A Spiritmuv participant who lives in Canarsie wrote that Hurricane Sandy allowed her to see with her own eyes first-hand that God is real and in charge.  She said that the tide surged ashore and cascaded down her block in Canarsie, but in prayer she witnessed the tide go back out and watched its potential damage recede too.  It was the truest miracle she ever witnessed.

Someone else wrote that after they refused to evacuate in Staten Island, ocean water busted through their back fence.   Their street was replaced with a river carrying cars. They were able to bring their valuables up to the second floor, but as their basement flooded, they witnessed the destruction of neighbors’ homes and cars while they sat in their living room.  As the water rose, however, the owner of the house remembered when Jesus Christ calmed the storm on a boat with his disciples. He remembered Jesus telling his disciples that we would do even greater things than him, and so the home owener walked down to his basement and asked Jesus to calm the storm and not let any more water into the house, and as he waited the waters receded, his car became visible, and the water in his backyard cleared out.  Eventually, he was able to pump the water out from his basement.  Besides losing a car, he and his family made it through the hurricane without a scratch.  When he looked at all of the devastation around his house, he said that he had experienced a miracle.

One of many other miracles of the storm took place when six firefighters saw 16 people trapped on a roof, screaming as flames shot over their heads. They tied their boat to a utility pole that was weakened by the storm.  If the pole fell into the water, they would all die.  The firefighters climbed across the alley of the building next to the one that was on fire and used a door as a bridge to help people across as the wind whipped debris around them that was on fire.  One by one, the people were put on the boat that was in a current.  Except for the firefighter who was steering, the firemen held on to the sides of the boat as they returned to high ground.  Afterwards, the firefighters didn’t talk about being heroes, the only thing they could talk about was the miracle of even being in the vicinity of the burning building.

These miracles remind us that God is in charge.  Over 40 people died in Hurricane Sandy, but the miracle is that millions more survived.  Property was destroyed, but the miracle is that the city and the country has joined together to rebuild.  The wind blew a crane on 57^th Street that is 80 floors high – and the miracle is that all week it has just been hanging there instead of causing mass destruction.

The cleansing waters came, but the miracle is that the following morning, a rainbow was here – over the skies of New York City – to remind us of our covenant with God, our covenant with divine source, our covenant with infinite ideas. In Isaiah 44:24-28 (NIV), the prophet Isaiah says“This is what the Lord says— your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb . . . .who says of Jerusalem, ‘It shall be inhabited,’ of the towns of Judah, ‘They shall be rebuilt,’ and of their ruins, ‘I will restore them,’who says to the watery deep, ‘Be dry, and I will dry up your streams,’ who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd and will accomplish all that I please; he will say of Jerusalem, “Let it be rebuilt,” and of the temple, “Let its foundations be laid.”’ Isaiah is teaching us that God will rebuild the ruins.  God will dry up our streams.  God will pick up the pieces. God will heal the wounds.  God will drain the flooded waters. God will rescue those in distress.  God will fix what is broken.  God will patch up what needs mending.  God will give us transportation.  God will manifest the money that we need.  God will restore our good.  All of the blessings that should have been ours will be made available to us.  Our time will be restored.  Our money will be restored.  Our opportunities will be restored.  Our jobs will be restored.  Our love life will be restored.  The story of Cain and Abe even teaches us with the birth of Seth — our children will be restored.

The Psalmist says (Psalm 51:11-12) “Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.”

Part of the repair that needs to be done is for us to remember, for us to keep the faith, for us to know that we know that we know that nothing can stand in the way of the good that we desire deep in our hearts.

In Zephaniah 3:20, the Lord says “I will give you honor and praise among all the peoples of the earth when I restore your fortunes before your very eyes.”

The storm reminded me that in 1 Peter 5:10, it says “after you have suffered a little while, God will restore you and make you strong.”

The storm reminds me that even with Job, who had experienced the most death, destruction and devastation known to man, because of his faith his good was restored. In Job 8:5-7, it says:  But if you will seek God earnestly and plead with the Almighty, ⁶ if you are pure and upright, even now he will rouse himself on your behalf and restore you to your prosperous state. And it goes on to say in verse 42:10 “After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before.”  (Emphasis added.)

If we have faith, if we ask and believe, if we use the power that God has given us to manifest boldly and courageously whatever we want then we know that the Universe will give us twice as much as we had before.

The miracles remind us that we are blessed.  I was blessed to have rested in the storm, to have eaten my comfort foods in the storm, to have ventured out after the storm, realizing that I have some cleaning to do.  I have some healing to do.  I have some building to do.  I have some restorative work to do.

The storm has opened up new spaces for twice as many blessings.  The wind has steered us in directions that we never imagined before.  We have an even greater opportunity to build stronger communities, more secure infrastructures, to re-imagine the future by blending urbanism and ecology, to irrigate, grow and expand global engineering that will result in innovative roads, expanded planting, better water quality, storm surge barriers, and more secure buildings.

We have an ark to build – not just in the flesh but in the spirit.

Noah means peace.  Noah means calm.  Noah teaches us that when extreme experiences flood our lives, we can prepare to meet them with peace and calm – knowing that the greatest miracle that happens is the one within ourselves – that we can open our eyes to see life differently and know that no matter what God will restore our good – not just because all things are possible but because our good is inevitable with God.

The miracle is when we know that for ourselves that our good is not just possible, it is inevitable with God.

Namaste,

Cecilia Loving