A Girl Named Miracles (Chilibre, Panama)

This is the third post by my friend, Pastor Henry Fuhrman, from CenterPoint Church.  He and and a group of pastors from across the US are currently in Panama on an Operation Christmas Child distribution.

A Girl Named “Miracles”

When we arrived in Chilibre (for the shoebox distribution), the children were already singing and dancing. 

Afterwards a young girl was invited to address the crowd.  She walked slowly to the stage, holding her father’s hand.  She was cute, wearing a red and white skirt with pink sunglasses.  She couldn’t have been older than 7 years old.  As I watched her closely, I realized that without her dad’s hands, she wouldn’t know the way.  It soon became clear that she couldn’t see.  This sweet little girl was completely blind.

I wasn’t prepared for what happened next.  She grabbed the mic with confidence and began to preach!  She quoted from memory:

Romans 6:23, “for the wages of sin is death; but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

For the next 20 minutes I listened to this 7 year old girl expound upon this text in clear, passionate, and powerful ways.  She talked about the gifts we brought today, and made the connection to the true gift that Jesus brought 2000 years ago.  She urged her fellow children to not only receive the gifts in these shoeboxes, but to receive the gift of eternal life as well.  Then she prayed for them and for us.

Still in awe of what I just witnessed,  I made a point to meet this little girl.  I walked up to her, hugged her, and told her with the little Spanish I know, that her sermon on Romans 6 was one of the best I had heard.  And I meant it.  She smiled.

In the few moments I spent with her and her dad, I learned that she was indeed 7 years old, completely blind, and totally in love with Jesus.  She doesn’t own a braille Bible, so her dad reads her the scriptures every day out loud.  Over time, she has memorized portions of the Bible including her favorite verse, Romans 6:23.

As I began to walk away from this amazing little girl, I realized I didn’t know her name.  I hurried back and  told her my name was Enrique (Henry in Spanish).  She told me her name was Milagros.

Milagros.  What a beautiful name.  All day I thought about this girl, and I couldn’t get her name out of my head.  When I got back to our hotel I looked up the meaning online.

Wouldn’t you know it?   Milagros means miracles in Spanish.