The Gift of looking back..

Sometimes one has to look twice and maybe even more at a situation, event, or experience to draw forth all of its fruit. When I was challenged to take the time to look back over my life I found two particular situations that were more like miracles when I looked at them again. The first being the fact that, even though I had not taken the college prep program in High School, I went on to not only graduate from college but to earn a Masters Degree in Education and teach elementary grades for over twenty years. The second situation was my quest for a drivers license. At sixteen I was not given the opportunity to go through the process of getting my license. From family and friends my having Cerebral Palsy raised all kinds of "What would happen if" questions with regard to my driving. The door closed until..the father, of a wonderful family that I did child care for while I was in High School, taught me to drive as we went back and forth from their home to mine. I now had the basics, but the door remained closed until 1980, twenty years later. I was preparing to go into a new Ministry in a rural area, and would need to be able to drive. Wanting to end the "What ifs" once and for all, I called and asked if a driving school instructor would be willing to "Test Drive" me and evaluate my driving skill. When I got behind the wheel of the car, for the first time since high school, that day of the "Test Drive" I drove with ease and confidence, as if I had been driving all my life!! At the end of our session, the instructor said, "You did fine.. you just need a little more practice"! I got the practice and my license in time to begin my new ministry. I have been driving ever since. Yes, I went beyond my limits..but did not fully appreciate the magnitude of the events until I took the time to look back! What other miracles wait to be recognized and appreciated in our lives?