Hooray for Crooked Teeth!

God answers a 12-year-old girl’s prayer for braces in an unexpected way.

By Andrew McChesney, adventistmission.org

Twelve-year-old Ryleigh Moore was thrilled! Her teeth were terribly crooked — and even the dentist agreed!

The dentist had told Ryleigh during a regular checkup that her teeth probably needed to be straightened with braces. Only two children had braces at Ryleigh’s school, Parkersburg Academy in Parkersburg, West Virginia, and she had wanted braces for a long time.

“I thought it would be cool to have something in my mouth to show off to people,” Ryleigh said.

Ryleigh had to go to an orthodontist to find out whether she really needed braces. A few days later, she skipped a few hours of school so the orthodontist could take X-ray photos of her teeth. The orthodontist asked her to open her mouth wide. Ryleigh opened as far as she could, and she and the orthodontist heard a popping sound. The orthodontist ran some tests and declared that Ryleigh really needed braces: Not only were her teeth crooked, but the popping noise meant her jaw had a problem that only braces could fix.

The orthodontist told Ryleigh’s mother, Kerra Ball, that the braces would cost U.S.$6,000.

Mother was shocked. She cried as she and Ryleigh got into the car after the appointment. She didn’t earn enough money working in a hospital to pay for the braces, and health insurance wouldn’t cover the cost. She felt like a failure as a mother.

Then Mother remembered that God loved Ryleigh even more than she did.

“I’m not going to cry,” she told her daughter. “Let’s pray and trust in God.”

Ryleigh agreed to pray, but she wasn’t worried at all. She couldn’t wait to tell her friends at school that she needed braces!

That evening, Mother and Ryleigh prayed for God’s help. Ryleigh’s little sister, Reagan, also prayed. The family prayed again in the morning.

When Mother started the car to take Ryleigh and Reagan to school a few minutes later, the car’s radio came on, but it wasn’t set to the usual Christian radio station. Mother reached over to change the station but then froze. A commercial was playing, and she heard the word, “Braces.” Mother turned up the volume. The voice announced that an orthodontist was having a special contest and the winner would receive free braces. It didn’t cost anything to enter the contest, only a visit to the orthodontist’s office for a free checkup that month.

Mother didn’t dare think that Ryleigh might win braces. But since the checkup was free, Ryleigh went to a second orthodontist.

Afterward, the orthodontist’s assistant wrote Ryleigh’s name on a piece of paper for a drawing. The next month, on May 12, the name of the winner would be drawn out to determine the winner

Ryleigh and her nine classmates in the sixth grade prayed about the braces. Mother prayed, too. They also prayed about the contest, but mostly they prayed that God would help Mother find a way to pay for the braces.

The day of the drawing came and went. Ryleigh and Mother forgot about the contest but kept praying. A month passed. In June, Mother was working at the hospital when her phone rang. It was the orthodontist’s assistant.

“Which hospital department do you work in?” the assistant asked.

Mother told her.

“OK, I’ll see you soon,” the assistant said and hung up.

Mother was confused. She didn’t understand what the assistant was talking about.

Two hours later, Mother looked up from her desk and saw the assistant holding a bunch of colorful balloons and a sign, reading, “I just won free braces for my daughter.”

Mother couldn’t believe her eyes! She began to cry with joy.

“It was very overwhelming,” her mother said later, her eyes filling with tears as she remembered that day. “I realized at that moment that God answers prayer.”

She called Ryleigh to tell her the good news. Ryleigh, who got the new braces this month, said the first thing that she wanted to do was tell her friends that God had answered their prayers.

“I was excited to tell my friends who had prayed for me,” she said. “God doesn’t always answer our prayers the way that we want, but this time God answered our prayers just the way that we wanted.”

Part of a 2015 Thirteenth Sabbath Offering helped fund 35 evangelistic series across West Virginia, where Ryleigh lives. Thank you for your mission offerings.