Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
174 | Answered Prayer: Testimonies to Strengthen Your Faith
4.8k Plays8 days ago
We've spent three months talking about prayer, and this final episode is where all of it comes to life. A few months ago, Jesse, our social media coordinator at Every Woman a Theologian, reached out to our community and asked them to share how God has been moving in their prayer lives. What came back left me emotional. Story after story of a personal, specific, loving God who hears and answers prayer. Sometimes with a yes, sometimes with a no, and sometimes in ways that are even more beautiful than what was asked for.
You'll hear testimonies of answered prayers through miscarriage and grief, infertility and miraculous pregnancies, job searches, family conflict, postpartum anxiety, healing, and so much more. I want to be honest with you—not all of these are happy endings. Some of the most powerful testimonies in this episode come from women holding the tension between grief and gratitude. But all of them point to a God who sees, who cares, and who answers specifically.
If your faith has been feeling thin or your prayers feel like they're hitting the ceiling, I hope these stories remind you that our God is not distant. He is near, and He is listening.
Shop Prayer Resources ⦿ Every Woman a Theologian Shop:
https://phyliciamasonheimer.com/shop
Watch the full Verity Podcast Prayer Series:
https://www.youtube.com/@veritypodcast
Subscribe to Verity Podcast:
https://apple.co/veritypodcast
Verity Podcast is an Every Woman a Theologian company. We believe every woman should be a theologian—every woman a student of the heart of God.
Order Every Woman a Theologian:
New Release: Not-So-Quiet Time: The Book of Psalms Volume 1
Follow along:
Substack: https://phyliciamasonheimer.substack.com
Instagram: https://instagram.com/phyliciamasonheimer
EWAT Instagram: https://instagram.com/everywomanatheologian
Subscribe for weekly biblical theology, spiritual warfare teaching, and practical guidance for growing in discernment and confidence in Christ.
#AnsweredPrayer #PrayerTestimonies #VerityPodcast #EveryWomanATheologian #FaithBuilding #ChristianWomen #PrayerLife
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction & Episode Theme
00:00:00
Speaker
Well, hello, friends. Welcome back to Verity Podcast. I am so stoked for this episode. I can't tell you how excited I am to share what I'm about to share with you.
00:00:17
Speaker
But first, we have to talk about the history behind this episode. So years ago, maybe not years ago, it feels like years ago, it was months ago probably, when I was still actively teaching on Instagram, I would ask every once in a while for people to share their answered prayers.
00:00:37
Speaker
Things that they prayed about, people, situations that they prayed about, and to share how God had answered them. And every time I did this, when I would post to the answers, people would respond saying it was one of the most faith building, encouraging things that I did on my Instagram.
00:00:56
Speaker
Now, obviously I'm trying to obey the Lord and not being on social media. He asked me to walk away from that earlier this year.
Collecting Community Stories
00:01:04
Speaker
And so i am doing that, but I love that we still have an avenue where we can share these answers. So Jesse, our wonderful social media coordinator at Every Woman a Theologian, which is the ministry over Verity podcast, reached out to our community, both to our Bible in a Year Club community and also on Instagram and asked them to share how God has been moving in their prayer lives. And we have so many stories as I was just reading through them.
00:01:36
Speaker
I felt myself getting emotional from one, the faithfulness of these believers, but two, to see how specifically God heard them. Now, what you're going to hear in some of these stories is not all hunky-dory, rose-colored glasses, everything's coming up daisies. That is not what you're about to hear.
Experiencing God in Grief
00:02:00
Speaker
In fact, some of these answered prayers are within a season of incredible grief. There are quite a few miscarriage stories, so trigger warning for those who are struggling with infertility, miscarriage. There are quite a few that relate to that topic. And I think part of that is
00:02:21
Speaker
from my own testimony of walking through miscarriage, walking through grief and loss um in very recent years. And so um we will be talking about some of those stories in this episode, but I hope that you can listen to this and be encouraged that our God is a personal God. caring God, and even the smallest things matter to him if we will just pray specifically and keep that conversation and that connection going. I wanted to add this on to our prayer series. Because I thought, oh my goodness, we've talked about prayer for three months now, but we never really shared testimonies of what prayer looks like in the lives of average Christians. So that's what we get to do today. So these were all submitted by our community, and I get the privilege of sharing them with you.
00:03:21
Speaker
So this very first one is from Cheyenne. And she says, God has continued to meet me in my grief after a miscarriage. I do pretty poorly with basically anything medical, and although prayers for my baby to be born were not answered the way I hoped, he did answer my prayers to spare me from any medical procedures or interventions, like a DNC, and I'm so grateful for that.
00:03:47
Speaker
Then I asked to have dreams of the baby. Why not? And shortly after, I had the sweetest dream, not of the baby, but of Jesus and I. He provided what I actually needed. A few weeks later, I was desperate to name the baby. He graciously sent several signs to confirm a first name. It was on our initial name list, but suddenly it was popping up everywhere, in my gym class, in articles and books, and even a private message on here.
00:04:10
Speaker
And if you give a grieving mom first name, they're going to want a middle name. And guess what? He provided one in a meaningful way. We never made it to the appointment that confirms sex, but God gave my husband and I, as well as family members and friends, a deep knowing that she was a girl, and that's how we proceeded with
God's Abundance Amidst Loss
00:04:27
Speaker
naming.
00:04:28
Speaker
I am floored by his care. He sees my little girl right now, and he knows that she is in the absolute best place, and yet he helps me with whatever I have asked, even when confused or full of anger.
00:04:46
Speaker
Man, we're starting out with one that is, um you know, a really tough one. um But what I think is so beautiful about this particular answer is that she continues to see God's grace and his kindness and his love and care for her and his yeses to her in the middle of an answer no.
00:05:09
Speaker
And I think this, when you're walking through loss, whether that's a miscarriage or praying for someone that you love to be healed or um praying for an opportunity and the the door slams in your face, it can be really easy to think God said no or or the opportunity um passed me by. And so therefore God does not care.
00:05:30
Speaker
And we start to miss all the abundant ways that God is still saying yes. And the beautiful ways that God is showing
Trust in God's Personal Care
00:05:38
Speaker
his love. And I mean, I deeply resonate with Cheyenne's story here because this is how it was for us, you know, in the wake of our two miscarriages and years of secondary infertility, just seeing the ways that God was still loving us specifically, seeing the ways that he was answering us,
00:05:57
Speaker
even though we we didn't have, you know, one of the things that we asked for. I also love that in this particular story, she has this ongoing relationship with God that she asked him to confirm a name for her child. And he did. And so she thought, you know what? I'm going to keep asking. I'm going to ask for a middle name too. And I think that's so beautiful because it shows that this is an ongoing prayer relationship for her.
00:06:29
Speaker
Now, I know that for some of you, you're thinking, You know, she received these signs, like, how do we know those are actually from the Lord? And I'm going to tell you that we know from scripture that God speaks personally, that his Holy Spirit speaks to our inner man, that that everything scripture says, the truth of it, the consistency to his character based on scripture is the guide for how we know God's voice.
00:06:55
Speaker
But I'll be honest with you, nobody can shortcut this for you. If you don't believe that God will speak personally and that he loves you enough to specifically answer a prayer like this, there's nothing I can do to convince you of that. And sometimes i think that there are people who read the Bible in such a limiting way. And I don't mean that we should go beyond Scripture. Of course not. Scripture is the basis for everything. But that you you read into Scripture a view of God that is so limiting.
00:07:28
Speaker
and so narrow that you believe that God would never personally, lovingly meet you in the way he met this woman. And that makes me sad for you. And I really hope that one day you realize just how much he loves you, that he will personally answer specific prayers like this, sometimes in ways that are surprising, sometimes in ways that take time. But I think it's beautiful that she walks with him in this way and her her relationship with him is such... that there's such intimacy that she knows that by asking for a first name, she could also ask for a middle, that he's actually naming her child. And if you know any of our story with our fourth child, you know that God specifically gave us her name through another person who who received it in a dream led by the Holy Spirit. And so don't put God in a box.
Answered Prayers & Life Changes
00:08:25
Speaker
Okay, this next one is from Diana. She says, It has been a year since I moved states, and before moving, I was very anxious about finding a job. I prayed for one that was remote and had comparable pay, which was a big ask since we were moving from a big city with higher wages to a smaller town. After a couple months of searching and worrying, a recruiter simply reached out with the perfect job.
00:08:46
Speaker
Not only in terms of pay and it being completely remote, but the company itself has a good culture and my boss is kind and it's the exact environment I needed after struggling at previous jobs. God knew exactly what I needed in this season and so kindly provided.
00:09:01
Speaker
Okay, once again, this is so beautiful, but I don't want you to skip over a really interesting part. She said, after a couple months of searching and worrying... God provided this job. So this wasn't like she prayed for it once and instantaneously God just drops it in her lap.
00:09:19
Speaker
It's actually been a little bit of a process for her. She was having to pray over this continually over time and continue searching. So she's also stepping out in faith and looking for jobs. And then out of nowhere, this recruiter finds her and provides this job. And sometimes that's what prayer is like. It's it's continually praying and asking and stepping out in faith, trusting God, and yet not knowing what the answer is going to look like. And yet look how kind, look at what this looked like. It wasn't instantaneous. It wasn't easy. And yet God still answered.
00:09:54
Speaker
So this one is from KG, and they say, God has been so good to me through a very difficult season. After I gave birth to my son most recently, I went nearly five full days with less than two hours of sleep total and started to have severe panic attacks due to the stress of not sleeping. One evening, I pled with the Lord for sleep, and he miraculously answered my prayers. My baby, who would not sleep himself unless he was on my chest, suddenly and without explanation other than God, began sleeping in his bassinet, and I began having to wake him up for feeds overnight. It's been over seven months now, and I can see God's hands so clearly over this particular situation.
00:10:30
Speaker
I love this, and the reason I love this, not because she was so sleep-deprived, But I love that she turned to God in that moment of desperation when so many of us, moms especially, we're like, okay, what is the practical solution? What can I do? How can I fix this? And it sounds like she spent five days trying to fix it. And yet when she turned to the Lord, the Lord gave his beloved sleep. don't know if you know that verse, but it's it's in Psalms, I believe. And says that the Lord will give his beloved sleep. And and that's exactly what he did. That's beautiful.
00:11:04
Speaker
All right. This one's from Victoria. She says, he comforted me. The Lord comforted me after my husband and i had to have a hard conversation with a fellow brother and sister in Christ. How I used to respond to hurtful words was that I isolated myself and held on to the pain, which always led to anger. But God has been softening my heart with each moment of surrender, and he gave me the biggest smile on my face, and I knew he was telling me he was with me and I was in his hands.
00:11:28
Speaker
Everything, even the hard times, are so much better when we remain with him and let his will be done. Man, you guys are delivering on these. on these they're like They're just preaching all on their own. They're just preaching the gospel here. This is so beautiful because notice she and her husband still had to have this hard conversation.
00:11:50
Speaker
Yet she knew how she typically responded and she took that to the Lord and she said, I'm going to leave this with you and I'm going to let you work on my heart. This one's preaching to me. I've got a situation like this. And so this is such a good reminder of how to take those habits that we have, those tendencies and to say, I don't have to stay this way. I can actually bring this to the Lord and his spirit will actually do this work in me.
00:12:17
Speaker
All right, this one is from Andri. She says, i am six months pregnant after experiencing three miscarriages every year since 2022. As 2025 was coming to an end and I had no positive pregnancy test, I asked God, and I'm going to get pregnant. Am I going to get pregnant this year?
00:12:36
Speaker
In December, I found out I was expecting. That's it. That's the testimony right there. I don't know if you remember our story, but one of the things that I realized as we finished four rounds of letrozole, which is a fertility medication to try to force ovulation, um all of it, all of them failed. It didn't work um in terms of getting pregnant. And so in December of 2024, I realized I had stopped praying. I had stopped asking God for a baby. As I was praying about the whole situation, the Lord reminded me, like he spoke to my inner man, again, consistent with scripture, which says in John 15 through 17, that that's what the Holy Spirit does.
00:13:19
Speaker
And he said, you have stopped asking. And I just love this because what i'm what we're seeing here is she just asked. And sometimes the asking is continual, like we saw in some of the earlier um submissions here. But sometimes it's when we stop asking and we realize God's just asking to continue that conversation and that relationship.
00:13:43
Speaker
Gina submitted this one. We nearly lost our marriage about 10 years ago. We both stayed and didn't want to. We were barely surviving and I prayed for God to help us or let me out. In 2022, got pregnant, which was a huge surprise, and my pregnancies have not been very good, and this one I ended up in the hospital. I finally got better and went home for home health care and a week later lost the baby at 14 weeks.
00:14:08
Speaker
I think God used this to help our marriage. The past four years were the hardest, but God turned it around. He changed my heart and my husband's heart, and we are thriving. Plus, he gave us another baby in 2023 to the day, the same due date, as the one we lost the year before. We are all so very thankful. We've been married 24 years next month.
00:14:33
Speaker
Oh my gosh, you guys, you're just making me tear up left and right. So in this particular one, notice that she's not saying that God took the baby that passed away at 14 weeks. She's not saying God caused that pain, but that God used that to be a factor in the redemption of their marriage.
00:14:54
Speaker
Which is so interesting because um oftentimes grief like this can push people further apart. And so I think that this is just such evidence of how they have prayed over this, how they prayed over their marriage and allowed this you know deep grief to actually bring them back together. and trust the Lord, not just for their marriage, but for their future family. So, wow, that's just absolutely beautiful.
00:15:24
Speaker
All right, Morgan submitted this one. Close to two years ago, my husband confessed a pornography addiction to me. I was completely blindsided from this confession. I prayed daily for restoration, healing, and that I would be able to maintain a softened heart towards my husband, even though I was hurting. The Lord has answered these prayers in amazing ways. My husband has found freedom and healing. The same ministry he attended as he was fighting for his freedom and restoration, he is now co-leading.
00:15:50
Speaker
He has shared his testimony boldly in front of our church and to many others. He has stepped into his role as a leader of our home. Witnessing his healing journey has been amazing to see, and the Lord has redeemed with the enemy intended for destruction. To me, one of the most beautiful redemption blessings has been the birth of a precious little girl last summer.
00:16:09
Speaker
He redeems all things. Just fantastic. And such a hopeful thing, I think, for those who are married to someone who struggles with an addiction, that the Lord truly can redeem and restore when someone is repentant.
00:16:24
Speaker
When someone is willing to submit to accountability, to turn around, to submit to having people in their life to walk alongside them, to be transparent. This this is amazing. And this is this is a testimony similar to um Josh's testimony. And so i think this is just absolutely beautiful. And also just the consistent...
00:16:45
Speaker
prayer. She says she prayed for a restoration, healing, and that she'd be able to maintain a softened heart even though she was hurting. And that is the hardest part when your spouse has an addiction. It's so easy to be cut off and kind of hardened because you're the one who's been victimized by that. And and certainly there are circumstances where you need to separate for a time, extreme addictions, especially with drugs, alcohol, and even pornography. That sometimes is necessary. um But with the right support, therapy, counseling, um there truly can be redemption. And we work with a ministry called Revive that's really supportive of that um for those who are struggling with pornography addictions.
00:17:29
Speaker
Okay, um here's a short one that is just so sweet. um This one is from Brie Lau, and she says, marriage dynamics turned around 19 years in from worse to better than ever. We'll celebrate 20 years happily. God is good.
00:17:49
Speaker
And that didn't happen just on its own. That is an example of consistent prayer and, I bet you, counseling, support, transparency, humility, and repentance.
00:18:01
Speaker
All right, Anna submitted this one. Simple but so meaningful. We celebrated our youngest son's birthday at a park this weekend with family and friends. Ohio weather is so crazy this time of year, and I've been stalking the weather forecast all week. It would go from 0% to scattered to 90% storms and back to zero, back to 20% round and round all week. Every evening during family prayers, I would admit my anxiety over a silly request for no rain and still pray for nice weather.
00:18:27
Speaker
Friday night, there was zero rain in the forecast, and I remember being so very excited about an answered prayer. And of course, right in line with how Ohio does, Saturday morning, there was 75% forecast for storms. We still packed up and headed to the park.
00:18:41
Speaker
Thankfully, we had a small shelter reserved, but I was still pretty bummed inside and very nervous this would be a disaster we couldn't avoid. The sky was overcast, but the air was warm, and we were able to let the kids run and play, and my son had the best time. The last thing we did was sing happy birthday, and we let him open his small stack of gifts. And wouldn't you know it, as I was stuffing wrapping paper into the trash bin, the first drops of rain very quietly started to fall.
00:19:04
Speaker
Everyone had already begun to pack up and head out, so we quickly loaded up the last things. I slammed the trunk shut and the drops came down a little harder and faster as my kids ran out from the playground to get in the car. And it was about then that I realized and remembered we did indeed have an answered prayer. The rain held off so we could celebrate our littlest dude and it was a great little party. I snapped a quick picture before we hopped in the car to remember my answered prayer and the pure joy of the birthday boy catching raindrops in his mouth. And there's a picture of him um with his head back catching raindrops in his mouth. um I loved reading this one. it It read like a story. I was like, let's keep reading. um But this to me shows that it does not matter how small the prayer is.
00:19:44
Speaker
God cares about the smallest things. And I think in today's society, we've become, we're so humanistic. We're so um science driven that we think, well, of course, you know, of course the rain didn't fall because, you know, this particular warm air and this cold air, they met in a certain place. And so that's why it skipped you. And you can look at it that way, or you can look at it as God ultimately is sovereign over the weather and he cares about his
Power of Prayer in Personal Transformation
00:20:10
Speaker
people. And so, yes, God created the scientific laws that dictate how nature works. And therefore, we can give God credit for the personal nature of allowing a little boy to have his birthday in the park without rain ruining it.
00:20:26
Speaker
Sarah submitted this one. i have an extended family member who' is not following christ and has been in drug addiction for decades other members of my family and and i had been praying for her to repent and turn to god just within the last month there was a situation where they lost their ability to get the substance they'd been taking and it was going to be an entire week until they could get to a treatment clinic to get medication to help make the transition and they knew that their body would naturally go into terrible withdrawal in that time Members of my family who live near them laid hands on them and prayed God would do a miracle, protect their body from the withdrawal. God showed up big time and answered that prayer.
00:21:03
Speaker
They did feel some effects of the detoxing, but they were absolutely floored that they were still able to function and take care of themselves and do the things they needed to do. They were extremely aware from past experience just how sick they should have been, like emergency room visit level. They even told other non-believers in their life that they knew it was God, that it was the only possible explanation.
00:21:24
Speaker
They made it through the week until they could get to get to the treatment and medication. They said they knew that God knew and they didn't just want to live the way they've been living anymore. They met with my family's pastor and gave their life to God. then came to church and brought their spouse and kids. This was a double answer to prayer, one quick and miraculous response of physical healing and protection, and one long-awaited response of salvation. I can't wait to see how God continues to grow and heal them in every way and bring the rest of their household to himself.
00:21:58
Speaker
I got goosebumps reading this one. This is incredible. And also, i want to just highlight something that when they knew this was happening, their impulse wasn't to immediately just worry or just go practical, which is, again, our impulse as humans. Let's just concentrate on and the practical. But to invite God into that and to lay their hands and pray over their body.
00:22:24
Speaker
Now, the concept of laying hands on someone comes from the Old Testament and the New Testament where it was a sign of blessing and impartation. So there's no specific like power in our human hands when we do that, but that it's blessing and impartation. So when we do that, we are allowing God to use us as a vessel of his heart, of his Holy Spirit to that person. And so by doing that and showing up for them and praying for them, the Lord
00:22:56
Speaker
worked in their life and they were aware of God's work. So praying out loud, praying immediately with someone oftentimes encourages them to be aware of God's coming work. So it's just kind of puts their mind in the posture to say, wow, I can see where God was moving in this situation. And the fact that this then led to a trust relationship that brought this person to church and their whole family absolutely beautiful.
00:23:27
Speaker
All right, Brittany submitted this one. My husband was working for a church for 10 plus years. We met there, had community there. However, over the last five to six years, starting around COVID times, we had our first child and a lot of my original community moved and left the church and the church experienced a lot of growth. These life changes and church changes led to incredible loneliness for me, despite trying desperately to form community. It felt like any connection I would try to make wouldn't take off and would die out. It was so incredibly discouraging.
00:23:55
Speaker
Through that time, I started following Felicia and similar Bible teaching platforms, and I would read not only about true Bible teaching and grow my faith, but through the newsletters, she would share little snippets of what her community looked like, church, co-ops, meetings with other women for prayer, celebrating holidays, the incredible ways that my community saw her and supported her during loss.
00:24:16
Speaker
I felt God uplifting my spirit in those moments, reminding me that I wasn't asking for too much in what I desired. That true community is out there, and I prayed desperately, trusting that God would provide that in his time, despite this ongoing ache in my heart. And just a couple months ago, my husband had a job change. By the process of God's leading, we were able to visit a smaller church in our area with some friends.
00:24:36
Speaker
After several weeks, we had made some connections, my shy kids made friends, and I felt the warmth and hospitality of God's people for the first time in a long time. It has only been a short time, but hearing God say, it's out there, just be patient and trust me, for five plus lonely years, and now to see it begin to bud in front of my eyes has given me hope and shown me God's incredible faithfulness and care for me.
00:24:57
Speaker
If you are lonely, be encouraged. God loves you and will sustain you. He is enough and worthy to be trusted. Well, first of all, this is so beautiful. And I'm so glad that my newsletters and sharing what I've shared was able to encourage in this time. And I just want to say that the community that we have today also was built through a very long period of loneliness and doing a lot of hosting that wasn't reciprocated. And friendship difficulties, friendship breakups, difficulties and differences in parenting over kids and um churches that we struggled to form community within. And then a church that we're in able to form community within, but still difficulties. Community and being in relationship with people, I mean,
00:25:41
Speaker
That is the struggle of of being human, right? yeah Everyone says it'd be so easy to be a Christian if there weren't all the people. And so it is, it can be so hard, but but her patience and her faithfulness to keep praying, to keep showing up, to keep seeking God is so faithful to answer this prayer because the church is made up of his children. it's It's meant to be a community of faith. And so he loves to answer this prayer, but it does sometimes take quite a lot of time.
00:26:13
Speaker
All right. This one is from Julie. There are so many answers to prayers in my life in the last couple of years. Here is one that touches my heart the most. Two years ago, we went through a period where we were unfriended in real life by some neighbors. My daughter always played with their daughter, so it was devastating for her to not be allowed to play anymore. I prayed fervently that God would provide a friend for her somehow. She's an extrovert and at the time was an only child and would get so lonely. I prayed so much for her to find just one sweet friend.
00:26:41
Speaker
Through a series of what can only be described as God-led connections, we started attending a new homeschool co-op. And guess what? In her grade level were six girls her exact same age. I prayed for one friend for her, and God provided six.
00:26:55
Speaker
I love that this is connected to the previous one because not only did God provide community for a whole family, for the woman who was praying for friends, for their whole family, their whole community, but also the way that God provided friends for someone's child. Because we want friendships. We want godly community for our kids too. And this is something to ask him for, to pray for, that ask that God would open those doors and create that. And he absolutely does. This is something I've prayed for my kids too. And I just absolutely love that his answer was above and beyond what she could even ask or think.
00:27:34
Speaker
All right, this one is from Katie. So my husband and I went through a very hard time the first couple years of our marriage. I mean, the D word, divorce, was thrown around, and I even moved back home to my parents for a time. Anyway, God healed that, and we are stronger than ever, but for a couple years after our reconciliation and restoration to each other, I struggled with were we truly forgiven? Could God still use us? Could or would he even bless us after all the ways we turned away and failed and sinned? But in July 2020, we prayed for a baby. And sometimes there's times you pray, and sometimes there's times you really pray. And that time we prayed with tears. Lord, if it's your will to give us a baby, if you think we're even worthy to be parents now and have a baby, please will you give us a baby? In August 2020, we were pregnant with our now almost five-year-old.
00:28:19
Speaker
This is a specific example to us and not at all a comment on others' journeys to pregnancy or loss or infertility. Please know that. I just know for us, feeling restored and forgiven was a struggle. And this baby felt like not only the miracle he is, but like a gift from God specifically to show us we were forgiven and accepted and blessed, even though we had given God every reason to kick us to the curb. God can truly turn all ashes into beauty in his time. We now have two boys in the most godly marriage I could have ever prayed for.
00:28:50
Speaker
I love how she put this because she's not saying this is prescriptive for everyone. That like if you have had a bad marriage then and you struggle with infertility, like those two are connected. She's not saying that. She's saying that in their particular marriage, they struggled with believing that God...
00:29:08
Speaker
loved them and had forgiven them and that they didn't have their past hanging over them. And it was affecting how they believed they could be as parents and affecting their marriage. And by asking God, saying, God, we don't feel worthy to have a child, but we're asking you anyway.
00:29:28
Speaker
ah It makes me want to tear up because there's such humility in this. there's there's such a It reminds me of that scene in um one of the parables that Jesus tells where you have the Pharisee who's praying and saying, God, thank thank God that I'm not like the tax collector. And then you have the tax collector who is saying, have mercy on me, O God, for I am a sinner. And I think that what we see in these answered prayers is you get to see a glimpse of the heart of the person who's praying and just the the humility and the recognition of this is who I once was and this is who you've made me now and I'm so grateful for your grace but Lord help my unbelief kind of thing. And it's it's just so beautiful, not just their humility, but also that God delights to answer his people.
00:30:21
Speaker
And again, don't make this prescriptive in any way, but I just think that this was just a really beautiful um restoration for this family. All right. Julie submitted this one.
00:30:33
Speaker
Several months ago, we discovered water damage and mold in our kitchen. We had the remediation done, but no one knew what the source was. Couldn't find a leaking pipe or anything. Due to the timing of everything, we spent four months without a working kitchen, and I was very stressed. But then we had a big rainstorm come in and reveal that the window was leaking.
00:30:52
Speaker
That was the source of the water damage all along, and we couldn't see it before because of how it was leaking behind the drywall and the cabinets. And we could only see it once the kitchen had been stripped.
00:31:03
Speaker
So while it was frustrating to not have a kitchen for four months, we are so grateful that we didn't put in new cabinets in front of a leaking window that could have caused damage again later. Timing was everything. An unexpected answer to prayer.
00:31:17
Speaker
So this is so cool because this is an example of a trial. I would say going without a kitchen for four months, that's that qualifies as a trial. And yet through what what happened, not only did they get the answer to that prayer, like finding out what is the root cause of this, why is this happening? Because mold sickness can be so dangerous to have the root cause exposed But I bet if we were to talk to Julie, she would tell us that those four months really formed her and her spirituality because trials usually do that. And so i bet that the growth she experienced in that time plus finding out where the mold was coming from were both an unexpected answer to prayer.
00:32:02
Speaker
Dana submitted this one. My husband and I have been trying to conceive our second baby for months with no success. I was getting a little worried because the first time it happened right away. Early this month, I asked my Bible study ladies to pray for us in the situation.
00:32:14
Speaker
Then yesterday, so recent, I found out I'm pregnant. I know this is a tricky one because so many people don't have the same prayer answered so quickly or at all in their lives, but it's very recent, so I wanted to share.
00:32:26
Speaker
And this is the thing, when i when I share these answered prayers, inevitably there will be comments where people are saying, well, I prayed and I didn't get an answer. And it's not always this fast, which Dana's acknowledging here. Also notice that there are many other people in these stories who prayed for a very long time. do you remember the one where the woman miscarried...
00:32:45
Speaker
Three times a year for three years in a row before she conceived the baby that she's carrying now. It's not always fast. My story was not fast. But what we are seeing is that God delights to work through the prayers of his people. What I often see as a Bible teacher when we talk about prayer is that there are people who just like stop praying. They're just like, well, it didn't work. I prayed a couple times or I prayed, you know, even maybe longer than that. Maybe I prayed for months or years, but I stopped praying because I didn't get the answer that I hoped for. Or they're only praying for one thing, but they're not praying for other things. So they're not seeing God's answers in other areas of their lives. And that is so important because when you are praying for other people and you're following up and asking about those things, or you're praying for a a diverse, you know, bunch of things that are going on in your life, then you have more opportunities to see God's answers. And remember too, that every small thing,
00:33:45
Speaker
that he says yes or no or wait to, that's still an answer, even if it's not what we wanted to hear.
Diverse Circumstances of God's Presence
00:33:51
Speaker
All right. This one's from Lori. My husband is in construction, and one month before our wedding, he slipped from a roof, fell to the ground, landing on a T-post where he was impaled from right hip to left armpit.
00:34:09
Speaker
It was too foggy, for Aromed, and the trauma hospital was over 40 minutes away. The hospital did not expect him to be alive when he arrived because they say a flexible string cannot pass through the body without damaging something vital, let alone a rusty metal post. He arrived alive and still conscious enough to talk and remember his birth date.
00:34:28
Speaker
We were placed in a private waiting room. They do this when the outcome is likely death. And we prayed. People from our church showed up to pray and spread the word to brothers and sisters all over the world. When his doctor came in to update us, he said there was no medical explanation for this. The post nicked his heart, and they removed half his left lung, but overall they believed he'd survive
Accepting God's 'No' in Prayer
00:34:49
Speaker
pending infection. When we got up to ICU you after the procedure, he was heavily sedated and on a breathing tube. His body needed to be rewarmed because they don't have enough warm blood on hand for a transfusion and had to put it in cold. His nurse came out to meet us and inform us of all the things we'd see. Then she asked if I was his fiancée. She asked when the wedding was, and when I gave her the date, the following month, she said, We can have him walking down the aisle by then.
00:35:14
Speaker
God has answered many prayers for us over the years. But this miracle of my husband's life is one of my favorites. We are forever grateful and just celebrated 11 years since the accident.
00:35:27
Speaker
So I actually know this story because I know the woman who submitted this. And she's a wonderful person and a women's ministry leader. And this is just and an incredible, incredible miracle. um And notice the the whole church is praying.
00:35:43
Speaker
She's praying. This doesn't, it isn't always this outcome. This isn't always the outcome that that we receive as Christians in a fallen world. But amazing that God worked in this way. He has a reason why. There's a reason why. And it is so beautiful to get to see when God intervenes in a situation like this. This is like, I have no words.
00:36:04
Speaker
I have no words. All right, this one is from Madeline. Last year, I prayed about it being the right time for my husband and I to start trying to conceive. After that prayer, I had such peace about it and we started trying.
00:36:17
Speaker
About two weeks later, I took a pregnancy test and it was positive. During the pregnancy, there were times when everything felt like a no. At around 31 weeks, I started testing positive for protein in your urine.
00:36:30
Speaker
It stayed around the 30 level mark The doctors start thinking about preeclampsia at 30, with the highest being 35. Preeclampsia will have it in the hundreds. It came down to negative at 38 weeks, just to be at 31 again at 40 weeks. Those are really stressful weeks, as the doctors didn't know what to do or where to categorize me. how high risk it is, do we do an induction? In the end, due to that PCR being 31, an induction was scheduled for 40 weeks and four days. I really wanted to avoid an induction.
00:36:57
Speaker
Baby was born spontaneously at 40 weeks, through three days, voiding the induction. Currently my biggest answered prayer and also the biggest surrender. I love that she ended it this way because, yes, God answered the her prayer to avoid an induction, which I'm sure if they had needed one, she would have done one earlier, but by one day.
00:37:20
Speaker
And when that happens, it reminds me of some things that Oswald Chambers has written about or the walk of faith with God. When things like this happen, so often it's not about avoiding the induction. It's not about...
00:37:33
Speaker
the result. It's about the journey that God had her on in the midst of that. And that's why she says, it yes, it was her biggest answered prayer. It was also her biggest surrender because through those weeks, she had to rely on him and trust him regardless of what the outcome would be.
00:37:51
Speaker
All right, we're going to wrap this up with some shorter answers that were put into Instagram. um And I want to share these just, I'll share them. They're all different from different people. And so um I'll just read them through without seeing who submitted them. So in this first section that's talking about answered prayers, one said, um pregnant after three losses, huge praise, um salvation of loved ones, finances,
00:38:19
Speaker
Babies and recovered cycles. So praying for her body to, you know, go back to normal um after pregnancy. um My daughter got full custody, full decision-making after a three-year battle for children's safety.
00:38:35
Speaker
What a praise. Redeeming birth after very stress and anxiety-filled previous births. So beautiful. um My NICU baby, seven weeks there with meconium aspiration. And last week, six months later, we had his oxygen tubes removed and his NG removed as well. That's so amazing.
00:38:58
Speaker
Paid all medical bills, $30,000 when I had a miscarriage and needed surgery to remove the baby. This is heartbreaking. um And i this is an example to me of that tension. The the fact that she can recognize God's answer and the in the medical bills being paid while living in the tension of grief when her prayer for her child was not answered, that takes a lot of faith.
00:39:24
Speaker
And having walked that road, I want to always point that out because it is hard to hold that tension. um This one says my husband's vasectomy reversal and recovery, minimal pain and surgery um was easy.
00:39:39
Speaker
a natural occurring twin pregnancy after experiencing infertility. um Let's see. God gave my husband the opportunity to earn extra money to pay our taxes this year. Seems like a small thing, but it's a big deal.
00:39:54
Speaker
um My son returned home from deployment. Eight weeks pregnant after four years of infertility, conceived naturally after quitting medication last year. um Sister with complex regional pain syndrome in her foot, told she won't walk again, is healed.
00:40:11
Speaker
Now, I want to read two final ones, um and these are a little bit hard to read, but I want to read them because this woman who submitted them submitted them as answered prayers, but she did so in a very interesting way.
00:40:27
Speaker
I wanted my sister healed from cancer, and God said no. I wanted my husband's heart to soften to have more kids. And God said no. What I want to point out about this is that she's acknowledging that these are answers.
00:40:43
Speaker
That she prayed, she saw God, and he answered. But it was no. And I think that these answers, we've read a lot of beautiful answers. but Yes answers. You know, yes after no. Yes after waiting.
00:40:59
Speaker
These were no. And it takes faith in God's character to accept the no. It takes walking daily with his heart and mind to accept the no. It takes knowing that he loves you so, so much that John 3.16 is true to accept the no.
00:41:20
Speaker
And this doesn't mean that you don't struggle with the no or that you're like, well, you know, I just have to pretend to be happy about it. You can struggle.
00:41:30
Speaker
You can wrestle with God. Wrestling with God is a form of intimacy with God. And accepting God's no takes a lot of faith. And so I want to commend her for sharing this. And I think it's a little bit of a hard way to end this episode, but I also think it's important to recognize that no matter what God's answers, he is still wanting to be in
Conclusion & Encouragement
00:41:55
Speaker
your life. He is wanting to walk with you. He's wanting you to be consistent and faithful in prayer. And so if you haven't watched any of the other episodes in this series, I hope that you will go back and watch them or listen to them because it will help form your theology of prayer, i hope, in a way that will encourage you to keep praying specifically and boldly whether God's answer is yes, no, or wait.
00:42:21
Speaker
Thank you as always for listening to Verity Podcast. Thank you to everyone who submitted your answered prayer for this episode. You encouraged my heart and I believe that you will be encouraging so many people around the world by sharing your prayer lives with us.
00:42:37
Speaker
I will see you next time on Verity Podcast.