TO GOD BE THE GLORY / MIRACLES

TO GOD BE THE GLORY! MIRACLES, BY EVELYN HOLTZCLAW

The amazing story of 16 months Ralph Holtzclaw spent as a POW of the Germans, Evelyn's unwavering faith that he would return home, and the miracles and blessings they experienced before and after this unthinkable ordeal.

Sister Holtzclaw, as I call her, is a wonderful lady and a dear friend, she is the virtuous woman of Proverbs 31.  You can read her book on my website www.word-truth.com

on the MIRACLES tab.

MIRACLES IN THE STORMS

Winter is not my favorite season, I dread slick, icy roads, parking lots, and sidewalks. This season has threatened to be the worst we've seen in Oklahoma City for ice and snowfall, yet I've seen a number of miracles this winter. The first big winter storm came on Christmas Eve, the first miracle was that I was scheduled off work the week of the storm and for another week after the storm and for one reason or another so were every member of my family. The forecasters were saying it was going to last a long time and that more would come. I happened to read in my bible reading that God melts the snow and thaws the ice, I started confessing that, particularly when the weather reports were being aired. The day we were suppose to have the second round the weatherman said he really couldn't understand how the temperatures could stay above freezing with all the snow still on the ground but it did and we didn't get the devastation from the second round that was expected, soon everyone was able to get out and about and when we went back to work the main roads and parking lots were in good shape.

February was the next round. I went to work the morning it was to come, nothing was happening when I left, but by the time it was time to go home we had had ice, sleet, and snow. I was confessing and believing it wouldn't come so I didn't take any windshield de-icer with me. I asked to leave 15 minutes early that day and was on the same bus with the lady who was parked right next to me. Everything had been extremely icy and slick a little earlier in the day but it was sleeting when we left and the sleet gave enough traction to walk on it without slipping. I got in my car and turned on my defrosters full blast and was going to wait awhile till the car warmed up to start trying to scrape the ice off the windshields, the lady next to me just started spraying some of her de-icer on my windshields, it helped, and before long I had my windshields clear enough to leave. If I had left on time she would already have been gone and it might have taken longer to get my windshields cleared, another miracle from the Lord, despite my stupidity or lack of faith, whichever it was. The next miracle was the next day, which was Friday and extremely icy, my husband took me and dropped me off in a covered parking area that led right into the building. The snow was coming down heavily that afternoon so he asked me to ask my chief if I could leave early, and he allowed me to leave an hour and 45 minutes early. Monday was clear enough on the main streets and parking lots to get around without too much trouble.

The next storm the weatherman said that the cold air and the moisture never quite met so we didn't get the winter precipitation they were predicting, and everything else we've been getting recently have been rain.

My family and I didn't have a single vehicle accident or fall during some of the worst winter weather we've seen in our state. Praise to almighty God! Mark 11:22-24 states that if you speak to mountains to move they will move if you have faith. Jesus spoke to a storm and calmed it and He said we could do the things He did. I've taken baby steps in this area and have had some successes and failures (on my part, not God's), but I won't stop trying to do what the bible says I can do. I speak to storms, and I don't intend to stop.

HOW MUCH FAITH DO YOU HAVE???

Where did we come from?

The Big Bang Theory and the Theory of Evolution are taught as if they are scientific facts. The word "theory" is usually ignored. (Theory: A proposed explanation whose status is still conjectural. Conjecture: The formation or expression of an opinion or theory without sufficient evidence for proof. -Random House Webster's College Dictionary 1991.) These "theory's" are quite convenient for those who do not wish to believe in an eternal, omnipresent, creator God.

But what does it take more faith to believe?

The big bang theory? First there was nothing at all, and all of a sudden a "infinitesimally small, infinitely hot, infinitely dense" singularity formed, which appeared out of nowhere for reasons unknown, which inflated, expanded and cooled, going from very, very small and very, very hot, to the size and temperature of our current universe, and continues to expand and cool to this day (from www.big-bang-theory.com). The cooling led to the evolvement of atoms, protons, neutrons, quarks, etc., and apparently, eventually--us, I assume. And thus we have the universe and everything in it, organized, efficient, all parts moving in sync, all brought together by a random, unintelligent something or other. Take your car apart, piece by piece, how many millions of years do you think it will take for all the parts to come back together to make a whole car, or something better, without an intelligent being putting it back together? (The parts will be kind of rusty by then.)

Then there is the theory of evolution. We all came from the sea, and over time evolved from sea creatures, to land creatures, to us. Apparently going from improvement to improvement. I wonder what we will be a million years from now under this theory??? Nature teaches us matter doesn't improve over time, but diminishes and decays. We get old and we die, we don't get younger and better. Metal rusts, cloth wears out, flesh goes back to dust.

Creation (not a theory) is explained in the Word of God, how an intelligent, eternal, omnipresent, everlasting, Spirit -- God, created the all that exists, and created a Spirit Being -- Man (not a non-spirit being -- ape) after His image and likeness, and man became a living soul.

Which explanation of creation takes more faith to believe? I suppose if you don't want to believe that everything, including us, was created by God, then you can probably stretttttttttch your faith way, way out there and accept that everything came about randomly as in the big bang theory or things are progressing and getting better and better as in the theory of evolution. It's just much easier for me to believe in an intelligent Creator.

This is a link to a site where you can look up scripture references in many different versions of the bible:http://www.biblegateway.com/