• This is a post that is a testimony to the providence of God, to His power to perform miracles today.

• We have 7 acres of meandering gardens, fruit trees, pathways and areas of trees and meadows.  I am grateful for warm days because I neglected my gardens this summer but I am making up for it now  by weeding like an obsessed crazy woman and filling wheelbarrows and even small trailers with  weeds. I am not exaggerating!

•  As we start experiencing cold nights, we are preparing for winter. That means splitting kindling, chopping wood and lighting the occasional fire in the morning to take the chill off of the house. There is nothing like a fire to warm not only our bodies but out hearts and souls. No wonder we love to describe God’s love as a burning fire. Especially in a cold climate like Canada we know that we are completely dependent on fire to keep us alive, not just comfortable. Which  reminds me of the Miracle we experienced last winter. A real bona fide miracle of multiplication

• Some people scoff, others think that miracles are relegated to biblical times but others have experienced inexplicable events that can only be called miraculous.

Sometimes God snags a skeptic with a powerful surprise physical healing. This blows up the poor guys world view and suddenly he realizes that there actually is a God who loves him. These kinds of miracles are a pure gift.

Another kind of miracle happens when we are desperate, without recourse to any other solution to solve our problem. Then the Father supplies our needs. As parents of a large family we depend on Him to supply a lot of the basic necessities. Not our wants but our needs. Even our skeptical children concede that this is true.

• We were completely oblivious at first to the fact that we were part of an unexpected miracle last winter. In mid January when our furnace was serviced for its annual cleaning, the repairman red tagged our oil tank. This was just before the tank needed another delivery of oil. Red tagged means it is an environmental risk and it is illegal for any company to fill it with oil. The last oil delivery was December 11, 2011. Since Michael’s uncle had a one year-old tank worth $2,000.00 to give us if we could hold out to the spring, we decided to try to heat with wood.

• In case you don’t know, we live in Canada. It is cold here in the winter, very cold. Although we did keep the thermostat at 18 C (66 F) instead of 20 -21 C (70 F), we burned wood at the far end of the house. The original family built this house in 1886. We put insulation in the attic, the previous owner added a plastic vapour barrier to cut the wind but it takes a lot of fuel to keep this house inhabitable.

• So we worried about how long the oil would last. Of course we were on edge and kept dashing downstairs to look at the fuel gauge.

The needle moved incredibly slowly if at all.

Maybe the repairman accidental broke the oil gauge.

It was a mild winter but still we had the oil tank filled on December 11, 2010!

We usually topped it up every three weeks when it is really cold outside.

THAT OLD FURNACE JUST NEVER STOPPED RUNNING!

It was quite disconcerting.

Finally near the end of February we relaxed and enjoyed this unexpected miracle right into April.