An Answer to Prayer

A group of California high school students had spent three months preparing and planning to go to Mexico during Easter break to help the poor. They had prayed that God would use them in a mighty way. Anticipating an exciting week of ministry, they journeyed to a small church near Mexicali.

Upon arriving at the small rural village on a Sunday morning, the students saw that the church where they were going to serve had been badly burned. The roof had caved in, and only the four walls remained. They cautiously made their way into what was left of the building, while a hymn was being sang in Spanish. They were greeted by the puzzled stares of a weary, discouraged Mexican pastor and nine parishioners who were midway through their Sunday morning service. It was apparent that the congregation had never received the group’s letters explaining their plans to serve and had no idea that the group was coming to spend the weeks with them.


At the end of he hymn, the pastor stopped the service, walked back to the group of high school students and said, "Que pasa?" (which the group interpreted to mean, "What in the world are you rich white kids doing in our church?")

After a long silence, one of the students spoke:” We are Christians, and we are here to serve.”

On hearing this the pastor’s eyes brimmed with tears."Some people in the village burned down our church six months ago," he explained. "We’ve been praying that God would send help, but we had given up hope that help was ever coming. Praise be to God!"

The thirty-five high school students were stunned silent. They had heard many times that God wanted to use them; now they were experiencing it for the first time. Amazed, one of the students turned to another and said, "I can’t believe it. We’re an answer to a prayer!"

God does want to use us, and He will — if we will only obey Him and follow Christ’s example to be a servant. (See Philippians 2:3-11.) We can be the answer to someone’s prayer by moving out of our comfort zones to use the gifts God has given us to make a difference in the world.

Taken from Hot Illustrations For Youth Talks by Wayne Rice