Remarkable answers to prayer provide powerful evidence for God’s existence and concern for people just like you and me. But how do we differentiate between a fortunate coincidence and an answer to prayer? Sometimes it’s hard to tell, isn’t it? Besides the normal requirement of a conscious prayer, I’d say that timing, purpose, and aptness are critical. Many people can tell how they couldn’t find a solution until they prayed, and then the perfect (apt) answer came. Sometimes there is also an awareness that the circumstances leading to the answer were not expected, routine ones.
I’ve included summaries under this heading of some of my favorite accounts of answered prayer from people whose lives speak of their trustworthiness.
Edith Schaeffer in the book L’Abri gives a wonderful account of an answered prayer that guided her family into their effective ministry in the mountains of Switzerland. The timing was critical, and the answer was awesome in its the preciseness. You can read a summary of that prayer in the post, “Beyond Coincidence.”