unanswered prayers

Hope Nudges Forward

Posted by

4

When we wait on God for answers, it often feels like a test of patience.

Throughout my journey, experience has taught me to wait on God. When I step forward too soon and try to force something to happen — it ends in lost revenue, additional stress, or a clunky mess. Then I am filled with regret and play the “I should have” game.

My answers do not end as well as the divine ones.

But within those waiting times, it feels better to sense a nudge forward. Sometimes God puts on his loving Father hat with a gentle push in the right direction. As I tiptoe forward, the way opens.

When faced with major decisions, I often journal through the issue using five questions:

  • What do I sense God is telling me about this decision?
  • What does scripture remind me to do or instruct me about this decision?
  • What do other godly friends say and how do they advise me?
  • What do the circumstances tell me?
  • Do I have peace with this decision?

When the majority of these questions point in the same direction, then I know I am probably on the right track. I say ‘probably’ because life is still an adventure. We can be deceived or influenced by desires that lead us away from eternal destinies.

Since peace is one of my core values, it rarely fails me and serves as a symbol of the right direction.

On a quiet January morning, I watched the snow-flocked trees soak up the day’s warmth and gracefully release their burdens. Once more, God watered the earth with his mineral richness of powdery grace. We farmers and gardeners know how snow blesses the soil and enriches future crops.

But in the solitude of those moments, the Spirit reminded me of several promises:

  • God will guide me toward the best possible direction (Isaiah 49:10)
  • While strengthening me for the journey, God enlarges the place and even the way I might help others (Isaiah 54:2)
  • God himself anoints and qualifies me for the work he has designed for my last act (Isaiah 61:1)
  • The Master Gardener plants me where I need to be (Isaiah 61:3)
  • The acceptable and most opportune times are in the hands of my loving God (Psalm 69:13)

A final promise whispered, “Then shall your light break forth like the morning, and your healing (your restoration and the power of a new life) shall spring forth speedily; your rightness, your justice, and your right relationship with God shall go before you, conducting you to peace and prosperity, and the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard” (Isaiah 58:8 Amplified).

I sat on my bed, journal and Bible spread open, and wept at the beauty of this final promise. God heals and restores the weary soul. He provides power for whatever new life we walk into. He reassures us that we do not travel this journey alone. He goes before and behind us. As he takes care of us, the result is peace.

God never fails, even when we do not understand. Are there still unknowns? Of course. The faith journey always occurs in steps — never in one giant leap.

But for now, this nudge forward challenges me to believe the next step will be revealed at the right time. Where God places me and what my role looks like is listed in his job description, not mine. He will steady me throughout the journey, and the end result will be bathed in peace.

©2023 RJ Thesman – All Rights Reserved

If we have defined our life by a faith walk, then we continue to do what has always worked — day by day. Check out these devotions in Day by Day: Hope for Senior Wisdom.

Hope in the Waiting

Posted by

10

So many people seem to be waiting.clock - Victorian

  • A good friend is waiting in ICU with her seriously ill husband
  • My son is waiting for complete healing and a blood clot to dissolve
  • Another friend’s son is waiting anxiously for a job opening
  • My nephew is waiting for the day his bride walks down the aisle – 46 days
  • I am waiting for the final author proof of my newest book

Waiting for answers. Waiting for circumstances to change. Waiting for life to move forward.

The word that comes to mind is “frenemy.” One of those complex thoughts where writers like me often dwell.

A frenemy is a person we invite into our inner circle as a friend, yet we may dislike many of their qualities. Frenemies seem to be on our side, then they turn on us.

Bringing the concept of waiting into personification makes it a frenemy.

In hindsight, we know waiting helps our faith grow. Yet enduring the days and weeks of tested patience seems to play on the negative side of this oxymoron.

Living in limbo, waiting for the outcome, for the answered prayer.

In the waiting, we are proven.

How do we stay in hope while the frenemy of waiting besieges us, steals time and forces us to dig deeper into endurance?

I only know what works for me:

  • Admit I am impatient.
  • Call the frenemy of waiting what it is.
  • Re-read my journals about past times of waiting: 10 years for a healthy child, 3 years to sell a house, another 10 years to complete and publish a book.
  • Remember God is timeless. He defines “soon” with eternal measurements.
  • Try to learn the lesson of patience—again.

And when I scrape the bottom of my endurance barrel, I repeat Psalm 43:5, “Hope in God for I will yet praise Him.”

I find hope as I live in the “yet.”

©2018 RJ Thesman – All Rights Reserved

If you’re in a waiting period and scraping the bottom of your endurance barrel, consider a read-through of Hope Shines – nuggets of encouragement for weary souls.

Finding Hope When You’re Stuck

Posted by

13

So many people I know, including myself, are stuck – waiting for an answer to prayer – the answer that will help us move forward.

We have prayed, fasted, cried out to God and yet – nothing.waiting

What is the block? What is holding back the answers? Is it just a matter of timing or something much deeper and more important?

The requests of these folks are not for wealth or a better car. They ask for direction and wisdom, for a simple interview that might lead to a job, for a roof over their heads or a definitive place to worship.

But silence echoes in eerie response. Almost as if the back story of the 400 years of silence between the Old Testament and the coming of the Messiah is being replayed.

The dark night of the soul when God seems to be in hiding and we are left to wallow in our frailties.

But hope determines God has not disappeared. He may be silent yet is still at work – behind the scenes, moving puzzle pieces together, then declaring the perfect time for a reveal.

So what do we do when the answers don’t come, when we feel stuck in an eternal calendar where nothing seems to flip us to the next section?

  • Keep believing God WILL answer – in his time
  • Keep praying because God honors persevering prayer
  • Know God has a plan and he promises it will be a good one
  • Understand that every season – even seasons of waiting – will eventually end
  • Remember we cannot see every detail that relates to our prayer requests. We cannot know the eternal value or the sacred reasoning behind life’s waiting rooms.
  • Post this verse where we can see it every day: “There is a happy end for the man of peace” (Psalm 37:37 Amplified).

Hope continues to believe – especially when we cannot see how our faith works. We believe in what we cannot see, still knowing a facet of eternal value exists though none of the waiting makes sense.

In the meantime, hope continues – one whispered prayer at a time – believing in that happy end and in the One who will someday make it happen.

©2017 RJ Thesman – Author of “Sometimes They Forget” and the Reverend G Trilogy http://amzn.to/2kG29Ur