Susan rejoicing with the women of Haiti.

This article was published in the January 2024 issue of Healing for the Nations, the monthly publication Tom Shanklin Ministries. This issue celebrated 40 years of ministry from 1993-2023.

By Susan Shanklin

Since we are celebrating 40 years of ministry, I thought I would write about 40 years of the miraculous from my perspective. When you read Tom’s article, you see the miracle ministry, but for the other half, me, there are different miracles. Tom and I are a tight team, if I go with him or not. God is the coordinator, and we are His feet.

Our ministry was birthed out of our living room 40 years ago. We had a small Bible study, which grew too large, and Tom decided to start a church in the community center. He was the managing editor of the Twin Valley Times. We both were employed there, me in layout and darkroom duties. So when his boss gave him a choice to continue with the paper or ministry, Tom didn’t hesitate. Ministry.

We left our two incomes for $50 a week, which we received from the church. Yikes! 

Miraculously! We survived by the dear raven from heaven, Olive, who brought us rutabaga soup, Parkay margarine, buns, and chocolate chip cookies. 

Seriously, I can still taste the cubed rutabagas in warm broth and floury cookies. 

After Twin Valley, we moved on to Howard Lake for another pastorate. After a short stay in a country house, we purchased a large old Victorian house on a contract for deed, which was, of course, in disrepair. More wooden boards were showing than white paint on the sides of the house.

After a summer camping trip to Colorado with with three small children and a barking dog, we returned to a specular stunning country blue house with white trim. We couldn’t believe our eyes! Miraculously, the saints gathered together and feverishly painted our large Victorian in one week. 

Our pastorate ended in Howard Lake, and we were relocated to the far ends of the earth, Edgeley, North Dakota. No trees, no stores, no hills, no people, or so it seemed to me.

We packed up all our belongings, and I cried as we left our country blue house with the white trim. We arrived at night. I think the temperature was -225 degrees! Good Lord, what did we do!?

It was soooooooooo cold, and, of course, it was windy. As we backed up in the snow to the front porch, and let down the ramp, and there was a sag. Not a good sag.

Unloading would be impossible, so Donna, new to me, got under the sag in her snowmobile suit and boots and held it up!

Miraculously, she lived, and we unloaded the whole truck!

From that pastorate, we moved to Le Sueur, Minnesota, to trees, stores, hills, and people, and later to Makato, where Tom began a full-time traveling ministry.

Miraculously, again, we went from a salary to … well … nothing, but as long as Tom traveled, we ate, paid the mortgage, and repaired the house.

Miracles aren’t just healings, babies, and tumors falling off. Miracles are seeing the sun rise each day, returning home from the grocery store with food, and seeing grandbabies healthy.

Truly, the miraculous is being forgiven of guilt and shame in an instant because of Jesus dying on the cross and shedding His blood for me.

Miracles happen when we say, “Yes, Lord!” Miracles happen when you least expect them. Miracles happen when Jesus sends the right people into your life at the right time. 

Miracles happen as you breathe in and out. Miracles are normal and take place every day. So I tell you, live a miraculous life starting with your next inhale.

Love you all ever ever much!

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