I’ve had a few miracles noted in my life —walking away from a flipped car was one that I won’t forget. And if you’re like me, you never get tired of watching God insert himself into our daily lives with loving actions that supersede any natural consequences or outcomes. I’m delighted to introduce George Cargill, a Lighthouse author who has recently published his book, In the Grip of God, with Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas. George shares how often wooing us back to His will can be the greatest miracle of all. Here’s his story. And check out his book on Amazon.
I do not remember a lot about what happened in the Oklahoma town where I grew up as most memories of that part of my life are hidden behind the memories of the next sixty-four years. There was a dog named “Brownie” I really liked but we had to take him out to be a farm dog. There was the Sunday morning that a little criminal and I decided to explore the attic of the church sanctuary. I slipped off a rafter and my leg crashed through the acoustical ceiling right over the pulpit. I would have gotten away with it, too, if Mom hadn’t recognized my socks.
Most of my childhood incidents are fading but two incidents will always stand out.
The first miracle allowed the second to happen. There had been an outbreak of tuberculosis in the area and the school decided all of the students should be screened. My test was positive and threw our family into turmoil. It was determined that I should be placed in a sanatorium for TB infected people longed to be outside playing but lay in my bed sweltering through an Oklahoma summer, without the luxury of air conditioning.
One Wednesday night, Mom came and told me she and Dad were going to the mid-week prayer meeting at the church next door and they were going to pray for me. The window of my room was open to catch a little fresh air and the windows of the church sanctuary were not thirty feet away. I could hear just about everything. They began praying as though they thought God to be hard of hearing. That is when I heard my name lifted up to God in the fervent prayers of people who loved me.
I had another test the next day before they took me away to the sanatorium. No infection or sign of tuberculosis was found. I was healed. Some people might say that a mistake had been made and that there was really no problem. But I knew it was Jesus. And it made the second miracle possible the following fall.
The second miracle happened in a revival meeting at our church but took thirty-seven years to be completed. When the evangelist called people forward, I was there praying to Jesus for forgiveness of my childish sins. But on that night, something different happened to me than any of my previous confessional trips to the mourner’s bench. I felt the call of the Lord to be a preacher; a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was not a voice from heaven to my ears but a breeze of the Spirit whispering in my soul. I am an old man now, but the memory of that moment remains sharp and clear
But sadly, as a young man, I rejected the call of God and went my own way. The miracle came to fruition at forty-six years of age when Jesus brought me to a place of repentance and back to the call I received when I was nine. The telling of my journey would take a book. I had accumulated a lot of baggage and the weight of my sins oppressed my soul. Everyone thought that my desire to become a preacher was crazy, but God made it happen.
In my estimation, the healing of the body is a lesser miracle than the change of character that God worked in my life. Two miracles. They give me hope for the third that is to come: the final transformation.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
George Cargill is a fourth-generation pastor. His first novel, In the Grip of God: Journey into Corinth, chronicles the trials of the early Corinthian church through the eyes of the Apostle Paul. You can read more from Pastor George on his blog at georgecargill.com.
IN THE GRIP OF GOD: JOURNEY INTO CORINTH
Alone, beaten down, out of money, and pursued by his enemies, Paul leaves wealth, power, and love to bring the gospel to the great pagan city of Corinth. Facing danger and death, he must find a way to survive the laws of both the Jews and the Roman Empire itself. Soon, Paul finds himself no longer seeking God’s will but being inexorably carried along by Divine purpose.
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