Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Miracles

I have been a Catholic all my life. My mom is extremely devout. Her day begins and ends with prayer. When my dad was still alive, they made sure that we attended the 8 am mass every Sunday.

Growing up in exclusive Catholic girls schools strengthened my faith in God. I am not much of a church-goer, but I do pray - A LOT.

Miracles? They are true. I cannot forget that miracle I experienced when I was in 4th grade. Too young to understand, but never too young to feel the Love of God.

I had a classmate in grade school who was very well off. She had the best school bag her parents can buy. She had a beautiful lunch box by Sanrio, a famous (and unbelievably expensive) brand made in Japan. One day, my classmate brought a Hello Kitty stuffed doll. It was very nice. Soft, silky and holding it in your hand was heaven. My classmate was not snotty, she willingly gave each of us a chance to hold her doll and cuddle it. I drew up all my strength and asked her "May I borrow your doll overnight? I want to show it to my parents, maybe they can buy me one like that." To my surprise, she said "Sure!"

I emptied out my school bag, and stuffed my books in my locker. I wanted to make room in my bag for that precious little doll. When the school bus dropped me off at home, I ran upstairs to my room and opened my bag. I got the doll out and held it in my hands ever so gently like it was some kind of sacred thing. I then heard my mom calling me downstairs for a snack. "Be right there, Mom!" So I got out of my school uniform, left the doll on my bed and went downstairs to eat.

I hurriedly stuffed my favorite peanut-butter sandwich in my mouth and washed it down with a glass of milk. "Thanks, Mom!" I said, and raced right back upstairs. To my horror, the doll was gone! It was not on my bed where I left it, it was not in my closet, not under the bed, not anywhere! I felt weak and helpless. I was scared. Major scared. And then I started to cry.

I felt helpless and desperate. I could not possibly tell my parents. Not at that time. With no one to turn to, I knelt down and prayed. I prayed really hard. I asked God for forgiveness, for desiring things that do not belong to me. I asked Him to show me where the doll was and that I would be a good girl from then on. Crying and praying and storming Heaven for answers. I bowed my head in total resignation of my fate.

And then out of the corner of my eye, I saw the doll. It was on the floor, between the bedroom door and my closet. How did it get there? I never did find out how.

It was nothing else but a miracle. God heard my prayers. It was my very first real encounter with God's Divine Mercy.

I have had many others since that time. The birth of each of my three children were miracles. To wake up everyday, to feel, to love, to be alive is a miracle. 

That experience taught me a lesson - to pray to God with childlike confidence. To put all my trust in Him, to ask forgiveness for my faults, to thank Him for the blessings He gives me and yet I fail to see. 

Little miracles happen everyday. It is only with an open mind and a loving heart that one appreciates and acknowledges God's true love for us all.   

24 comments:

  1. oh am gee....ssooooo inspiring sistterrette...the miracles that happen through prayers...I just love love love the way you write!!! all your articles are worth sharing to the world...I wish I could have met you when we were still little girls...keep writing!!! :)

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    1. Who knows we may have met before? We were probably just one of those kids in the crowd destined to communicate like this in later years.

      I could have been with you as a child when we were vacationing in Baguio (like once a month, we were there). I could have been seated near you when my family frequented the Manaoag Shrine. We could have been seatmates when I took the National Medical Admissions Test.

      Its destiny, Zen. I am so happy to have met you. :)

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  2. I have to agree with you about little miracles! It happens often and we only need to take time to consider it!

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    1. Totally agree! God's love for us never wanes. It is us who forgets.

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  3. Such an inspirational post! I enjoyed reading it!

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  4. Inspirational post, thanks for sharing!

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  5. Little miracles do happen every day...I think that many of us are just too busy to notice :)

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  6. I am grateful for your testimony of God. I too know that God performs miracles in this lifetime. He truly is the same yesterday, today, tomorrow.

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  7. Just the inspiration I needed today! Thanks for the great post... keep writing, your voice is being heard!

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  8. Your posts always touch my soul, you're a really inspiring person :)

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  9. Great post. Being a believer myself it's easy to forget about gods little miracles in our day to day life. Thanks for reminding us.

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  10. I LOVE Sanrio. Believe it or not, it's very well known outside of Asia, too. :D Cute story, really liked it, as usual when it comes to your writing.

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  11. Thank you for sharing! Great article!

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  12. I didn't grow up knowing God but we are bonding a lot lately and I've recently accepted him into my heart!

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  13. Really an inspiration and a great reminder!

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  14. I'm a catholic too and i do believe in miracle. For me the moment we wake up in the morning is a miracle alread. great post

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  15. You are an inspiration. To pray like a child, I do it with a child. It sounds silly but it actually is more fun. You can hear her innocent voice thanking God for her toys, food and friends. LOL! Well, I wish, yes, we could be all that. More of thanking and less asking. Then, as adults, we'll start seeing those little miracles too.

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  16. Oh my, I can almost feel how your heart sank when you did not see the doll. I do believe in miracle as well, I felt that with both of my kids.

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  17. Now that we're adults it's still amazing how a child-like faith bring wonders to our lives :)

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  18. AMEN! God will always hear His childrens' cries and prayers. A very good read sis.

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  19. What a beautiful story! God moves in mysterious ways nga sabi nila. Prayers do a lot of wonders so keep on praying.

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  20. I'm a living proof of God's miracles just like you, Eileen. I will always sing praises to Him for all the miracles I've experienced more so in the past 3 years.

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  21. everyday is a miracle..my baby is a miracle. there so much miracle in our life...in my case proof is my daughter who undergo open heart surgery just last May 28.

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