I Have Just One Answer for You

My daughter often says she has a question for me, but typically, it isn’t an actual question. Lately, I’ve been trying to teach her what is and what is not a question. So this morning, while driving in the car, she said, “Mom, I have just one answer for you.”

I responded by saying, “Ok, tell me.”

She said, “If you pray and God doesn’t answer your prayer right away, do you think you should still trust Him?”

I was delightfully surprised by her “answer” and said, “Yes, I think we should.”

Then she replied excitedly, “That’s right, you should always trust God because He knows things we don’t know.”

My heart smiled with joy because that’s a hard truth for a five-year-old to grasp for herself, let alone share with others, but I was also touched by her words because they were a reminder that I needed to hear.

I don’t question God’s willingness to hear my prayers or His ability to come through for me, my family, or my ministry, but there are times I find myself question His timing and even His methods. I know I shouldn’t, and I don’t want to, but occasionally I wonder if or when God is going to answer my prayers or why He answered the way He did. I’m guessing I’m not the only one who does this.

Most of us are familiar with Jeremiah 29:11, which says, “For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future.”

I wonder how many of us are familiar the verses that follow after that one.

Jeremiah 29:12-13 says, “Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

These verses remind me that God not only has good, good plans for me, but He also wants me to call on Him, pray to Him, and He will always listen to me. He is not a God that is absent and difficult to find. Instead, His Word says we will find Him when we seek Him with all of our hearts. When we are seeking God, we can be sure He is at work in our lives, answering our prayers in the best possible way. Those answers may not be exactly what we want or when we want, but He knows things we don’t and we can trust that the same God that desires for us to seek Him and call on Him, will do what is best for us.

So, when it feels as if God isn’t answering our prayers, we can take comfort in knowing that He has good plans for us, He wants us to come to Him, and He is available to us as we wait on those plans to play out.

If you’ve ever wondered if you should still trust God when it feels like your prayers aren’t being answered, I have just one answer for you, “Yes!”

About the Author

Tori Shaw is the founder of Not Forgotten Ministries and author of "Lead with Love," "Free Indeed," and "I Had a Secret for Seventeen Years." She is a Jesus-lovin’ homeschool momma with four kiddos! Tori and Bryan were high school sweethearts and have been married for 17 years! God began this ministry 22 years ago when Tori and Bryan found out about an unplanned pregnancy, and she had an abortion at 16 years old. God has healed her, and she walks in freedom. She desires the same for others who have walked a similar journey.

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