Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. Mark 9:23
I believe God uses many means to speak to us when something big is about to happen in our lives. We just have to be sensitive to His working in the world around us and be ready to listen to what He is trying to tell us.
In February 1990, my father had been hospitalized in Illinois, but I was over 500 miles away at my farm home in West Virginia. Dad had always feared that if he ever went into the hospital, he would never come out alive. I was able to travel to visit him twice during his hospitalization, but had to return to our West Virginia farm to care for my husband, son and our animals.
Early one morning in May, just after I had fed the chickens in their coop near the barn, I was surprised to see a lone, white dove land just a few feet away from me on the side door of the barn. It stuck in my mind, because whenever I see doves, they are in pairs, and this one was alone. It also was very close to me and seemed not afraid. It was very unusual that it landed where it did as we had plenty of trees on the property, and it stayed there for quite some time as if it had a message for me.
I asked God what it could mean, and He impressed upon my heart that my father would soon be gone, and my mother would be alone.
When my father's condition grew worse weeks later, I again made a trip back to Illinois to visit him in the hospital. One day while visiting him in his room on the eighth floor. I was amazed to see a lone butterfly just outside the window. I didn't know they flew so high, but again, I believe God was trying to tell me something.
I arrived at the hospital on Wednesday evening and was there three days before dad died. I was the only one with him on that Saturday morning (May 12) when he passed away peacefully as I held his hand. I committed him into the hands of Jesus, but I was unsure if my father actually had surrendered his heart to the Lord. For any Christian, that is a major concern. No one wants to think of a loved one spending an eternity in hell because they rejected Jesus Christ's forgiveness for their sins.
After my family arrived and we said our goodbyes to dad, I stepped into the elevator to leave the hospital. A lady next to me looked into my tear-filled eyes and spoke directly to me, "Honey, you don't have to worry about your father. Whenever I came to visit my husband, I would hear him crying out to the Lord. He's okay." There were others on the elevator, and how would she know I was the one who needed to hear what she said, unless God had put it on her heart to tell me. I also wondered how she knew that my father had just passed away, and how she even knew me.
It was a comfort to later find that my dad seemed to have a change in his countenance two weeks before he died. He seemed more at peace from what I was told. I believe it was then that the Lord Jesus came into His heart and gave him what He needed to make the transition from this life to the next. It's also a great blessing to know that I will see him again one day in heaven.
The earth is full of miracles for the eyes that see...
Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see. -- C.S. Lewis
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A coincidence is a small miracle
where God chooses to remain anonymous.
Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by Him in the midst of you... Acts 2:22
