“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” ~ Albert Einstein.

Thank you, Sir Albert, because I love miracles, absolutely love them. I love to hear about them, I love to go looking for them, and I especially love to tell about them. I still BELIEVE in miracles. I do not believe they were just for the “Bible days”. I guess I am one of those simple people who just believes that God doesn’t change and what He did back then He still loves to do today.

While we were serving in Riga, Latvia last year, we were hosting one of our weekly House Church meetings on a Tuesday night in our apartment. One of our contacts that we had met on the street, Agnis, called us and said that he had a homeless couple with him that he wanted to bring over right then for prayer. Agnis was such a funny guy, you just never knew what he might do, but yet he would give you the shirt off his back. He was always working the streets trying to help his friends in need. Of course we said bring them!

In a few minutes Agnis arrives with a young couple, Janis and Laura. Janis is a common name in Latvia, similar to John here, the J is pronounced like a Y. Neither one of them spoke English, although most Latvians under the age of 30 do speak it, and they speak it very well, since it is the business language of the world, and it is taught in the schools.

So Agnis says, “Doogalas!” (This is how they pronounce my husband’s name in Latvian and I have affectionately adopted it too!) “Laura is seven months pregnant and Laura have HEEVE. Laura is to go for test and doctor is afraid that baby will have HEEVE.”  So Doug is thinking….Laura have HEEVE…what is HEEVE? (Left to right in the picture below is Agnis, Janis, Laura, our wonderful friend Egita, who also interpreted for us, and my Doogalas.)

Now in Latvia they do not use acronyms like we do very often, so if you are talking about the NFL some might say, “NUFFLE”. Are you following me? So it finally dawns on Doogalas that Laura has HIV! Ok, now we can pray! So our small house group gathers around Laura and Janis and starts to pray. Laura is very quiet and reserved but Janis is really reaching out. They stay for our refreshments and we show kindness to them and tell them we will help them in any way we can.

Two days later Agnis calls Doogalas on the phone: “Doogalas! It is Agnis! Laura go to doctor and Laura no have HEEVE!!” Doug says, “That is great Agnis! I didn’t know they were going to test Laura again for HIV!” Agnis says, “Yes, they have paper that say, first Laura do have HEEVE, now Laura do NOT have HEEVE!” Doug says, “That is a miracle Agnis!!” Agnis is so excited he says, “But wait Doogalas, there is more! They test for baby too and baby no have HEEVE!! Doctor is excited too!”

Both Laura and the baby were documented as being clear of HIV!

Janis and Laura were so happy that they show up at our church that Sunday night and we baptized Janis in Jesus’ name and He received the gift of the Holy Ghost! After the service he shares with us that he and Laura are not married but he realizes that they need to be so that the baby can have a name. This is right before Christmas and Doogalas and I are getting ready to come back to the States for the holidays. We told Janis that the church would be happy to marry them and others there on our team would help them but we would be gone. He said, “No, no, I had a dream last night and in the dream you were marrying me and Laura in this church.” He had never even been in the church building before, only in our apartment for house group.

So we explained we only had a week to pull a wedding together! Seeing how they were practically homeless anything would be wonderful to them so our little group worked and put together a beautiful wedding on a budget and the next Sunday night we married them BEFORE our evening service and many of their friends were in attendance! And because of the wedding, two of their friends that attended came back to house group the next week and were baptized!

So miracles are funny sometimes.  Do you need one today? God is still in the miracle working business! Whatever your need, He is standing close by. Call on that name that is above every name! I would be happy to pray with you if you want to contact me here either by commenting or privately through the contact me button above.

“O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” Romans 11:33.