Modern Day Miracles

A miracle is defined as “an event that appears inexplicable by the laws of nature and so is held to be supernatural in origin or an act of God” according to dictionary.com.

Miracles happen all around us; most we of them we note are the ones with high press time: a tornado that turned just before it hit a church, or a person who slammed their car into another and survived.

While these miracles are noteworthy of our attention, I love to pay attention to the small miracles that happen every day.

Recently, I traveled to Yukon, Oklahoma to attend the beautiful Oklahoma City Temple. I left work a little early so I could arrive on time; however in my haste to leave I forgot to secure the cap on my water bottle. Soon my backpack became the mini-version of Lake Erie. By the time I figured it out, the contents in my bag including my cell phone were drenched. Although I was frustrated by the whole deal, my mind was on getting to Yukon. So I grabbed my cell phone and got on the road.

Once again, however, my haste proved to be a trial. I didn’t print off the directions to the temple because I figured I could call my friend if I got lost; but when I opened up my cell phone it started speaking Numeric Greek:

8484 # 8329nf

5152 3513 19 08539 0215
58949735 895135

The screen went berserk. It jumped from contacts, to messaging, to my calendar, to the web—it was as if it had a search warrant for itself.

I tried my best to fix it. I pulled the battery out, held it up to the air conditioner in hopes to dry things out; I even slammed it against my steering wheel with the old farmer-fix-it trick. Still, I had no success—Strike One.

My biggest problem with my cell phone breaking is I had no way of contacting my friend in Oklahoma City; I didn’t even have her number, I had no idea where she lived, and I could hardly remember the way temple. I pulled off in Edmond, hoping to find a Verizon Wireless dealer, only to discover they do not exist in Central Oklahoma—Strike Two.

Then I got lost—Strike Three. I must have pulled off the Kilpatrick Turnpike three different times at the wrong exit; and by that time I was ready to Kill-Patrick (whoever he was).

I said a silent prayer in essence of, Heavenly Father I just want to get to Thy House.

Miraculously, the next exit I took was the right one. I pulled into the temple’s parking lot five minutes after my prayer and offered another of gratitude.

However, I still had a problem; I needed to contact my friend. I tried to use my phone again, but when I called her, my phone insisted on talking to her; it wouldn’t stop beeping, so we had no way of communicating. By this time, my screen was fogging up from the moisture captured inside.

Poor Kathleen was getting just as frustrated as I was; she tried calling me from three different phones. Luckily, I was able to find another phone and call her back and explain the situation. After we connected by phone, my second miracle happened.

As I was waiting for Kathleen to come and get me for dinner, I was trying to strategize how I would pay for a new phone. I believed in the blessing of paying my tithing, so I knew the Lord would provide. As I was contemplating, I looked down and the screen on my phone was clear. Curiously, I opened it up and I was able to navigate perfectly from contacts, to messaging to tools. My phone literally just snapped out of it.

Once more, I offered a prayer of gratitude. God had given me two miracles.