Carole Whang Schutter - Miracles Happen: A Prayer Guide for Desperate People

Most of the planet lives in darkness.

David E. Guggenheim, Ph.D.

Marine Biologist

When light comes into a room, darkness has to flee. We all want to live unafraid in the light. But first, we have to learn how to banish darkness and fear. Not so easy in this world of uncertainty.

Even the incredibly accomplished continue to seek the light. One of my best friends, Patricia Sklar, on the cover of a national magazine as woman entrepreneur of the year was a schoolteacher who became successful at a variety of start-ups at a time when it was difficult to be woman in business. She's appeared on the Today show and on other national TV programs. Now retired in Sonoma and active in the arts, she confessed her priority in life hadn't changed. She continues to look for answers to life.

Everyone wants peace in every circumstance, victory in our lives, the secret of miracles, and the fulfillment of our dreams. Is it possible to remain positive and even smile when our world blows apart? Can we live a life where fear, depression, stress, and anxiety are no longer our companions? Can we actually take control of our lives?

At this time, Americans fear is at its height. The Mid East is in chaos, governments are being overthrown, huge riots flaring up, our embassies attacked. Unemployment and under employments continues to be a problem. Worried people all over the country are stocking up on dehydrated food, water, water purification kits and guns because of sky rocketing food prices and a nagging fear the end is near.

We've been told that we're emerging from a devastating recession where home prices plummeted like a rock thrown out of the window of a skyscraper. Foreclosures were rampant and banks all over the world failed. Natural disasters of Biblical proportions are devastating the world. The earthquake in Japan, the biggest typhoon ever to hit land in the Philippines, mythic flooding in Colorado, deadly tsunamis with record breaking fatalities, and unfriendly nations developing nuclear weapons.

Is the world coming to an end? It seems like mens hearts are failing them with fear (from Luke 21:26). All around the planet, people are gripped with an uneasy feeling the planet is heading for a new chapter, and it doesn't appear to be a good one. But we can still bring light into any situation and not go into a depression over the increasing darkness.

Can I start with one simple truth? God says hundreds of times in the Bible, Do not fear, or Do not be afraid. If we allow negativity to rule our lives, we will fall victim to that which we give unconscious homage to. As Job moaned, What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me. Some call it a self-fulfilling prophecy. Why? Because words have power.

To live in victory, we must first cast out those fears that hold us hostage. I know it isnt easy, I sometimes panic myself. But we must practice overcoming our fear like an athlete practices his sport. Every time we do it, we get stronger and more positive.

Let me start with the power of words to change our lives. Although many new age ideas regarding this principle have a lot of truth, we're not, and will never be gods. When Satan told Eve she would become like God if she ate of the apple, it was possibly his finest trick. Since that time, man has tried to be his own god.

We're not God, but we can find God in us. His power can take us through the most horrific circumstances. I know because I've been in the fire for extended periods of time. One of my lawyers once asked me if I felt like Job. My second husband had recently died, either through suicide or murder, which put me in the middle of the intense litigation that killed him.

Soon after, my first husband was felled by a stroke that left him unable to walk and talk. He was also on the verge of bankruptcy. The bank that had lent him millions of dollars decided to go after me. Threatened by lawyers, in danger of losing everything I had, my beloved husband dead, I was hit by the discovery that both my troubled, teen-aged sons were victims of unspeakable abuse they were forced to endure throughout their childhood. I felt beset on all sides. But I refused to live in darkness then and I refuse to live in darkness now. I have confidence that everything will turn out fine. No matter what I have to go through, I will come through the fire unscathed because Miracles Happen .

The secret to miracles takes an open mind and a desperate heart willing to try anything. To those willing to open themselves up to the possibilities, it will change their lives. It did mine. Our constantly evolving life strives towards manifest destiny. God created us to do great things. He molded us to be movers and shakers. But the majority of the world chooses to live in darkness. There's comfort in the familiar, even when the familiar keeps us in bondage. Break those chains of life. Being spiritual means being connected to our Creator, in an intimate way.

Consider what it means to be connected to God. There's nothing higher, more sublime, than to be spiritually in tune with God. Because the connection is the life-force igniting the power. It drives the spirit-world to work for us, not against us. Imagine having the power of the universe available to us. That's the secret to miracles, Gods power in us to create the impossible. With "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27) you can overcome your circumstances and do extraordinary things.

People power the earth with their thoughts and actions. Imagine a world where instead of falling victim to depression and anxiety, millions or billions of people unite to reach God with one voice of faith and refuse to see their planet and situation as hopeless. Imagine a place where people decide nothing is impossible and that we were created to overcome every obstacle.

I wandered around in darkness and defeat for many years, but God kept a candle lit. I walked towards the light by studying and gradually opening up to what could be rather than reacting with despair over the storms of Biblical proportions I often found myself in. In the rain, I got my joy back because I received the secret to living a life that matters.

Every one of you was put on this earth with a calling on your life and a unique destiny to fulfill that is yours alone. It is my wish to teach you that can take authority over your life.

Let me start with the improbability of a fifty-something-year old achieving her childhood dreams at a time when most people are AARP retirees. Starting over when your life is in shambles is never easy, but it's not impossible.

David Valdes, producer of The Green Mile, Unforgiven, In the Line of Fire, Open Range, and many other fine movies, once told me getting my first screenplay made into a movie was a miracle. My entertainment attorney said only 1.1% of all screenwriters ever get a movie made. Skip Press, a screenwriting guru, described what happened to me as getting a home run the first time I got up to bat. Thank goodness I believe in miracles or I wouldnt have taken the first step toward making my dream a reality. Not to mention I was too ignorant to know any of that.

Dreams are the yearnings of our hearts to achieve all that God has in store for us. Whether or not our dreams come true is up to us. We've been given the freedom to choose whether or not we use our God-given gifts. The majority of people quit when they encounter obstacles blocking their dreams. They lack the persistence needed to get to the solution through Gods intervention. But how do we get God to help us?