I was having a conversation with my children last night, they often ask profound questions when I say “okay guys, it’s bedtime”, because they want to prolong bedtime lol. However, I don’t mind because they are still learning and I usually take away some great advice from our conversation! This one I felt I could share with you as well! My nine-year-old daughter stated that she doesn’t ever hear or see God answering her prayers. Quickly, the six and eight-year-old sisters agreed. I took a second to listen to what they were saying, I thought to myself, (Lord, help me answer this). Then I said, “baby, today you asked me if you could get on your computer, you asked me all throughout the day and each time, I said no”. (paused to see her reaction) Then I said, “but you still asked knowing the answer could still be no right?” she said “yes ma’am”. I told her going to God is very similar to how you come to me and Daddy, as a child, it is your job to ask us, but it’s our job to answer because we have a different understanding than you guys (children) do. Daddy and I can assess a situation, knowing things like, you already had an attitude and when we allow you to get on your computer, the attitude just gets worse, or we know that we have other plans for the day and computer time isn’t in those plans and many other scenarios that we would know that you wouldn’t be aware of. She reluctantly agreed and I saw that she was still confused about how that related to God and prayers, so I explained the parallelism. I told her, that God is our Heavenly Father and we (as His children) go to Him with our requests/prayers, but after we do that, we have to trust that He knows the best outcome for that prayer(s). So, when we ask God for something and we get “no” as the answer, Christians trust that the no has the best outcome for our lives (because God is good). We also have to trust that when we hear silence, this is the best answer for us. As is the same when we get a “yes”. The best thing we can do is give our requests/prayers to Him and remember that His will is better than ours and be thankful in/through it all. When we are able to accept His will, it is easier for us to be thankful for a no, silence, or even a yes. WOW, did that bless me! While trying to help my little crew, I was reminded of the importance of letting go and letting God. Just as Jesus did when He prayed if there was a way to not allow the crucifixion to happen, but then said, yet, not my will but yours (Luke 22:42). Now, my child was asking God to not have her sisters fighting all the time, and while that is very important to her and very relevant in her life, as adults, we find ourselves having more in-depth prayers for God, such as heal cancer, take away the emotional pain, and many others. As I told my daughter, prayers don’t only stop with saying them, we can also ask God to reveal anything He can do through us as well, for her, asking being an example to her sisters and helping them understand each other more is an action she can take to help them. As adults, sometimes, not always, but sometimes, there are things God wants to do through us to receive emotional, spiritual, and physical healing, but sometimes, we don’t want to put the effort into our healing. I say this because years ago, I was an alcoholic, and while I didn’t like where I was at, I also didn’t want to put any effort into my healing and instead wanted it to *poof* disappear. My drinking caused a tumor in my arm (I was unaware it was there from birth) to grow at a rapid rate. Because of this, I was close to having an amputation, it was growing in severity and complexity, in main arteries and against nerves. I asked God, more like begggggged Him for healing and suddenly I found myself having to confront my past and receive emotional and spiritual healing. God ordered my steps and after months of “nos” from Doctor’s, one gave me a chance. Cutting a very long story short, I am typing this with both of my arms and I eventually received healing through radiation, something that even today, the unbelieving Doctor calls a miracle arm. I know this isn’t the story for everyone, but it’s mine, and my hope in sharing it, is to give you hope to pray, trust, and ask Him if there is anything YOU can do. If you know there is a nudge for you to move, don’t be afraid to put in the work. Often, people will receive a spiritual or emotional healing and the physical healing will not come in those moments, it is hard, but we have to trust, that God knows what He is doing. An all-knowing, all-creating God’s “no” is better to me than the desire to see my will come to pass, even when it hurts.

Prayer:

Lord, I thank you for hearing our prayers, I thank you for your no’s, yes’s and even your silence. Help us to trust you with your will and not our desires. Lord, help us to accept whatever your answer is and if there is anything you are asking us to do, please give us the strength and motivation to get that done. We trust you to provide whatever you need in our lives. Father, I ask that you would be the open and closed doors in our lives, and whatever your answer is, we will say thank you. In Jesus’ name, amen.