This month in honor of the 5 year anniversary of the publication of
The Miracle Chase, we are taking the opportunity to share with you some of what we learned over the course of our ten-year quest. Today is the fourth installment in our Miracle Monday series for the month of November, a time when we are already called to be grateful for so much in our lives. Our thanks go out to you, our readers, supporters, friends and family.
Here's to chasing - and finding - miracles with all of you.
Joan, Katie and Meb
When the three of us set out to learn about miracles as a way to make sense of our own, we were enthusiastic and passionate. Even as our hearts said “Yes” to the miracle journey we embarked on and we repeated the most simple of prayers, “Thank You,” for the gifts we had been given, we were not altogether sure where our soul-searching would take us.
While much of any miracle discussion focuses on the actual miracle event, it's the what happens next, what we call the Ripple Effect, that is at the core of a miracle experience. Extending outward from that initial miracle moment, we can look back and see that absolute Grace connects every miracle with some other good. Like the stone cast into a still and perfect lake, a miracle is God’s connection with us that ripples outward, in ever-widening circles, to distant and uncharted shores. We believe that this Ripple Effect of Grace exists, even when we can’t see it initially, or maybe, even forever.
Consider Dr. Alexis Carrel, a French early 20th century religious skeptic and physician, who was disturbed by reports of miraculous healing at the shrine at Lourdes. He went to Lourdes to discredit these so-called miracles for both patriotic and scientific reasons; to prove that it was all make-believe. Yet, when a woman on the brink of death was healed before his very eyes, he had no option but to reverse his thinking. He felt compelled to report what he had seen and when he did, reaction was swift and painful. He was shunned, criticized and his professional judgment called into question. He found himself in an untenable position; unwilling to back down from his belief in the miraculous, he left France for the United States where the brilliance of his medical expertise subsequently earned him a Nobel Prize.
Alexis Carrel was unwittingly caught up in the Ripple Effect of the miracle he experienced and its ensuing waves of grace, difficult as they were. He found the courage to share what he had found and to reconsider what he thought impossible: the reality of God and miracles.
The Ripple Effect is also reflected in the heart of Meb’s story. After her baby daughter survived an unspeakable act of violence at the hands of a babysitter, Meb led the effort to legislate for childcare safety in California and the Trustline Registry was formed. The Ripple of her miracle continues to touch the lives of families across this country protecting untold numbers of children. While you can learn more about her miracle in The Miracle Chase, here is one small piece:
Her young daughter Liz asked one day, “Mama, do you think it was good that I got blinded?”
“No, honey,” Meb answered. ”I don’t think it was good that you got blinded. But I believe good things happened because of that.”
“I do too,” her eight year old said.
To this day, Meb is grateful for the miracles that have unfolded since Liz lost her sight, though God saved her life. We’ve all asked the tough questions. Why do some people get a miracle and others don’t? And, what if the miracle you get isn't the one you asked for? From the vantage point of “further out” the majesty of the Ripple Effect provides some explanation.
This knowledge that miracles unfold over time is a key ingredient to our own definition of a miracle. Join us next Monday (Nov. 30 for our final Miracle Month commentary) as we come full circle and face the big question, what is a miracle?
