LIFE HAPPENS
I was delighted. It seemed like an answered prayer…and it was... until everything changed. A few years later, under bizarre circumstances, the couple ended in divorce.
The wife was devastated as she and the children watched the husband and father begin leading a brand new life far away.
Church stopped and depression set in for the wife while the children grew angry at their circumstances. This certainly is not a unique situation. Sadly, divorces happen all the time, but it didn’t make it any easier for the family left behind.
PRAYERS LIFTED
Many prayed for the couple, yet nothing changed. Add to this a family member passed away and the woman became even more distraught. I told her all we could do was pray. While her negative reaction didn’t surprise me, I tried to encourage her that God is always with us. Again, the pain surfaced and she commented that she wasn’t sure about that.
I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO BELIEVE ANYMORE
So I followed with, “Don’t you believe anymore?” She answered with painful tears flowing down her face, yet without bitterness, “I don’t know what to believe anymore.” I hugged her, assured her I believed, and she left.
Since that time, I have prayed for the family and honestly I’m not sure even now I’ve seen any change. I feel horrible for them and have nothing to offer but my love and prayers. I can’t change what’s happened, either with the husband or family member who passed. What’s a friend to do?
UNANSWERED PRAYERS
Sometimes frustrations can set in when circumstances don’t change, since it feels like ‘an unanswered prayer.’ Other times we get impatient with God’s timing and end up feeling stuck spiritually. There seems to be no answer. I expect that is how my friend feels.
I remember back before Charles was diagnosed with PTSD. I prayed and prayed that whatever it was that caused him to respond or react to unnamed triggers would stop. There were times when I was at a loss of what to do. All I had was prayer. I couldn’t talk about it; most people never witnessed the episodes. I felt lost and alone. Who would even believe me? All I had was God, yet for the longest time there seemed to be no end to situation.
PRAYER CHANGED ME
My prayers didn’t change Charles, but it did change me. I knew I wasn’t alone and the tears I cried, God caught in his bottle. He was holding me even when I felt alone. My prayer became ‘Lord, help me deal,’ and He did. Then Charles agreed to get help. It was amazing, even if the situation wasn’t perfect, it was so much better.
As I, even now, hold on to this mindset, I’ve got to believe and pray that one day my friend will also recognize that God is with her. God has not left her, He’s still there; even if she may never get the answers she wants. This doesn’t mean God always changes our circumstances immediately. Sometimes He wants to teach us that He is present in the middle of them.
GOD IS STILL GOD
The truth that God wants us to reach out to him when we are in our darkest hour is as true today, as it was for the Israelites when they were stopped in front of the Red Sea, certain they were going to be killed by the coming army.
God parted the Red Sea. He was with them all the while and was trying to teach them to trust him for the outcome. We all deal with circumstances, sometimes beyond our control, which threaten to overtake us. Darkness moves in, fear grows louder and we begin asking questions we never thought we’d ask like, ‘God, ‘Are you still there?’
GOD HAS NOT LEFT US
There are plenty of things we may not understand this side of heaven. Life happens. Prayers seem delayed and loss will enter our lives. But I completely believe God has not left us, even when circumstances don’t change.
God is still listening, working and always present in our lives. And sometimes faith is simply choosing to whisper, ‘God, I know you haven’t left me’— until our hearts believe it again.
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