Do you have 13.84?

I still believe in miracles. I grew up knowing this. I have learned to look for miracles each day. My parents started their life together some 50 years ago in a little town called Wartrace, Tn. They are both gone today, but some of my fondest memories are stories they shared during my childhood. One in particular.....their first place of residence was a quaint antebellum sort of home that lay nestled among the winding streets of Wartrace. In fact, this home is still there. They rented one side of this stately old homeplace from a dear lady in their church where my father pastored or occasionally preached...I'm not sure of that detail. Anyway, times were tight. My mother would tell me how she would sit at their small kitchen table to read her Bible and pay their bills. On one such certain month, there wasn't enough money to pay their 13.84 electric bill. She knew this. Dad knew this. My parents also knew about faith....about God...about trusting...about learning to look. What do you need to trust God about today? Do you know HIM? Do you know about living full in the grace and mercy of HIS LOVE? What huge or tiny issue are you facing today? I have learned through my life of 47 years that I cannot out think, outdo, out love God. He is always bigger than whatever I think I can control, fix or forgive on my own. Never alone. He knows what I am going to face today and He is waiting for me wherever I go. Well, with Christmas just around the corner, my parents weren't concerned about the presents missing under the tree...they were wondering about that 13.84 electric bill. I can still here my dad's voice get excited as he told the story. The tiny little church where he preached had a group of women called the WMU, Women's Mission Union. My mother died being a member of this group. These women in this unknown, small congregation, found deep in the hills of middle Tennessee, off the beaten path of roads that curve so deeply they touch......reached deep within. These precious women had been collecting their pennies, nickles, dimes, quarters....all year for my parents Christmas present. My mother's eyes would twinkle as the story unfolded. The small Mason jar held so carefully in my father's hand as he came through the kitchen door, held something more precious than coins.....LOVE. These women saved out of love, sacrifice and concern for a young married couple struggling to make it. As the coins bounced across the kitchen table the final count 13.84, the exact amount of their electric bill. On the same table where my mother spent time reading her Bible, praying, looking, asking, listening, believing in a God who cares about electric bills, and a young couple named James and Deaurelle living in a tiny town of Wartrace. You see God knows. He is here, there, then and now. Today, let go of your grip on your electric bill. Lay it down on your kitchen table. Read the beautiful Psalms. Learn about the real Christmas story. Let the love, peace, patience, faith, and grace of this season be fulfilled in knowing miracles do happen. And when you are tempted to give up, quit, throw away a marriage, a relationship, a dream, a need or a cause....remember a 13.84 electric bill. I do. I have. I will. I MUST.