The miracles of Jesus are so many that, “if they should be written every one, I supposed that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.”
By asking three questions, we can study the miracles of Jesus to not only better recognize miracles as they happen in our lives but also strengthen our relationship with Jesus Christ as our Savior.
As a young single adult stake president, Rob Ferrell found that encouraging young adults to focus on the miracles of Jesus helped them with their testimonies. It guided them, he explains, to “use the doctrine of Jesus Christ in a personal, practical matter.”
To begin, he would ask young adults to study one miracle at a time with the following three questions in mind:
- If you were that person struggling with that problem, and Jesus Christ came and healed you, how would that feel?
If that problem was removed from your life by Jesus Christ, how would that change your life moving forward?
- What personal insight do you have now about this miracle of Jesus Christ?
Rob explains, “We have the New Testament full of miracles. Sometimes we look at those miracles and wonder, ‘Where are those miracles in our lives?’ because most of them are physical miracles. But all those miracles … have [a] spiritual application to them.”
A study of miracles with a more personal focus in mind can change hearts and make room for forgiveness.
On one occasion, a young adult came to Rob’s office to request the removal of her records from the Church. Rob said he would help her with that process, but he asked if she’d be willing to study a miracle of Jesus first—specifically, about the man with palsy who was healed after being lowered through the roof by his friends. When she came back two weeks later, she told him that she’d read those 12 verses over 50 times.
By focusing on this miracle, she understood the doctrine of Jesus Christ as her personal Savior in a way she hadn’t before. In her case, she no longer wanted to have her records removed.
With her permission, Rob shared the personal insights she gained about this passage of scripture. This young adult realized she needed to find four people with strong gospel roots who would be willing to help her as she came back to church.
“Who were those four people [on the roof]?” she asked. “Were they friends, family, people who didn’t have tickets to get in? You could not tell me that they didn't try many other things than throwing a guy up on a roof with blankets and a rope, [ruining] someone’s house, [disrupting] Jesus Christ in the middle of his teachings—that could not have been their first idea.” She continued, “I need to find four people that will carry me to Christ and will be non-traditional and find unique ways that will work for me.”
Elder Carlos A. Godoy of the Seventy explained, “A profitable way to study the Savior’s miracles and learn from them is to remember that each miracle points to something larger than the event itself and to look for specific truths about God and His work.”
He shares that when we look at the miracles when Jesus restored sight to the blind, we learn four lessons:
- Restoring sight was a sign of the Messiah.
Jesus is the light of the world.
- Faith precedes miracles.
- Miracles sometimes come line upon line.
Rob’s young adult friend had learned to trust in Jesus again, but she also understood that her conversion to the gospel wouldn’t happen in an instant. The desire she had to find four friends to help carry her to Christ showed her understanding that "miracles sometimes come line upon line."
Later in her continued study of this miracle, this young adult metaphorically put herself on the roof as one of the friends, acting on her desire to help bring others to Christ and eventually serving a mission.
“Miracles are still happening in our midst,” Elder Godoy also shared, echoing words from Moroni, “Have miracles ceased because Christ ascended into heaven? … Behold I say unto you, Nay.”
When we study and understand the miracles of Jesus on a more personal level, we can see miracles in our own lives, and the lives of others, more clearly and often.
Hear more about Rob Ferrell’s experiences and learnings from working with young adults in his Seek class.
