(Photo courtesy of The Mission Society)

Thailand (MNN) — Sometimes it’s easy to question the impact of Christian radio stations since the intended results are not always tangible. However, a church in Thailand praised the Lord when its station reached someone, actually it saved this person’s life.

Aspara*, a single mother whose husband left her 3 days before their second child’s birth, suffering from severe health disabilities, was ready to take her life one day when she felt she had no where to turn. But, with the poison in hand, God spoke to her through the local church’s radio station when it leaked into her favorite channel.

Even though the local church’s broadcast was positive, Aspara’s spirits weren’t lift much, but she kept listening and then called the number left by the pastor. After pouring all her struggles out, the pastor invited Aspara to the church. After attending the church, meeting the broadcasters of the radio station where her journey began, Aspara gave her life to Christ.

Now, Aspara cannot imagine where she would be without Christ. She has happiness and love again. She and her family shares laughs and smiles now. And what’s even more amazing is how her husband who abandoned her came back on Valentine’s Day, apologizing for his awfulness.

What an incredible story she has and what an incredible God she loves. And all this began with a single Christian broadcast full of hope in a hopeless home.

*Name changed.

The potential to reach further into the Arabic world is staggering. Having their own programs on a dedicated channel means their audience potential is staggering. “Now, we’re splitting into two channels that has one SAT-7 Arabic, 24-hour channel, then SAT-7 PARS, which is our Farsi or Persian language service that also includes some Turkish. In the future, in 2007, we hope to have a third channel in Arabic for kids.”

This holiday season SAT-7 will air many specials designed to bless their audience. The team will start ramping up production of children’s programs in January 2007, and by March, hope to grow their current block of children’s programs from one to two hours every day. This will continue to grow to four hours a day by September.

Exciting plans taking place against the backdrop of war. Harder urges people to pray for peace in the region not only for the people, but also for the sake of local ministries like SAT-7 that are being effected.

He says the launch of SAT-7 Pars was successful, but the work is just beginning. “Over the long-term, what the challenges will be, will be to continue to create programs, to have the funding, and to create more programs within Iran. We’re very excited that we do have programs, we have music videos, we have teaching programs.”