A few days ago, God gave me my very own little miracle at the local Kohl’s store. Let me tell you how…
I’ve honestly been a bit discouraged and stressed over the last month about my funding. I’ve raised 25% of the funds I need, but I still need to raise several thousand dollars in the next 7 days to meet the next deadline. I was praying to God for a miracle, a wow moment where my funds suddenly jumped to 100% and my deadlines were met. He hasn’t answered that particular request yet, but He did give me my very own everyday miracle to remind me how amazing and caring He truly is!
As I’ve been sorting through everything I own to move items into storage, I found a bag of old purchases I meant to return but forgot in the chaos of the move. I thought I had the correct recipes though, so I ran over to Kohl’s figuring it would only take 5 minutes to get my money back. Yet 5 minutes into my visit it became apparent my ‘quick’ errand would be anything but. None of the items matched the recipes I had so carefully saved, and when the customer service representative rang up my returns to let me know what they were worth without recipes, they all rang up as only being worth $2-$5 each. Now when a suit coat rings up as only being worth $5, it’s a bit frustrating. I can’t lie; I was thinking some pretty uncomplimentary thoughts about both my procrastination and the company as a result. She rang up all 8 items, and while I was only going to receive a fraction of what I paid for them originally (~$20) I decided to return them anyways since they would do me no good on the race.
The woman started the returns and rang up the first item, a shirt. It registered at $8. Now, this might seem usual except that three minutes beforehand when she checked it, it registered as only worth $2 in credit. It now rang up as worth more, but we shrugged that off as being lucky happenstance and she picked up the next item. At that point I realized how frustrated I was by the situation and how my own attitude was incorrect, and I said a quick prayer for patience and blessing over my dealings with her and Kohl’s. The next item, one of the two suit jackets, was scanned. It registered as worth $23, yet this is the same coat that originally rang up at $5. The cashier realized that was unusual as well, so she rang it up again to verify it. $23. So she rang it up a third time, on a different computer. $23. At that moment, I realized that God was handing me my very own miracle as a reminder of His providence and grace. The cashier was frowning a bit now, but shrugged it off again and picked up the next suit jacket. It rang up as $23 as well. Now I was jumping up and down inside and she was puzzled beyond belief. She checked the price on that jacket three times as well, but every computer she checked gave the same answer. The jacket was worth $23. In the end, every item rang up for 2-5 times what the system originally said they were worth. The cashier was completely at a loss as to how this happened, and I was smiling like a loon and thanking God for the reminder that He is my provider and protector in this journey.
God reminded me that miracles happen not only today, but also in our day-to-day lives. We don’t have to be in church or serving in rural Africa to see the hand of God. Sometimes we only need to be paying attention at our local Kohl’s and trusting God to provide. He gave me $115 dollars that day, the exact amount needed to cover the purchase of the remaining clothes I needed for my trip. He provided in His own way, in a way I never expected and therefore could never have anticipated. It wasn’t the miracle I prayed for, but it’s the miracle which taught me the lesson He wanted me to learn. Praise God for His everyday miracles!
