A Miracle at Turner Falls in Oklahoma
Can ordinary people perform miracles?
I first visited Turner Falls in Oklahoma when I was in college. It is located in the Arbuckle Mountains, about 60 miles south of Oklahoma City. My College was in Alva, Oklahoma, 150 miles northwest of Oklahoma City, not too far away.
My friend Cathy Thorsen, aka Celebriticat, used to visit them whenever she took her homeschooled son on basketball tournaments in Oklahoma City.
When I took the above photo, it was a drought year. It doesn’t do justice to the beauty I initially saw that took my breath away and keeps bringing me back.
I was going to Sedona, Arizona, to attend the Joyfully Jobless Weekend, a program led by my mentors Barbara Winter and Terri Belford. Cathy loves the energy of Sedona. I knew that from her visit a year earlier. So, I talked her into a follow-up visit. We pooled our resources and hit the road. We planned to take a different route back to visit Turner Falls, Oklahoma, on our return trip.
After the conference, we visited the Grand Canyon and stayed in Flagstaff for the night. Then we headed east, and after driving all day, spent the night in Amarillo, Texas, before continuing. The gray skies that we’d seen when we left Flagstaff the day before were still lingering on, along with occasional drizzle.
We were expecting better weather because it was early spring, but no such luck. As we turned south on I-35 from Oklahoma City, the sky was still covered with clouds as far as we could see, in every direction.
I glanced at Cathy and said, “Wouldn’t it be great if the skies opened up, and we’d have some sunshine by the time we reached Turner Falls?”
She smiled, “Oh, that would be wonderful.”
Literally within a minute or two, we saw some blue peeking out from the clouds. About an hour later, when we got to the Falls, there was a humongous circular opening in the sky, and the sunshine felt nice and warm.
The thundering sound of water falling from the cliffs into the pool below was mesmerizing. Since it was still too cold to get in the water, we sat on a bench to take in the sunshine. I closed my eyes, feeling the warm sun on my skin. I was grateful for the wonders and beauty of nature.
We saw wildlife on the ground and in the sky as we hiked up around back to where the waterfall began. We explored some of the ruins on the side of the mountain, but I did not dare to look for the cave I had discovered 35 years earlier.
These were the most magical couple of hours of my life. I looked at the sun shining through the circular opening and felt nothing but love and bliss.
“Even the least among you can do all that I have done and greater things yet.”
It was time to get back on the road, and by the time we hit I-35, the opening in the sky was gone. Nothing but gray skies as far as you can see. Had we just witnessed a miracle? Did we perform a miracle?
Jesus said, “Even the least among you can do all that I have and greater things yet.”
I know, deep within my heart, it was our desire that manifested the afternoon sunshine that day. I am humbled by our ability to co-create. Through the fulfillment of our desires, we have the power to bring about a little sunshine into the lives of others.
If Moses can part the running waters, I believe I can part the clouds and allow the Sun to shine through.
I am a vagabond who lives in his Mobile Domicile and goes on road trips.
As always, thank you for reading and responding.
More about me:
Rasheed Hooda is a published author and a regular contributor to ILLUMINATION, a writers’ community on Medium where writers support each other.
He is a self-proclaimed weirdo who lives a Freedom Lifestyle and writes about related topics — Travel (a top writer), Personal Growth, Freedom, and entrepreneurship. (Get the Newsletter)
“You can let others tell you what it means to be successful, or you can decide it for yourself.”
