Opinion

Discover the Miraculous everyday

John Myhill has just enjoyed what appears to have been a wonderful holiday in Scotland, and describes some of his fortuitous experiences.

I believe that there are no coincidences. When surprising things happen that bring joy, or you spot a connection that seems impossible, try to understand what God is telling you.
 
Here are some examples from my recent holiday in the Western highlands, a treat from my daughter who did the driving and arranged places to stay. 

• When my wife saw me off at Wymondham station, we were both worried that all the travelling might prove too much for me, dependent on crutches, carrying a back pack and often falling over at home. But we sat next to a man of about our age, with his assistance dog, as he was blind. He also had a backpack and crutch, because he had an artificial foot. He told us he had flown several times to the US and travelled all over – so nothing for us to worry about. 
• When I changed trains at York, I got into conversation with a young woman of about my daughter's age, who was visiting her father in hospital following a heart attack. That worked out conveniently for her as she lives in Edinburgh and had already planned for that weekend to visit her husband’s family and friends in York, so just came down a day early to see her dad. Fathers and daughters, a tight bond.
• Our first visit was to the estate north of Dingwall, where I worked as stockman/ tractor driver in 1975, when my daughter was only 6months old. Given that I had been sacked for being a useless tractor driver, I was pleased that my ex-boss, had agreed to have a chat and provide tea! But he did far more, insisting on taking us around the estate, in his Landrover, to show all the developments of the last fifty years.
• The next day we arrived 20 minutes late in Strathpeffer, as they have built a bypass since my last visit. If we had arrived earlier, we would have missed an excellent breakfast at the restored station, because the café opened as we arrived.
• The ferry journey to Stornoway, pictured above, was very special, as the weather was clear and we arrived as the sun set splendidly over the island, something regular travellers on the ferry very rarely saw.
• A number of apparent connections with my Polish son-in-law's family in Iowa - a family from the same part of Poland who had their flight cancelled because of the recent Russian drones; the young woman on the ferry [studying evolutionary psychology like my Iowa granddaughter] who was returning to the island for the wedding of a cousin who was marrying a Pole. Finally, driving across Lewis, Radio 4 was interviewing a young woman at Iowa state University; where my granddaughter is a student and her parents both teach.
• On the Sunday morning, we were driving in a remote area just before 11am, when we saw a Scottish Episcopal church, so I went in to the service, where the singing from the Psalter was wonderful and rare, and the sermon was about the Meeting with Jesus on the road to Emmaus. This was a perfect description of all my travels, when I so often meet something of God in complete strangers, and have that same experience of surprise, as I did in the church that day.
• We took a detour to Grabhair, because of the name, a wonderful cove straight out of a Black Bob story, where we saw two golden eagles. The next day we saw another two at Tarbert, because we were early for our ferry.
• The weather was much better up there than down in Norfolk, which beautifully illuminated some of my favourite places, like the road from Portree to Skye bridge, the top end of Lock Marie, and the view across two sea lochs toward Ulapool and the summer isles from a headland north of Poolewe.
• Whenever I needed a washroom, we were always passing a hotel, café or public toilet, even though we might travel through empty places for hours without seeing another.
• On my return journey, dozens of grouse sat on round straw bales in a field just north of Gleneagles – I can never recall seeing so many.

None of these may sound like a miracles, but every day I had the sense of being led, of being protected and upheld by God.  The right time in the right place so often in one short holiday was wonderful, and I am truly thankful. 
 
But this could be everyone's experience of everyday life, if only we look for the things that go right, and praise God for His guidance and support, we soon come to see the world through His eyes and accept His superior understanding of our needs.  Share your experience of His Grace in your life.
 
Photo of Stornoway is by Pete Crockett on Unsplash

John Myhill is a Norwich Quaker, retired magistrate and author, who has gone back on-line after a break of more than six years off the Internet.
 

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