How God answered Izabella's prayer

Izabella was brought up in communist Rumania, where no one was allowed to go to church, no one was allowed to own a Bible, and no one was allowed to talk about God. (Funny how people say there is no God. If there were no God, people wouldn't have to try so hard to disprove Him.)

When Izabella was seven, she and her brother found a Bible under the floor. They didn't know what it was. They took it out and read it. They'd never heard such stories before. A few years later, a friend invited Izabella to a little underground church. She pleaded and pleaded with her father to allow her to go. Finally, he said that she could. In the meeting, the pastor read from a book, and she recognised the story. She was so excited. 

There was no electricity most nights, so the children had to go to bed when it got dark. Except when it snowed. Then it wasn't quite so dark, and the children were allowed to play outside.

"I want to learn how to pray so I can start praying for snow," Izabella told the pastor. "Izabella," he said, "just talk to God as though He is your best friend. Tell Him what's on your heart, and He will answer."

That night, Izabella prayed. The next morning, she rushed to the window. No snow. November and December came. Still no snow. She was so disappointed."Did you know that this prayer thing doesn't work?" she said. "Izabella, God always answers prayer. You are expecting beautiful white snow to fall from the sky, but maybe God has something different in mind," the pastor told her.

One day, people started running in the street. There must be something at the grocer's. Perhaps oranges or bananas! Izabella and her brother rushed to join the queue. But people were running past the grocery shop.

Big lorries arrived. When the backs were opened up, there were lots of colourful boxes. A lady came up and said "This is yours." "What do I have to do?" said Izabella. "Nothing," the lady said. "It's just yours, totally yours." They were shoe boxes of presents from Samaritan's Purse, a foreign charity.

"Is there anything I can pray with you for?" the lady asked."Would you pray with me for snow?" The lady didn't ask any questions. She just did it.

Izabella fished among the gifts in the box and took out a transparent globe. She didn't know what it was for. A boy shook her arm as she held it. It began to snow. It was a snow globe.

Suddenly it hit her. This was a moment she would never forget. There was a God! He'd been drawing her to Himself since she was seven. He had been looking after her all these years. And He did answer prayer!