Miracle Monday: Week One

Christmas is quickly approaching. I couldn’t be more excited. 

I think that so often we forget all that Christmas really is. We don’t take the time to slow down and look past the decorations and all of the materialism to see the miracle of Christmas.

So for the next four weeks, every Monday we’re going to have a bit of fun. 

We’re going to make our way through scripture, observing some of my favorite miracles. 

Because, you see, Christmas didn’t begin at the manger. 

Christmas began here…

When God said, “Let there be light.” 

- - - - -

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

God opened His mouth and the world came into existence. He didn’t have to wait for it to become something- He spoke and it was there…

A miracle. 

Light. Day and night. Earth and sea. Sun, moon, and my personal favorites- the stars. Birds and fish. Animals. And God’s personal favorite- man. 

…And it was good.

We then see the story of Adam and Eve. 

If you were watching a movie- I imagine that this is how the story of the Bible would look right about now… 

**Opening credits

God creates the world. 

You say, “Woah! How did He do that?”

God creates man and says, “It is very good.”

“Wow. I am very good?”

But then this woman and this man disobey the one command God had given them. They eat of the infamous fruit. 

“Come on! You couldn’t listen to that ONE rule? Seriously, Adam and Eve. You got to walk with God for goodness’ sake!”**

And that’s just about how it’s played out so far. You and I are sitting here wondering how in the world Adam and Eve couldn’t have listened to one simple command…

While that is vitally important, perhaps what we should be focusing on is God’s mercy. 

Maybe we should take this moment to look at the fact that God did a miracle in the moment when He allowed them to still walk the earth. After all, He had said they were very good. And how did they respond? By going against the one thing He had commanded them not to do. 

But God…

He allowed them to live. No, they would not live in the garden of Eden. But they would live. 

And many years down the line, there would be a man named Abram.

Abram had a wife named Sarai. And Abram was called to leave his home and take his family and travel to the land of promise. 

Now, God had promised that He would show Abram the land of promise. He had also promised that He would be a father of many nations. 

If you know this story, you know that this is problematic. 

Abram had no children. His wife was barren. How would he be the father of many nations with no children? 

Don’t worry- Abram and Sarai were asking themselves the same questions. 

Without trusting God or listening to His promise, Abram took things into his own hands and had a son outside of his marriage. Yes, it’s as scandalous as it sounds. 

But again- this was not the son God was referring to. 

God called Abram to himself yet again and said, “Abram, I am changing your name. You shall no longer be Abram, but Abraham- Father of the Great Nation. And your wife, she gets a new name too, she’ll be Sarah. Oh, and she’s also going to have a baby.”

Well, Abraham thought God was a little crazy. He was one hundred years old! His wife was ninety. She could not have children. Abraham and Sarah laughed at the thought.

God said, “Your son’s name will be Isaac, it means laughter.”

I kind of think they forgot they were dealing with the God who created the universe. 

A year later, Abraham and Sarah had a son. His name was Isaac. 

And he was the son God was talking about from the very beginning. 

Isaac was the miracle baby. 

- - - - -

"God never stopped dreaming of the miracle, the one He'd dreamed right from the very beginning, because love never stops dreaming of a way to draw close again." {From Ann Voskamp's Unwrapping the Greatest Gift, a journey through Advent.}

Isaiah 11:1-2, 10

"There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,

    and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.

And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,

    the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,

    the Spirit of counsel and might,

    the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord...

In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—

    of him shall the nations inquire, 

    and his resting place shall be glorious."

- - - - -

Stay tuned for next weeks miracles. It only gets better. Trust me.

~Bailey

The Promised King

I look outside my window right now and all I want to do is curl up with a good book and a soft blanket and read all day long. Doesn't that sound perfectly delightful?

I think so, too.

The trees have lost their October beauty, all of the leaves lay scattered on the ground. The sky is dark and the weather gloomy.

Thanksgiving is literally just around the corner. I'm personally very excited for the Macy's Day Parade. It's probably my second favorite thing on Thanksgiving.

The first? Our Bowers family Thanksgiving dinner. We gather around the table at my Aunt's house. All of us hold hands, making a circle around the entire kitchen. It's a beautiful family, you see. I am so blessed with a family who gets along, who loves one another deeply. And this time of year I am incredibly grateful.

After dinner is over, all of us ladies clean up the kitchen while the guys watch football. It's just what happens. The house gets warmer as everyone laughs and talks. But the warmth doesn't seem to bother anyone- because we're together.

And together is a beautiful place to be.

We're together, and we're joyful and we're oh-so-thankful for this huge, crazy family God has given us.

On the way back to our house, Dad turns on the Christmas music and we sing all the way back from Charlotte. On Saturday we'll decorate our tree and hang the ornaments, the music still blaring. We'll get started on Christmas shopping.

But just as Thanksgiving isn't just about the turkey or the football games or parades, Christmas isn't about the trees or the music or the shopping.

Sure we're thankful for our families and our homes...but Christmas comes so close to Thanksgiving that I can't help but wonder if God did this on purpose.

Back in the Old Testament we see that God's people had to wait 400 years for the coming of the Messiah. 400 years! That's a LONG time. If you went back 400 years from 2014 it would be 1614! Ha. That's crazy.

Imagine you're God's people and you've waited and waited and waited for the Promised Christ's coming, hoping maybe this is the generation who will see the Lord.

Then you hear of this baby born in Bethlehem...son of Mary and Joseph and His name is Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us.

Imagine you were one of the ones in Scripture who realized He was the Promised King, the Promised One come to save us all. Your heart would sing with praise and thankfulness. 

So Thanksgiving is on Thursday...less than one month from Christmas, less than one month from the celebration of Christ's coming. May we take this Thanksgiving to be especially grateful for these weeks of waiting and exciting anticipation of the celebration of the baby who came to save us all.

Happy Thanksgiving.

~Bailey

Not Knowing

The night before taking the SAT for the first time, a friend and I were talking about growing up. "It's just so crazy," she said, "That all of our lives people are telling us what to do and how to do it. And then all of the sudden when we hit our junior or senior year in high school, they start asking us what we're doing with our lives. They ask us and they expect us to know what to do and how to do it on our own when all of our lives they've been telling us what to do. Like, seriously, what changes?"

It's that question that everyone who is a junior or senior in high school hates the most, "Where are you going to college? What do you want to do? Have you decided on a college yet?"

No. No. No. 

Because going to college is a big step. 

Because this career and degree I pick are a big deal. 

Because picking a college is going to play a huge factor in my life over the next four years. 

And I feel like we need time. 

That maybe having more time would help.

But over the past couple of weeks, I've seen that what we need isn't time to make decisions. Because in a way, time blurs things. After visiting several colleges, I thought I had my mind made up. I thought, "This is where I want to go and this is what I want to do."

Then people said, "But what about this school? And what about this profession?"

And my entire being screams, "I DON'T KNOW."

I was texting a friend the other day about all of this...about how I'm so tired of my answer being, "I don't know."

Just typing these words brings back the emotions- the emotions of confusion and frustration. 

Right now my answer is still, "I don't know." 

But right now in this moment, I'm okay with that. 

At camp this past summer, I was talking with my youth pastor. We were having one of those conversations that I will never forget. One of those conversations where things are real and honest and he figures how to get me to open up like no one else but my very closest friends can. 

He said something like this, "All of your senior year people are going to act like they know what they want to do and where they want to go. But in reality...they're going to be just as confused and overwhelmed as you are."

While it helps to know this, I'm not just okay with all of these unknowns because other people are going through it, too.

I'm okay with it because it's not in my hands. 

I'm not in control. 

As I type those words I can breathe deeply. I am not in control. 

I don't know what's best for myself. There's only One person who always knows what's best for me. 

He's the One who crafted the stars and called them each by name. He's the One who created every animal and knew just what they would look like before ever speaking them into existence. He's the One who spoke and it was good. He's the One who crafted the mountains and the volcanos and knew just how the Grand Canyon would dip and curve, each groove marked by his breath. 

He's also the One who breathed life into my very soul! His breath is inside of me! I wasn't just good...no, I was very good. We were the peak of His creation, the thing He was most pleased with. 

This God who crafted the mountains and stars that reach thousands of miles higher than we could ever imagine is the God who knows my every day, my every move, my every breath. 

My days are so small. My life is so short. Yet He cares. 

He cares because He made me, He breathed into my lungs the breath of life. 

He loves me. 

Tears brim in my eyes at that thought. 

He is big enough to shape every star...and He loves me. Little, tiny me...

Scripture says He is jealous for me...for all of us.

He is jealous of the things that take our attention away from Him. Because He knows that when we are in Him, we are the best we could ever be. 

I find my purpose in Him. I find my joy in Him. I find everything I need to exist in my God who knows all of the stars by name. 

So I'm okay not knowing exactly what's going to come next. 

Because He knows. 

And if He is able to sustain this entire world...He is more than able to know what's going to happen in my life. 

So yes, college is coming. And yes, that's a big deal. 

But tonight I choose to rest in the knowledge that He knows what tomorrow will hold. He knows what next August will bring. He knows the relationships I will make and the stories I will write and the lives I will impact. 

He knows each and every step. 

He's writing my story. 

And that is worth living for. 

~Bailey

P.S. If we're mentioning stories...I guess I should tell you that book #3 is in the making. Surprise! 

A World with Octobers.

I drove down the road yesterday coming home from a babysitting job, old Taylor Swift blasting through my speakers, the windows down and the breeze in my hair.

The leaves are changing colors. Bright reds and oranges. Soon they'll fall and create mounds of crinkly leaves on the ground.

There's something about this change of seasons that I've grown to love.

I used to absolutely love summer. I loved the warm weather, shorts and flip flops, the beach and the fact that we had over two full months without school. I still do.

But there's something about fall and spring that have become my favorite.

Because when I watch the leaves grow in the spring, bright green with blossoms and blooms, my heart is full and the Lord says, "That's what I've done in you. I've given you new life."

And in the fall when the leaves turn colors and begin to fall he says, "Look, it's your past. All of those things you regret...they can be forgotten. You are forgiven. Wait a little bit longer, you'll start to feel that new life again."

I sit here typing these words and I can only think...

Without Octobers we would miss the colors of the leaves. We would miss bonfires and s'mores and the smell that the smoke from the fire leaves on our clothes. 

We would miss pumpkins and cool fall days just before the weather turns cold. We would miss days spent in our favorite cozy sweatshirt with a good book. 

We would miss so many things. 

So today there's not a whole lot on my mind. But I'm making sure I take the time to thank God for this October. Because there won't be another one just like it. 

He is daily reminding me that those broken pieces of my past are still healing. That all of my sin has been washed clean. 

He reminds me that His love for me is unconditional, unfathomable. 

And every time I see those bright red and orange leaves He says, "I created this. I created the billions of stars. I created the vast fields and the birds and animals. And I said, 'It is good.' But then I created you! And you were very good. I will hold you and take care of you. Your future is in my hand, daughter. You are precious to me. Just like the colors of those leaves, you are unlike any other."

I breathe deeply and let the cool air fill my lungs, grateful for this day He's given me. Grateful that I am made in His imagine and for His plan. 

And I'm especially grateful He's given us Octobers.

~Bailey