Our friend Rose, a woman who lives far up in the mountain, walks almost weekly to our house to ask us for rice and other basic necessities. We are only too glad to help her, but in addition to feeding her body, we also desire to provide food for her soul.
On her most recent visit, we opened our bilingual Bible and invited her to read a particular passage in Visayan. Only then did we discover that she is slightly farsighted and in need of reading glasses. Of course, for a woman who frequently goes hungry, such glasses would be quite a luxury.
In that moment, I recalled that, while packing my suitcase to return to the Philippines, I had at the last minute tossed in a donated pair of glasses. 'These won't be of much use,' I remember thinking. I didn't even know the grade of the lenses.
As Rose squinted to make out the words of Scripture, I jumped out of my chair and with growing excitement ran into the bedroom to dig said glasses out of the bottom of my suitcase. There they were, in a purple animal print case that perfectly matched Rose's outfit of the day. 'Dear Jesus, please let these glasses be the right prescription for Rose,' I prayed under my breath as I brought them out to present to her.
She tried them on, murmured "Ooh," and at our urging turned her gaze back to the words on the page. Now she read the words aloud, seeing them clearly for the first time.
I don't know why, but it still amazes me every time the Lord performs a miracle in answer to my simple prayers. Why is "I can't believe it!" automatically my first thought and the first words out of my mouth? I can just imagine Jesus smiling down on me and lovingly shaking His head: "O ye of little faith! Did you not believe that I would do this for you?"
This Lent, let's try to pray with greater faith. Let's pray, trusting that God will answer us in big ways. Let's expect miracles.
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