She Speaks

The world froze. Goose bumps traveled up and down my arms.

“Papa, ap-pa-pa.” Micaela took a deep breath, fisting her hands. “Papá.”

Jovani swallowed. My eyes stung.

Micaela was talking.

Since then words have been popping out of her mouth more and more frequently. The speech is garbled and difficult to comprehend, but Micaela is working hard at it.

Thanks to my precious, amazing, and awesome God.

Several months ago I read the story of the deaf mute in the book of Mark (Mark 7:31-37) I loved how Jesus sighed and then commanded the ears and mouth of the handicapped man to open. Speech came forth. Excited, I put down my Bible and ran over to Micaela. I prayed. I truly believed that if I prayed hard enough, with faith, then like the disabled man in the Bible, Micaela’s mouth would open and speech would come forth.

Nothing happened.

I tried not to become disheartened and continued working with her. Her speech therapist kept encouraging me, she would point out the tiny improvements that pointed towards continued development. I kept praying and praying and praying.

I clung to hope. It was the only thing that gave me energy to continue.

To be honest, the clear word popping out of Micaela’s mouth a few mornings ago took me completely off guard. But, looking back, I realize that progress had been continuous, I just didn’t accept it. I had wanted more.

Have you ever heard the saying, “We pray not to move God, but to move ourselves into His will.”?

I prayed to move God. To convince Him to give us a miracle. But God planned for me to experience hard work, perseverance, and hope. The result of both a miracle and the slow-progress work would have been same—Micaela talking. But, an instant miracle would not have taught me perseverance.

We all want that miracle. We love hearing about the astonishing intervention of our loving Heavenly Father, but when we learn to move within God’s will we receive priceless training and strengthening.

I do believe that I won’t stop asking for miracles in my life, but I must not forget to thank God for giving me a place in the movement of His plans. 

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I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart;
I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.
​Psalm 9:1, NIV 

​​Have you lived through a similar situation in which you did not receive the miracle but had to learn to move within God’s will?