Chicken Soup for the Soul: When Prayers Are Answered - Expect Miracles

Sep 21, 2026

Uploaded by Patrick

Chicken Soup for the Soul: When Prayers Are Answered contains inspirational stories centered on prayer and answered miracles. The provided excerpt, titled "Expect Miracles," recounts Immaculée Ilibagiza’s experience during the Rwandan genocide, describing hiding from death squads, surviving through prayer, and later responding to devastation without being consumed by hatred. It follows her journey from refugee despair to renewed hope, grounded in faith and the belief that prayers bring guidance, protection, and unexpected openings.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryStory & Novel

FormatPDF

Pages82

Reading Time2 h 6 min

AccessFree to download

Expect Miracles

Immaculée Ilibagiza’s prayers during the genocide

Survival and transformation of grief into forgiveness

Refugee life and the struggle to find work

Chicken Soupfor the SoulWhenPrayersAreAnswered Amy Newmark # Chicken Soupfor the Soul:When Prayers Are Answered Amy Newmark Published by Chicken Soup for the Soul,LLC www.chickensoup.com Copyright O2017 by Chicken Soup for the Soul,LC.All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,stored in a retrieval system or transmittedin any form or by any means,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recording or otherwise,without the written permission of the publisher. CSS,Chicken Soup for the Soul,and its Logo and Marks are trademarks of Chicken Soup forthe Soul,LLC. The publisher gratefully acknowledges the many publishers and individuals who grantedChicken Soup for the Soul permission to reprint the cited material. Front cover and back cover photo courtesy of iStockPhoto.com/Atropat(OAtropat).Interior photo of Amy Newmark courtesy of Susan Morrow at SwickPix Cover and Interior by Daniel Zaccari ISBN:978-1-61159-064-7 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICAon acidoofree paper 252423222120191817 0102030405060708091011 Table of Contents Expect Miracles, Immaculee Ilibagiza with Steve Erwin…………………………………… ……………………………1 Before the Baby Comes, Sally Willard Burbank…………8 Faith Happens, Cynthia Zayn……… ……14 Circle of Prayer, Cathi LaMarche……………………………………20 April Showers, Bonnie Compton Hanson……………………28 Irish Angels in New York,Dani M. Ston………………………36 My Two-Second Miracle, Beverly F Walker………… 44 Reflections of Hope in the Snowstorm, Valaree Terribilini Brough…………… ………………………48 Soda Miracles, Sandy Novotny………… …………………54 A Precious Mess, Beth Saadat………………………………………………61 Meet Our Contributors………………… …………………69 Meet Amy Newmark……… …………………………73 # Expect Miracles Miracles happen to those who believe in them.~Bernard Berenson uring the Rwandan genocide of 1994more than a million people were mur-dered in three months;by the graceof God,I was not one of them.At the time I was a twenty-four-year-old university stu-dent visiting home on Easter vacation when thelong-brewing tribal hatred in my African home-land erupted into an unspeakable slaughter ofinnocents.When the killers arrived at our door-step,my dad sent me running to a neighboringpastor for protection. For the next ninety-one days I cowered in a hidden,tiny bathroom with seven other terrifiedwomen while rapists and murderers relentlesslyhunted for us.I opened my heart to God and prayednight and day that He spare my life and also,sparemy soul,and not allow the hatred Ifelt for the killersto turn my heart to stone. God heard my prayers and answered them. Whenever the death squads ransacked the pas-tors house searching for us,God blinded them fromseeing the bathroom door and finding us. Three months later,the genocide was over andI came out of hiding.I was emaciated,but alive.Myheart was sad and I wanted the killers brought tojustice,but I wasn't filled with poisonous hatred.On the contrary,to my amazement,I was ready tolove and forgive. With those prayers answered,I thought I'd usedupa lifetime allotment of miracles.But I was wrong. Outside the bathroom,the world I had knownwas gone.My once breathtakingly beautiful homelandhad been transformed into a grotesque landscape of death and destruction.All my neighbors andmy immediate family,with the exception of onebrother who was living abroad,had been viciouslymurdered.My childhood home,which my fatherhad built with his own hands as a wedding gift tomy mother,had been burned to the ground.All Isaw was the smoldering ruins of burnt out housesand a countryside strewn with corpses. I had gone from being a happily pampered,onlydaughter to a starving orphaned refugee. With no money,food or a single friend left alive,Imade my way toward the Rwandan capital of Kigaliin hopes of finding work,but there was none.Nostores or businesses were open,there was virtuallyno power,no buses were running,there was preciouslittle clean water to drink,the roads were

FAQs

What is the "Expect Miracles" story about?

It recounts Immaculée Ilibagiza’s survival during the 1994 Rwandan genocide and how prayer carried her through hiding, fear, and later devastation.

How did prayer help her during the genocide?

She describes praying night and day for her life and soul, and witnessing what she interprets as protection from death squads.

What challenge did she face after coming out of hiding?

She found her homeland destroyed and her life upended, with no money, food, or friends, leading her to search for work and hope through faith.

Sep 21, 2026

Uploaded by Patrick