Have Miracles Ceased?

Today I read one of my favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon: Mormon 9. I don't know why I love this chapter so much. Maybe it is because Moroni addresses his thoughts to "those who do not believe in Christ" (v. 1) and it makes me feel like I am on my mission again. Honestly, I think it is the fact that my testimony of miracles was strengthened on my mission because I saw the "tender mercies of the Lord" (1 Ne. 1:20) every day help further the work in Ukraine. Also, I am a firm believe in the notion that if we look for Heavenly Father's hand in our lives we will find it and not only that, we will continue to see it more often because we are actually trying to find it.

In reading to day, I was struck with the thought, "Have miracles ceased"? We don't hear of the Red Sea parting, the sun standing still in the sky, or mountains being moved, so the question remains, have miracles ceased? My answer to that is a resounding "No"! Although we don't hear if seas parting or mountains moving, there is something more subtle, but yet more profound that occures millions of times each day that I think is more of a miracle.

The definition of "Miracle" is : an effect or extraordinary event in the physical world that surpasses all known human or natural powers and is ascribed to a supernatural cause. (dictionary.com, "miracle")

The reason I say what happens millions of times each day is more of a miracle than seas parting and rocks moving is because the elements will always be obedient to God. Rocks will always move when God tells them to move, water will always part if God tells it to, but there is one thing in the world that will not always be obedient to Heavenly Father's command, and that is his greatest creation: his children. Us, as human beings, are the greatest creation of a loving Heavenly Father, but we are not always obedient to Heavenly Father. Even though we are not always obedient to Heavenly Father, he will not force us to be. That is why I really enjoy Elder Neal A. Maxwell's though:

"In conclusion, the submission of one’s will is really the only uniquely personal thing we have to place on God’s altar. The many other things we “give,” brothers and sisters, are actually the things He has already given or loaned to us. However, when you and I finally submit ourselves, by letting our individual wills be swallowed up in God’s will, then we are really giving something to Him! It is the only possession which is truly ours to give!" (Neal A. Maxwell, “‘Swallowed Up in the Will of the Father’,” Ensign, Nov 1995, 22)

When we allow our individual will to be "swollowed up in God's will, then we are really giving something to him." That is a miracle in my opinion. When a human being decides to give his/her will over to Heavenly Father, that is something that is an "extraordinary event in the physical world that surpasses all known human or natural powers and is ascribed to a supernatural cause." There is nothing to explain why we give our wills over to Heavenly Father. There is nothing to explain why we decide to keep His commandments, we just do. Millions of people each day decide to "put off the natural man" (Mosiah 3:19) and give their will over to Heavenly Father. That is the greatest miracle of all.

So, my plea today is that we will allow our will to be "swallowed up in God's will." Only then will we truly become the people that He wants us to be.