“God is always faithful to answer. Sometimes His answer is a much desired “yes”. Sometimes His answer is a merciful “no”. Sometimes His answer is a faith-building “not yet”. And sometimes, when an answer cannot be found, His answer is simply “Trust me”. (Stacy L. Sanchez)
Prayer is a funny thing in that the ego demands it be answered in the way it wants and in the timing it desires and when those conditions aren’t met, it tends to cause great frustration to even the steadfast of faith. In fact, many people have become atheist and agnostic because they didn’t receive the outcome they prayed for. But honestly, how do any of us know what’s best for someone we pray for, including ourselves?
Take for example, a loved one who dies after ailing for a good while, even after many prayers are sent their way to get healthier. Many of them would get angry at God for not answering their prayers exactly as intended. But do any of them see the bigger picture that God sees? Maybe the death of their loved one is going to lead them on a Higher path they wouldn’t have been on if that person had lived? Or maybe if that person had their health restored, they would have grown even more sick down the road and had to endure even greater pain because of it? I have a great example of this very thing from my own life.
Many years ago, when my father’s mental illness was growing worse, I prayed for him to get healthier, only to see him commit suicide. I was so angry with God for not answering my prayers to improve his mental health, yet eventually, his death became the catalyst that led me on this path to spiritual enlightenment, greater faith, holistic healing, The Mankind Project, meditation, numerology, and plenty more. But if God has answered my prayers exactly as I wanted, there’s a good chance none of that would have happened and I’d still be dependent more on my biological father, than on my Heavenly Father.
Nevertheless, while I’ve seen many of my prayers for others be answered over the past few years, I have felt God has gone on radio silence when it’s come to the ones I’ve put out there for me with my state of health. I know I could choose to become atheist or agnostic and give up on God because of this and then in turn, opt to take matters into my own hands by going down any number of paths I’ve already tried already, hoping they at least give me the comfort I feel God hasn’t been giving me. Or, I could choose to believe that all this has been a faith-building process, one where God has been with me all along and has been telling me through his radio silence to keep on trusting in Him.
My choice continues to be the latter, because ultimately, I still have enough faith in God to know there is a plan for me that will be far better than any of my own that would come from me choosing to give up on God and take matters into my own hands…
I pray I always keep my faith and trust in God, no matter how my prayers are answered, especially when they go unanswered for great lengths of time or are answered in ways my ego doesn’t like.
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson
