Tanya was only six days old, and she was again taken to a London hospital, one of the best in the world.
The baby weighed no more than three kilos, and she suffered a cerebral hemorrhage. The doctors took the necessary pictures, but they had nothing to reassure the parents. It was impossible to stop the bleeding; it was impossible to perform surgery on such a small baby.
“Even if the bleeding stops,” the doctors told the desperate parents. – “most likely the child will be in a “vegetable” state until his death. She will remain disabled for the rest of her life. She will never learn to read or write.”
The doctors had nothing more to offer the parents, so they advised them to just pray.
Tanya's parents turned out to be non-believers. Luckily, there was a nurse nearby who offered to pray for Tanya. The next day, having taken another head shot, the doctors could not believe what had happened. There were no pathologies in the image. The brain was absolutely healthy.
“The doctors told my parents: “In our profession we call this a miracle,” Tanya will later say.
So, Tanya not only grew up, but despite predictions that she would not be able to write or read, she received a degree in English Literature and now makes a living as a writer in a small British town.
This miracle also had an effect on the girl’s parents. They began to search for God to answer the nurse's prayers. Six months after the events described above, they believed in Christ.
“All my childhood I felt that God was nearby, that he was answering prayers, that it was thanks to His intervention that I was alive,” says Tanya.
A miracle is when something or someone outside of space and time interferes with space and time. This definition of a miracle was given by Erik Metahas, author of the acclaimed book “Miracles: What They Are, Why They Happen, and How They Change Your Life.”
In 2010, 80 percent of US residents said in a sociological survey that they believe in miracles. Not 80 percent of Christians, but 80 percent of different people, religious and not very religious.
Metahas, looking at these facts, said: “It’s cool to think about all this. What should we do with all this? I think this is a powerful apologetic argument for God, and it's worth talking about to a very wide audience. Belief in miracles - this conversation is possible not only in a religious context. It’s about truth, about what modern science can give us, about observation.”
Evidence of miracles
For Metahas, the proof of miracles begins at the very beginning, with the creation of the universe and life as we know it. “For the life support of the planet, 200 conditions must be met,” he writes in the book “Miracles.” – “and on earth all these conditions are met. The atmosphere has a specific, definite structure. The speed of rotation of the earth around its axis and around the sun is optimal. Jupiter is at such a distance from the Earth that it is optimal for protecting the Earth from asteroids that would otherwise crash into the Earth constantly. The size of the Earth's satellite, the Moon, is also unusual. And the positioning of the Moon gives us the opportunity to observe eclipses.”
“If you remove miracles from the Gospel, it will seem to be cut off at the knees. Without miracles we would have a wise but rather weak Jesus. It would be the Gospel without any power.” – Mark Batterson.
“When we look at scientific facts, they are so implausible that any implausible miracle seems plausible,” he says.
And the entire Bible is filled with miracles, stories of the deliverance of Daniel from the lion’s den, and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego from the fiery furnace.
In the Gospels, Jesus turns water into wine, raises Lazarus, walks on water, and restores sight to the blind. And then He says to His disciples: “He who believes in me will do the same things that I do and even more.”
But despite thousands of years, despite the evidence of the Universe and Scripture pointing to the existence of miracles, despite the fact that 80% of Americans believe in miracles, Mark Batterson says: “Miracles are exactly the kind of issue that can divide the Kingdom into theological camps.” "
Batterson is the pastor of a church in the US capital and the author of the book Tomb Thief: How God Makes the Impossible Possible. “There are those who believe in miracles and those who believe in all these new age ideas,” Metajas says.
There are those who reject miracles because it does not fit into their paradigms - they explain the miracle on the Red Sea as a tsunami, and Jesus' walking on the waters as early spring ice. The founder of the United States and President Thomas Jefferson is also famous for cutting out all references to Jesus Christ from the four Gospels, and calling the resulting narrative “The Life and Teachings of Jesus of Nazareth.”
But Batterson says, “If you take away the miracles from the gospel, it’s as if it were cut off at the knees. Without miracles we would have a wise but rather weak Jesus. That would be the Gospel without any power.
And there are no options. I appreciate various theological reflections, but the God of the Bible is great and exalted. His thoughts are higher than ours. His ways are higher than ours. He can do things that we cannot even imagine.
Metahas writes: “Christians are simply required to take and critically examine all references to miracles, from healings to gold teeth, to examine and adhere to the truth, as written in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. We need to keep a close eye on the truth. And if these miracles are true, we will not be able to ignore it.”
Real wizards: Russians told about miracles that happened on New Year's Eve
In the difficult year of 2021, we all need support. At such moments, it is important to receive assistance and assistance from loved ones and not so people. This makes it possible to feel security and love from the outside world. Throughout 2020, we talked about unique cases of revenue, mutual assistance, and participation. And we were once again convinced of how open, sincere and caring people live next to us. But on the eve of the New Year, real miracles happen.
Correspondent Andrei Zakharov has collected absolutely fantastic examples from all over Russia. Details in the report.
French lessons, playing with dolls. In appearance, Seraphima is the most ordinary girl, until you find out where she is going to spend her savings for the whole year. This money was enough for the long-awaited tablet. But she learned that in her native Perm there are orphans and children with fatal diseases for whom there is no one to buy gifts.
«And I chose a hairdryer for the girl so that she could do her hair,” said Serafima Anokhina.
“Do you feel like little Santa Claus?” — the journalist asked the girl.
“Actually, yes, but probably more like a Snow Maiden,” she admitted.
Seraphim inspired her classmates to become little Snow Maidens and Santa Clauses. And three hundred orphans will now find treasured gifts under the tree.
And in the Leningrad region, orphanages closed for matinees are driven around by sleighs like these. The invention of a simple theater actor from St. Petersburg made children believe in miracles again.
In order to convert a Soviet sedan into a Santa Claus vehicle and buy sweet gifts, Bekariy, along with a couple of friends, spent a month in the garage, spent all their savings and even went into debt.
The end of the year was terrible for the large Abdullaev family from Yekaterinburg - in the fall they only miraculously did not burn down.
“Dad woke me up, and I thought it was some kind of Baba Yaga who woke me up,” said Kamilla Abdulaeva.
Baba Yaga, as Camilla calls the fire, in a matter of minutes destroyed what her parents had spent their entire lives building for their eight children—a house, a garage and a car. Now they are huddled in a 30-meter apartment filled with bunk beds.
On camera, Muslim is embarrassed to say that there is not enough room for everyone. Adults had to come to terms - after unsuccessful applications for a mortgage loan.
“My wife doesn’t work; she takes care of a disabled child at home. I work as a translator of oriental languages, and there, too, under one-time contracts, that is, I cannot show the source of income,” explained Samizhon Abdullaev, the head of the family.
For the New Year, they asked Santa Claus for a new house. And the miracle was not long in coming. The charitable foundation allocated four million to the family.
“Of course, the result is positive, I can’t believe it, of course, to this day I couldn’t believe it,” admitted Samizhon Abdullaev.
The Abdullayevs will definitely move to a new 100-meter apartment in the new year.
But Lyudmila Konyukhova from Barnaul has a roof over her head, but she can’t even call this building a home. The path to her home in a gardening plot on the outskirts of the Altai capital is cleared at most once a week. There was no firewood before either. And due to the lack of running water, the 70-year-old pensioner had to carry five-liter bottles of water from the store herself.
Full trunks with water, firewood and food are brought to Lyudmila Konyukhova by caring townspeople who accidentally learned of her plight.
So, without any agreement, ordinary Barnaul residents provided the pensioner and her disabled daughter with everything she needed and even more within a week - they bought a telephone, a TV, and began repairs.
“With all my heart, I thank them and bow deeply to them, they are very good people, I will pray for them!” — Lyudmila Konyukhova spoke out.
To give a New Year's miracle, they do not go to the authorities, but simply work - sometimes denying themselves much. After all, this miracle is needed - here and now. And this was confirmed more than anyone else in 2020 by Snow Maidens and Santa Clauses in white overalls.
They do not eat or drink for days, and sometimes even days, and come into contact with others through two layers of protective materials. The cardiac intensive care unit is the front line of defense - so as not to waste time, X-rays are done right in the ward.
And even if their patients with serious complications cannot turn over on their own, the nurses will still not forget to put on eye makeup...
St. George Hospital was the first in St. Petersburg to be repurposed as a Covid hospital. Wards and intensive care units have been a red zone since March.
In the interview there is not a word about the exclusivity of his business or mission; his deeds speak for themselves. Endless shifts, instead of the required five days, to work every day at seven in the morning.
When a plastic surgeon from Moscow, Elsa Karakaeva, learned that in her small homeland in Karachay-Cherkessia there were 30 Covid patients per doctor, she did not hesitate to suspend her quiet, profitable practice, and volunteered for the red zone.
Unite, come to the rescue, help believe in a miracle. This is, if not in everyone, then certainly in the majority of those who this and next year will continue to heal, save, give, share and delight. Be near. And not only on New Year's Eve.
When miracles happen
Wil Hart of Hart Ministries is one of the 80% of Americans who believe that miracles are not just stories from an old book, they still happen today.
He witnessed how miracles changed the course of not only his own life, but also the lives of many others. He saw entire villages in Mozambique converted to Christ after the deaf villagers were healed.
And Hart says: “Salvation is the greatest miracle. We care about souls. Miracles are very cool. But they all point to Jesus. Jesus performed miracles to demonstrate his divinity.”
“Look to Christ,” Batterson says. - “and you will see miracles!
Come to him with humble boldness or bold humility. Take the risk of appearing stupid. Ultimately, God doesn't answer 100% of the prayers you don't say.
And if you want to see the sick healed, you should pray for them.”
Fear can prevent Christians from praying these bold prayers. But in 2 Timothy we read that God does not give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power and love and prudence. If your faith is small, start small and let it grow.
Are there miracles in life?
Are there miracles in life? Miracles happen in our world. They happen contrary to common sense, scientific facts and those people who do not believe in them. Many miracles are the consequences of the energy of unconditional love between man and God. After all, through prayer a person touches great power, which, at the desire of the Almighty, can be directed for his benefit. But some miracles, not so large-scale, happen as a result of the circulation of the energy of unconditional love between people.
The first time I came across how this works was when I met my future Reiki master. Then we were just getting acquainted, and I still didn’t know for sure whether I would undergo initiation with her or not. We went into the nearest coffee shop and sat down at one of the tables, which was cramped by other tables, fortunately, at that time empty. We were about to have a very personal conversation, and it would simply be impossible for me to talk about my life in front of my neighbors. As soon as we sat down and ordered tea, two men entered the cafe and took a table next to ours. I fell silent in embarrassment - it was not possible for me to speak further, and looked at my interlocutor. She nodded calmly and closed her eyes in concentration. I wondered what she was doing?
But after a ten-second pause, one of the men at the next table said to the other: “I feel stuffy here, let’s finish our coffee outside.” And they got up and left. I started asking the woman how she got them to leave right away. It was here that she told me about the energy of unconditional love. “You need to concentrate,” she said, “and imagine how divine love comes from your heart and is directed into the heart of the person whom your imagination draws. Mentally, you need to ask him for what you want.” I was amazed how simple it seemed. But Master Reiki immediately told me that there should be no irritation, no anger, not a single bad thought in your soul towards the person who violated your plans. Only love and acceptance of the situation. And I immediately realized how difficult it was.
Then, many years after this meeting, I tried to work with the energy of unconditional love. At first, nothing worked for me, but through meditation and proper breathing, I was able to create small miracles. Of course, I couldn’t force a person to do what I wanted in a global sense. But in small everyday situations the practice bore fruit.
For example, there were problems with water in the former apartment. If the neighbors from below opened the water, then my pressure disappeared completely. This was especially offensive in the shower, when the whole body was already soaped. And at such moments, I sent the energy of love to my neighbors and asked them to turn off the tap. Yes, and I learned at these moments not to experience negative emotions, so to speak, to accept the situation. Water appeared almost immediately. But if I stood, was freezing and persistently waited for water, without sending any love, I could wait up to ten minutes (the experiment was carried out more than once).
It also worked with another neighbor, a music lover who liked to listen to music at full volume at night. This turned out to be much more difficult to cope with, since it is really difficult not to get angry at two in the morning, when you really want to sleep.
Sometimes I use this technique with a person who is angry. But as my experience has shown, if I quarrel with a person, it is almost impossible not to experience negative emotions at that moment, so I can only calm down someone who is angry not towards me.
Also, sending the energy of unconditional love works well on the roads when drivers break the rules and create a dangerous situation.
The main thing is to learn to pacify your feelings and emotions, and also treat any situation with humility and patience. And then everything will work out. And then you realize that to the question: “Are there miracles in life? “, there is one answer: “They do!” So far I have been able to do this only in small ways, but who knows what can be accomplished if you fully accept this world as it is with boundless love. Time to create miracles!
With love, Yulia Kravchenko
The fruit of faith and love
The everyday understanding of a miracle as a disruption of the usual way of life and the forced invasion of something “magical” into a measured life largely contradicts the very understanding of God’s action in the world.
Indeed, according to such ideas, through a miracle God “breaks” his own creation. Christianity says that a miracle is not a violation, but, on the contrary, a restoration. Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh wrote: “a miracle is the moment when harmony, disrupted by human sin, is restored.”
A miracle is the restoration of harmony; it is always the fruit of faith and love. In any real need of human life, man’s faith in God and God’s love for man are capable of creating this miracle. Speaking about the place of miracles in human life, Metropolitan Anthony writes that one of the indispensable conditions for such restoration is absolute openness and trust in God, the belief that He can do what we cannot.
A miracle is an act of faith on the part of a person. And faith is, in many ways, an act of will. It requires a lot of effort: after all, in order to make room for God’s action in your life, it is necessary, strange as it may sound in our time, to abandon unshakable hope solely in one’s own strength.
This does not mean that you should give up and “give up” on the problem. We just need to remember that God will not interfere in our lives until we ourselves allow Him to. Therefore, the question of when a miracle can happen to a person can be answered - only when he himself allows it to happen.
