Miracles

One of the things that I love about the New Testament is the different accounts of the many miracles that Christ performed while He was on the Earth. It has been interesting as we have started our weekly readings in Matthew, then moved to the corresponding chapters in Mark and Luke. While the accounts are similar and seem to be in the same chronological order, there are some drastic differences in the way they recorded them. It seems to me that Matthew puts the most detail in his writings, so naturally I've been more engrossed in his accounts of things than those of Mark or Luke. Still, each of them offer their own unique record of the things that took place. Reading the New Testament makes me wish I could have been there!

I am probably rambling here, so maybe I should just get on with the miracles that we have read about so far.

In my husband's scriptures, he marks every miracle that Christ performed with a little red star. I thought this was a great idea and decided to get in the habit of marking them the same way in my scriptures too. It's really pretty amazing to be able to flip through the pages and see so many red stars in the margins of my scriptures! For the sake of the length of this post, I will only be referencing the miracles as listed in the book of Matthew because, as I stated, I have been much more engrossed in the book of Matthew and, the same miracles are repeated again in Mark and Luke.

Matthew 8:2-3
And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

Matthew 8:5-10, 13
And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. And when they that followed him, heard this, they marveled, and when Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel... And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.

Matthew 8:14-15
And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laid, and sick of a fever. And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them.

Matthew 8:16
When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick.

Matthew 8:24-26
And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep. And his disciples came to him and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish. And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.

Matthew 8:28, 32
And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils...And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters.

...And that is just the miracles listed in Matthew chapter 8!

Something that I am always reminded of when reading about the many miracles that Christ performed in His mortal ministry is that miracles still happen in our lives today. Just because Christ is not on Earth performing miracles, that does not mean that they have forever ceased. Because we have a Father in Heaven who loves us more than we can comprehend, He has allowed the priesthood to be restored on the Earth. This is the same power that Christ used while He was on the Earth. How cool is that?

I am also always amazed by the amount of faith shown by those who Christ came across throughout the New Testament. The individuals healed had to show great faith in order to be healed. Looking back on the first example of the leper, he said "Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." He didn't say, "If it's possible for you to heal me, please heal me." No. He said "If it is thy will, then I know you can heal me." I have found myself sometimes doubting whether or not a miracle was possible. When trials come and things don't go exactly our way, we may find ourselves not only questioning if God will allow the miracle that we want, but if He even can.

But He can.

I found this video and I wanted to end my post on this. This mother experienced every parent's worst nightmare - the loss of her child - but I love how she phrases it when she speaks of miracles. She says, "I kept thinking 'God can fix this'... I had a very strong sense that God can fix this. I knew that God could do it. But I knew that he wouldn't today."


While I have never experienced the devastation of losing one of my children, I have seen the challenge that this trial can play in the lives of others. I have also found that sometimes the miracle isn't that bad things don't happen, or even that they are made right in this life, but the miracle is sometimes the knowledge that we have of our eternal families and of our Heavenly Father's plan for us. Along with that, the miracle is often our abilities to cope with the situations that we could have never handled on our own.