Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear.
Isaiah 65:24
These days, Italy remembers the national lockdown that started a year ago (on March 10, 2020), to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Everybody had to stay at home. Everything was closed, even the churches. The Adventist women were at the forefront in that time of particular uncertainty for everyone, and of great pain for many families who had relatives hospitalized or in intensive care, or had lost their loved ones without even being able to see them for the last time. The women took action in various ways to give support. Thanks to the use of modern technology (social media, chat, smartphone), they brought consolation to families in pain.
In all that suffering, prayer played a fundamental role, and God made miracles. Liboria's experience in Sicily bears witness to this.
Liboria, who lives in Milan, had travelled with her husband to Sicily where they own a house, to visit their relatives there. When the lockdown started, they had to remain in Sicily. Liboria is not Adventist, but she knew Katia Montalbano, of the Women's Ministries in Sicily, and joined her prayer group. They met online every afternoon to study the Bible and pray. As Liboria didn’t have a Bible, she couldn’t follow the reading of the texts. One day, after they had studied the parable of the “Hidden Treasure”, Liboria’s desire to have a Bible grew more and more intense. Due to the lockdown, no one was allowed to leave their house. The next day, Liboria's husband decided to fix the doorbell that had been broken for months, so he went to check the electric meter in the building where their apartment is, to figure out what the fault was. To his surprise, he saw a Bible over the meter. The book was covered in dust. Overjoyed, he brought the Bible to his wife. She couldn’t believe her eyes. They talked to the administrator of the condominium and discovered that that Bible had been there for about three years, forgotten. They could keep it. Liboria praised the Lord with a heart full of gratitude. Now she continues to read and study the Bible with Katia’s prayer.
God knows our needs and He prepares His answer in advance, even when we don’t know yet what our needs are. “Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear” (Isaiah 65:24).
Lina Ferrara, WM Director, Italian Union