Miracles And Other Ordinary Things

What do you feel when a physician tells you that you have a brain tumor and that you are going to die in a few months? How do you cope with two children under the age of three when the tumor leads to blindness? How do you make sense of yor life when the physician, angry that you didn't die, mumbles that he will now have to treat you as if you have multiple sclerosis? Lana Ford was faced with these questions and began to answer them one by one over a two-year period. She was forced to examine the meaning of life, to sort through her beliefs about health and illness, living and dying, and to discard all the cultural programming she had accepted since childhood. Then she began to play with inventing other realities, visualizing the internal workings of her own body, and refusing to believe in anything outside her own experience. She trusted only the inner wisdom found in meditation, including exploration of past lives and conversations with angels. Her body began healing, and within months, she was symptom free and has remained so for more than twenty years. Yet at the time, she knew in her heart that no one would believe her story. In the twenty years following her illness, she has been a seeker of wisdom, finding information from ancient texts; asking for translations of the Hebrew she found herself chanting; studying with eminent astrologers, theologians, shamans, quantum physicists, and those on the leading edge exploring realms of consciousness. With both humor and scientific evidence she shares the wisdom she found -- that miracles lie in the mysterious interpretations we make of the events in our own lives and the connections we make with each other.

“This book—the fullness, depth, and beauty of Sarah Bessey’s faith and artistic genius—is a miracle” (Glennon Doyle, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Love Warrior) and an unforgettable and life-affirming exploration of how trauma can strengthen your faith and miracles can be found in unexpected places. In the brief instant Sarah Bessey realized that her minivan was, inevitably, going to hit the car on the highway on the bright, clear day of the crash, she knew intuitively that it would have life-changing consequences. But as she navigated the winding path from her life before the accident—as a popular author, preacher, and loving wife and mother—to her new life after, inhabiting a body that no longer felt like her own, she found that the most unexpected result was how it shook her deeply rooted faith, upending everything she thought she knew and held so dearly. Weaving together theology and memoir, Sarah delivers “a well-written reminder of seeing the miracles in life’s highs and lows” (Library Journal). The road of healing leads to Rome where she met the Pope (it’s complicated) and encountered the Holy Spirit in the last place she expected. She writes about her miraculous healing, learning to live with chronic pain, and the ways God makes us whole in the midst of suffering. She invites us to a path of knowing God that is filled with ordinary miracles, hope in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, and other completely reasonable things. Insightful, profound, and unexpected, “Sarah’s writing is so breathtaking, sometimes you think you are reading poetry. The story is so thrilling, sometimes you think you are devouring a novel. And the Spirit she describes is so compelling, you’ll swear you experienced a revival. You won’t put it down once until you close the last page” (Jen Hatmaker, New York Times bestselling author).

What do you feel when a physician tells you that you have a brain tumor and that you are going to die in a few months? How do you cope with two children under the age of three when the tumor leads to blindness? How do you make sense of your life when the physician, angry that you didn't die, mumbles that he will now have to treat you as if you have multiple sclerosis? Lana Ford was faced with these questions and began to answer them one by one over a two-year period. She was forced to examine the meaning of life, to sort through her beliefs about health and illness, living and dying, and to discard all the cultural programming she had accepted since childhood. Then she began to play with inventing other realities, visualizing the internal workings of her own body, and refusing to believe in anything outside her own experience. She trusted only the inner wisdom found in meditation, including exploration of past lives and conversations with angels. Her body began healing, and within months, she was symptom free and has remained so for more than twenty years. Yet at the time, she knew in her heart that no one would believe her story. In the twenty years following her illness, she has been a seeker of wisdom, finding information from ancient texts; asking for translations of the Hebrew she found herself chanting; studying with eminent astrologers, theologians, shamans, quantum physicists, and those on the leading edge exploring realms of consciousness. With both humor and scientific evidence she shares the wisdom she found — that miracles lie in the mysterious interpretations we make of the events in our own lives and the connections we make with each other.

From the popular blogger and provocative author of Jesus Feminist comes a riveting new study of Christianity that helps you wrestle with—and sort out—your faith. In Out of Sorts, Sarah Bessey—award-winning blogger and author of Jesus Feminist, which was hailed as “lucid, compelling, and beautifully written” (Frank Viola, author of God’s Favorite Place on Earth)—helps us grapple with core Christian issues using a mixture of beautiful storytelling and biblical teaching, a style well described as “narrative theology.” As she candidly shares her wrestlings with core issues—such as who Jesus is, what place the Church has in our lives, how to disagree yet remain within a community, and how to love the Bible for what it is rather than what we want it to be—she teaches us how to walk courageously through our own tough questions. In the process of gently helping us sort things out, Bessey teaches us how to be as comfortable with uncertainty as we are with solid answers. And as we learn to hold questions in one hand and answers in the other, we discover new depths of faith that will remain secure even through the storms of life.

Finding meaning in the mundane is just a matter of knowing where to look. Herewith, the miraculous nature of everyday life is explored. Through vignettes at turns funny and poignant, Rabbi Leder points out those easily overlooked connections between everyday experiences and the teachings of Judaism. God and spirituality can be found in every aspect of our daily routines. Ordinary things--a pet frog, a weekend fishing trip, a roller coaster ride--become extraordinary when reexamined through Jewish eyes. Woven throughout Rabbi Leder's essays are midrashic texts, talmudic excerpts, and passages from the Torah, reflecting thousands of years of Jewish wisdom. Whether recalling a memorable walk along the beach with Dad, teaching a child the commandment of tzedakah, or stepping into the shoes of an anxious father-to-be as he paces the halls of the maternity ward, these stories reveal Judaism's power to illuminate our lives. On child-rearing: Eleven Suggestions for Raising a Mensch On the paradox of modern life: You can't put one tuchus in two chairs. On miracles: The miraculous is the common and the constant: birth, teaching, our breath. Discover The Extraordinary Nature of Ordinary Things.

This volume provides a comparative philosophical investigation into a particular concept from a variety of angles—in this case, the concept of “miracle.” The text covers deeply philosophical questions around the miracle, with a multiplicity of answers. Each chapter brings its own focus to this multifaceted effort. The volume rejects the primarily western focus that typically dominates philosophy of religion and is filled with particular examples of miracle narratives, community responses, and polemical scenarios across widely varying religious contexts and historical periods. Some of these examples defy religious categorization, and some papers challenge the applicability of the concept “miracle,” which is of western and monotheistic origin. By examining miracles thru a wide comparative context, this text presents a range of descriptive content and analysis, with attention to the audience, to the subjective experiences being communicated, and to the flavor of the narratives that come to surround miracles. This book appeals to students and researchers working in philosophy of religion and science, as well those in comparative religion. It represents, in written form, some of the perspectives and dialogue achieved in The Comparison Project’s 2017–2019 lecture series on miracles. The Comparison Project is an enterprise in comparing a variety of religious voices, allowing them to stand in dialogue.

My book is the written story of the many miracles I experienced throughout my life that helped define the person I am and the faith I have today. It's told where and when I experienced them. The feelings are raw, and the emotional journey is as real as anyone can feel. May its message be translated to an experience that can be felt through its words. When I was growing up, I would say, "God, if you're real, show me, and I will live for you." He did that and much more. This book was written for all believers and nonbelievers, to give you all hope now and for the hereafter. My life is told in a timeline, from my miraculous birth to my experimental teens and an adulthood filled with bad decisions made, all along never being forgotten by the God Almighty. You will be able to tell the times I experienced his divine interventions, my experiences being as real as you. I hope you find this as interesting as it was when I lived it. ***** I started to fall backward, away from the ladder. I cried out, thinking I might die or get badly hurt. I cried out, "Jesus, save me!" As I was falling backward, away from the ladder, after I said "Jesus, save me," I felt something grab me from behind and push me toward the ladder. It made sure that my feet were on the ladder steps, and God or an angel took both my hands and made them grab the ladder with a firm grip. Before I knew it, I was safely on the ladder. This is only one of many miracles Jesus did for me. 94

We walk to God, how wondrous our task, Simple truth, no questions left to ask. We walk to God, an awesome holy thing, Our open hearts are all were asked to bring. Ordinary Miracles is an oxymoron in a world where peace seems unreliable and prayers seem unanswered. But what if the real world exists where miracles are the norm? Miracles of joy and forgiveness always occur within our minds, and their external form may or may not be apparent to us. However, since miracles always come from love, they always offer an inner experience of bliss. The love that causes miracles is only ordinary because it is always present within us. Miracles are ordinary because they are our true nature, not a bonus that was earned by someone extra-ordinary. No matter how successfully weve hidden our inner spark of love, it remains with us, always the truth of who we are, always awaiting our consent to offer miracles. The poetry of Ordinary Miracles is the authors response to the inner Voice for God, what she calls the Holy Spirit. Inspired by A COURSE in MIRACLES, these poems celebrate the truth that we always have a choice: to invest ourselves in thoughts of kindness rather than criticism, happiness rather than sorrow. But whatever we choose, we cannot change the magnificent reality of what we are. The poems are written as an acknowledgment that the Voice for God offers a very personal relationship with each of us. The Voice for God is always patient, always answers, always loves us, and to our little effort adds the strength of God. In the COURSE, Jesus reminds us, Love waits on welcome, not on time (Text, chapter 13) The most profound journey we each make is to that place within where God patiently awaits our certain return.