She looked at me to be sure I had seen it too–and I had – but it seems she needed to be sure she wasn’t the only one who saw it. I sprang to my feet immediately and shouted involuntarily at the sight of the miracle. A few minutes earlier, Dr. Lawrence Tetteh had asked the little girl to be seated on a chair in front of the entire congregation. He took hold of her legs and stretched them out so we could all see that her left leg was shorter than the right. The Evangelist said a word of prayer – a very short prayer – there and then, within a split second both legs were of the same length!

The lady next to me was on her feet as well. You could tell she had a lot to say as she looked at me with eyes that were glistening because they were teary. She had a lot to say; her whole demeanor depicted one who had some sort of fire burning inside of her, causing her discomfort. But the greatest discomfort was, trying to hold herself back, and if you like, trying to tame the wild fire. You could tell vividly that she wanted to scream but her words rolled off her tongue in a murmur: a soft speech under her breath. She said to me, ‘I know that girl; we met once at the hospital. We had both gone there to see the doctor. That day the doctor told us we would have to undergo a surgical operation to correct the deformity in our legs. She told me later that her parents could not afford it – mine could, anyway – so I encouraged her. I told her not to lose faith and that God will make a way’. By saying ‘God will make a way, I am sure she meant God will make the needed amount for the surgery available. She obviously didn’t expect God to come through for the little girl in such a dramatic fashion. All of us in the auditorium that day were stunned at the sight of the miracle but the lady next to me was hit the hardest. Obviously due to her past encounter with both the little girl and the same condition. Seeing a condition literally vanish into thin air in such a dramatic way was awesome. Especially if you once had the same deformity and had to pay a huge sum of money to get it fixed (in this case, the lady next to me). My life hasn’t been the same since that day. What happened? Did the Evangelist stretch the little girl’s left leg till it was of the same length as the right? Was it thermal expansion? They say there is a scientific explanation for every phenomenon, so I guess it was thermal expansion: the process by which heated objects increase in size. I cannot explain it, but I know I saw it together with the hundreds of congregants on that day.

The occurrence of miracles simply reiterates the fact that not everything can be explained scientifically. That is the very reason why some scientists do not believe in them. They claim miracles are a breach of natural laws and since that is impossible then it means those who claim to have witnessed miracles are delusional. I love C.S Lewis’ explanation of what miracles are. He made this illustration:

‘when I put 2 dollars on a table and add 2 dollars to it later, it equals 4 dollars. Leaving the money on the table, when I come back and only see 2 dollars, it doesn’t mean that the laws of arithmetic have been broken, but it means that the laws of ALABAMA have been broken’.

What he is saying here is, when there is a strange occurrence, especially one occurring in a realm where there are laws, we need not always allude it to a breach of the laws. Those two dollars he came to meet on the table later on do not signify that the laws of arithmetic have been broken (since 2+2 equals 4). They signify that the laws of Alabama have been broken, in the sense that, it is likely somebody came in to steal the other 2 dollars. Do we say that this person broke the laws of arithmetic or the laws of Alabama? Certainly not the law of arithmetic because he operates in a different realm and that realm is governed by laws too. So the thief broke the laws of Alabama because he is under those laws. One can only break a law he is under. When it comes to miracles, we are talking about God here. He doesn’t have to break any natural laws, because he isn’t subject to them in the first place. He is God. Many claim the bible is full of fables because most of the happenings in it cannot be verified scientifically. Well of course, the bible is a book about God and his relationship with men and anywhere there is God you should expect supernatural occurrences. I have seen police officers direct traffic many times even though the lights were working. This is usually due to the heavy nature of the vehicular traffic on those roads that day. On such occasions, the cars obey the policeman and not the traffic lights. The red light could be on, but the officer would beckon that particular row of cars to move because that power has been vested in him. Do we say the policeman has broken the laws of Ghana because of that act? Certainly not, on such occasions, he has the authority and sovereignty to do so. So in the case of miracles, think of God as the policeman who stepped in to direct traffic. Though there are laws governing natural occurrences, He steps in to do his will as He pleases. That is SOVEREIGNTY!

 
Miracles are supernatural occurrences that cannot be explained; Creation in itself is a miracle. The universe is arranged too systematically for it to have just occurred without an agent creating or even guiding it. The many stars and galaxies, the sun and the other heavenly bodies and the other planets couldn’t have been created out of nothing by nothing. Instead of scientist giving God the credit for these things, they would rather give it to a random occurrence. In 1929, Edwin Hubble discovered that the universe is expanding. This claim is held in high esteem by scientists the world over. It is also a proven fact that the earth is hanging in space. More than 5000 years before that, these 2 facts were recorded in the book of Job:

‘He stretches out the north over the empty SPACE, and hangs the earth on nothing’ Job 26:7.

It says ‘He stretches…’ implying that it is an on-going activity; it never ended. God hasn’t stopped expanding the universe, otherwise the verse would have read, ‘He stretched…’ which would have communicated a sense of finality. I am fascinated by the fact that the author of the book of Job knew that the earth hanged on nothing. How did he know that? Was he an astronaut? Did he know Neil Armstrong? Maybe he owned a spaceship. Whatever the case may be, the author knew something that took 1000s of years for the smartest brains of this world to know. The irony of the whole situation is in the fact that children at Sunday school probably knew this and erudite scientists had to wait till 1929 to be sure of it. Wait… let that sink in.

I believe in miracles because I have seen many in my own life and in the lives of others. Day in and day out I encounter people who operate in the gifts of the Holy Spirit which are a tangible proof of the existence of God. It is my prayer that many Christians shall hunger for God more and he will also grant us these gifts to help in showcasing his power thereby pointing many to him. At the display of such gifts, many shall run and announce, like the woman at the well, ‘Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did’ – Jesus. Our God is alive and not dead.