The last Sunday in January this year may forever remain memorable to my family. On that day, as I picked a call from my mum at about 5 am, I immediately felt some heat in my spine. The last time I received such a call at an unusual hour was when my dad had issues with his health. I recall the travail we went through in prayer during that time and to God’s glory, he became hale and hearty again. So, I thought there may be something wrong with his health again when I received this call. Conversely, the voice I heard on the phone was unusually boisterous.

What happened, I inquired. “We just experienced a miracle”, my mum quickly responded. I tried to imagine what sort of miracle could have occurred in the middle of the night. As I was going to ask my next question to gain better clarity, my mum continued by saying – armed robbers visited us some hours ago. Now, this got me really confused because I couldn’t figure out how this part of the story was a miracle. But when I patiently listened to the whole story, I was full of gratitude at the awesomeness of God.

My mum had turned off the room lights before going to bed and when she suddenly opened her eyes in the middle of the night, she could see the frame of a man standing by the bed and facing her direction. She thought the person standing was my dad and asked, why are you standing there? Immediately, an armed robber shined a flashlight into her eyes and said, “you will have to cooperate with me now; I need you to bring out all the monies in this house”. I don’t have any money here, she responded. The guy brought out a dagger and said – “if you do not cooperate with me by quietly bringing out your money, you will not like the outcome by the time I finish dealing with you.”  My mum’s response this time was quite affirmative – “I don’t have any money. I am a child of God and cannot lie to you”.

There was a long pause in the room and thereafter, the robber started apologizing to my mum. In his words, “I am very sorry madam for coming into this house. I obviously entered a wrong place! As I am standing here, I can hear God speaking to me clearly that I must not touch His anointed child and not a single pin must be taken away from this house. Please ma, pray for me. My name is Moses and I didn’t intend to be an armed robber. I got into this mess some years ago when I graduated and couldn’t get a job after searching severally”. The robber went on his knees and was weeping profusely while my mum prayed for him. When I asked my mum what she uttered during her prayers, she couldn’t remember anything (guess she must have been really terrified). After the prayer session, the robber returned a purse he had taken in the sitting room and said – “this was the only thing I had taken when I entered your house.  I’m leaving now and I didn’t take any pin”. My dad was right there in the room, watching that episode in a speechless mode.

Now it all seemed to make sense to me after listening to the complete story. Indeed, it was a miracle, I muttered under my breath. My mum was full of joy, and I can’t forget the statement she used to summarize everything – this my God loves me so much. As I pondered over the situation, I wondered if she felt that love immediately the robber showed her the dagger and threatened her. It’s the same way sometimes we go through challenging situations as believers, and when we are in the current scene, we begin to get discouraged. However, that scene could just be the “Act 2, Scene 1” in the whole episode. When the full story is played out and told, it is surely going to be another miracle. I love the way Romans 8:28 (BBE) puts it – “And we are conscious that all things are working together for good to those who have love for God, and have been marked out by his purpose.”

I couldn’t initially reconcile “we just experienced a miracle” and “armed robbers visited us” just the same way you may be going through some irreconcilable situations right now. But whatever challenge it is you are passing through today, be conscious of the fact that when all the scenes of the drama are put together, we can boldly say – All life scenes work together for a miracle story to be told in my life. AMEN!

Tope Aladenusi