are supposed to take miracles for granted.

We are supposed to expect them at every turn.

We are supposed to believe that they will happen for us over and over again.

Miracles are our birthright. 

Because we are the children of God.

The scriptures teach us that faith and miracles are linked. Faith comes first, and miracles follow--where miracles are, there is faith, and where faith is, there are miracles. Miracles are the result of directed faith.

I believe that God wants us to experience miracles. He tells us, over and over and over again, ask and ye shall receive. He wants to answer our prayers. Faith is the first principle of the gospel. Faith is what enables life and salvation. God wants us each to be filled to the brim with faith--the faith to see miracles.

So, yes, I am going to take this miracle for granted, in the most literal way: I am choosing to believe that this miracle has already been granted to me. And I am receiving it with gratitude. Whatever this blessing is that's in store, I'm sure it's even better than the blessing of having an intact car. I am so happy and excited to receive it. Last night, when I got the news about my car, I felt the same way. I was shocked, and then I laughed, and then I said thank you to my Heavenly Father for preemptively working this out in the best possible way for my good. I am so excited to see what He's got planned. I have asked him to perplex me with miracles and I just can't wait to be totally dumbfounded with how great this turns out.

This is awesome. The worse the things are that happen to us, the more God uses them for our benefit, if we exercise our faith in Him.

So, believe, guys. Witness miracles!

They are everywhere! They are ours! They are ours for the asking and the faith!

Amen!