Small Miracles: Extraordinary Coincidences from Everyday Life

May 5, 2000...a small book landed on my arms. My brother’s girlfriend had thoughtfully given me a birthday gift. It was this book -- Small Miracles! I excitedly read the sixty true stories contained in it and relished in the fact that coincidences does happen a lot in our lives.

You could actually be involved in a series of events and quite easily dismiss it as pure “luck”, “fluke”, “chance happenings” or “twist of fate.” Or you could see it as a blessing and perhaps feel God’s hand at work. But the remarkable thing is that once you have opened your eyes wide enough to see with your heart, they just come. Blessings found in answers that you were seeking, solutions to challenges, unexpected help, new found friendships and closing the gap between families and loved ones. Suddenly, your world is illuminated with light and you gasp with awe for everywhere miracles after miracles abound. They are not even big ones but little, tiny, small ones. Yet the greatest blessing comes from the knowing that all is well along with the feelings of love, hope, joy and peace.

This gift prodded me to buy Small Miracles II: Heartwarming Gifts of Extraordinary Coincidences. I also began to share these stories during our growth sessions with our teachers in our preschool. Eight years later, I still find myself sharing them as excitedly as I had done a few years ago.

1. Walking in a dimly lit street one night, a man heard muffled screams coming from behind the bushes. A rapist was at work. Torn between fear and risking his own life to help this unknown woman, he took the latter. He jumped upon the attacker and wrestled with him until he ran and escaped.

He could hear the girl sobbing so he tried to reassure her saying, "you're safe now." Suddenly out from the bushes, the words came in amazement, "Dad, is that you?" It was his youngest daughter, Katherine.

2. Trisha had picked up a stray cat in the school's courtyard, fallen in love with it and had begged her father to let her keep him. His father detested the cat intensely and finally he succumbed to his daughter's pleas esp. when she said that he just came up to her and rubbed against her in affection. "We connect Dad." But one time when the cat made the mistake of creating a mess in the dining room, he ordered for the cat to be removed from the house the following day!

Late that night, Trisha was startled from sleep when the cat hurled his body onto the bed and began to make hissing, angry sounds. Trisha tried to fend him off, but he kept returning. Finally she stood up and and climbed into her sister's bed on the other side of the room. Just then, an earthquake occurred. And a huge drawer toppled across the bed where only seconds before Trisha had been sleeping. It was the Northridge California earthquake of 1994. And the plain old alley cat had saved her life. Yes, the cat became a permanent member of the family after that.

3. Every sunday morning at exactly 9 a.m., twenty members of a Southern Baptist congregation church choir would assemble in a chapel for a one hour rehearsal before their services. The members were devoted and extremely punctual.

One day, sirens pierced the morning air as the residents rushed to see the chapel in flames. It was ten minutes past nine. They shook their heads mournfully as they realized that none of the choir members could have gotten out in time. The fire had happened too fast.

Still paralyzed with shock, people didn't notice the arrival of twenty automobiles pulling into the church's parking lot. Twenty red-frocked figures were running towards the church. Until the townspeople saw in astonishment at this miraculous sight. They were alive!!! For the first time in twenty years of ongoing choir practice, every single one of the choir members--for separate and unconnected reasons-had arrived late.

Small Miracles: Extraordinary Coincidences from Everyday Life (1997)

Small Miracles II: Heartwarming Gifts of Extraordinary Coincidences (1998)

Small Miracles of Love and Friendship: Remarkable Coincidences of Warmth and Devotion (1999)

Small Miracles for Women: Extraordinary Coincidences of Heart and Spirit (2000)

Small Miracles for the Jewish Heart (2002)

Small Miracles for Families: Extraordinary Coincidences that Reaffirm Our Deepest Ties (2003)

Changing Course: Women's inspiring stories of menopause, midlife and moving forward.

Yitta Halberstam and Judith Leventhal are the bestselling authors of the Small Miracle Series. Out of a deep appreciation for God’s guiding hand throughout their lives, they have decided to write this book. Both of their fathers were Holocaust survivors whose lives were saved by strange and mysterious coincidences.

One of their favorite stories in the First Small Miracles book came from the Oprah Winfrey Show’s Valentine's Day special of 1996. The story featured an elderly couple who had been married for over 50 years. They wanted to track them down but bemoan the fact that they were unable to.

One evening, Judith was delivering a talk at Barnes and Nobles bookstore in Queens when during the Q & A portion, someone raised a hand and announced, “Page 129.”

"What?" Judith asked, confused. “You wrote our story on page 129 of your book” the man replied warmly. Guess what? It was the valentines’ couple from the Oprah Winfrey show!

Yitta Halberstam is a writer and lecturer on spirituality whose work has appeared in many magazines, including Parade, New York, Money, and Working Woman. Judith Leventhal is a Gestalt therapist. They both live in Brooklyn, NY.

“There are only two positions you can take. Either you believe that nothing in life is a miracle or you believe that everything in life is a miracle.”

I invite you to get a copy of this book to read, share and be inspired and encouraged and just simply be amazed. May you continually recognize the many miracles that come your way. God bless you in your journey.

Michelle Simtoco