Expect a Miracle: The Miraculous Things That Happen to Ordinary People

Expect a Miracle: The Miraculous Things That Happen to Ordinary People

A collection of personal miracle stories shares the experiences of people from different religions and various walks of life, including an Irish factory worker, a Buddhist at Berkley, and a prisoner at Sing-Sing. 35,000 first printing. $40,000 ad/promo. Tour. Two years ago, contemporary writer Wakefield surprised many when he honestly and movingly recounted his spiritual reawakening in Returning: A Spiritual Journey (LJ 3/1/88). Now, he collects a variety of stories about the power of healing, presence, and recovery that miracles bring to daily life. The first chapter of his book offers an insightful look at the history and psychology of miracles. After listening to countless stories of the miraculous, Wakefield concludes that the greatest miracles are to be found in the intimate and surprising events of our everyday lives. Readers will find Wakefield a trustworthy companion on their own spiritual journeys because of his honesty in sharing his own spiritual struggles. Highly recommended. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. Wakefield is a journalist, so it is hardly surprising that this chatty collection of anecdotes, not so much written as orchestrated by Wakefield, has a journalistic tone. The anecdotes flow freely, though the narrative structure of the book as a whole is fragmented. It could profitably be read in pieces rather than straight through--not as a study of miracles so much as a record of their expectation. There is no consensus here about what constitutes a miracle; there is, however, ample evidence that the expectation is present across all sorts of boundaries. Steve Schroeder Miracles do happen, and they happen every day. Here, renowned author Dan Wakefield's illuminating tour of the miraculous shows that what is possible far transcends our conventional modern expectations. In Expect a Miracle , Wakefield starts with miracles in his own life -- an improbable recovery from a near-fatal car accident during college and his middle-age recovery from desperate alcoholism -- and then weaves a remarkable tapestry of true miracle stories from people he met in his workshops and in travels to Lourdes, Ireland, and throughout the United States. representing all walks of life and faith -- a factory worker in Denver, a Buddhist in Berkeley, and a prisoner at Sing-Sing -- these miracles range from amazing physical healing to startling bursts of artistic creativity, the abrupt liberation from a long imprisonment of addiction and despair to the unexpected presence of God and deceased loved ones. Along the way, readers also encounter extraordinary miracle stories of many well-known people, including singer Judy Collins, former Oakland Athletics pitcher Ron Darling, Senator Richard Lugar, theologian Harvey Cox, and bestselling author Michael Crichton, as well as dozens of other people who have had far from ordinary experiences. The book closes by showing how eyes open to life's miraculous possibilities can see the everyday miracles we all encounter -- the birth of a child, the gift of friendship, the blessing of good food shared with others, the wondrous delights of our senses, the bounties of nature, and the beauty of silence.