Answered prayer

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Friday, December 30th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown. Now, the final day in our series of Answered Prayers.

Before we get into it, just a quick word, and we’ll report more next week, after the end of the year and after all the mail’s in. But here’s an answered prayer. We have already exceeded the goal for our December Grassroots Giving Drive! You did it! We’re so thankful!

EICHER: That’s such great news, and we’re so thankful. All those resources we will put to the best use we can to produce this program and all the biblically objective journalism and Christian worldview commentary. Thank you for that vote of confidence as we go into calendar year 2023!

BROWN: Amen, and thank you! Well, we end today with the testimony of a prayer warrior, interceding for families with prodigals. But we begin with Lillian Hamman, who helped put these prayer segments together. She tells a story that highlights God’s mercy in the details of life, even when we make a mess of things.

LILLIAN HAMMAN: Earlier this year when a good friend asked me to be the maid of honor in her wedding, I immediately wanted to make my dress. I figured the one skirt I sewed back in middle school on top of years of quilting, knitting and weaving experience would be enough to get me through. After all, it was only a dress. Little did I know this thought process was the perfect recipe for humble pie. I got my 60 page digital PDF pattern pieced together with tape and started working on a practice version. Right when it was time to turn the dress out from the inside I realized I had sewn a mistake with my Goodwill sewing machine that stitches so tight, you can't seam rip mistakes. So now two weeks before the wedding, I was out of ideas and definitely out of time. I felt like I didn't deserve help, especially from the creator of the universe, because my very lack of asking for help was what got me here in the first place. But knowing that divine intervention was my only hope at this point to not let the bride down, I prayed and put out a cry for help in the office messaging channel. And within a few hours, a brand new member of the advertising team, who happened to have a textile degree and sewing machine I could borrow, reached out. And not only did God send this undeserving maid of honor some help, He sent an expert, and a new friend. So one week before the wedding she helped me scrap the handmade pattern for a reliable Vogue one and helped me get a practice garment made up and walked me through working with the really slippery and expensive satin on the finished product. And after pulling an all nighter just to get the zipper in and hem the skirt the day before I had to leave, I finished my dress. So at the wedding, I got lots of compliments, the bride loved it, and one guest asked me that's not your first dress is it? And I just winked at God and told her Oh, it definitely is. But I hope it's not my last.

DIANE IPPOLITO: My name is Diane Ippolito. And I am the state coordinator for moms in prayer in Pennsylvania. So I get the privilege of praying with lots of women, we pray over all kinds of things. And I lead a group of women that prays every week for our prodigal children and grandchildren and nieces and people that we know. And God has been so merciful to hear our cries that this year we had three prodigals who returned. And that is just such a cause for celebration and rejoicing because we know the Lord is able to do more than we could ever ask or imagine. We are so grateful that as we call on Him in truth, He hears. The Lord is righteous in all His ways, and kind in all His works. The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth. He fulfills the desire of those who fear Him. He also hears their cry and saves them. Psalm 145, verses 17 through 19.

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