notesbynora

There are prayers we pray with confidence. And then there are the prayers we whisper because we are afraid to hope too much.

We bring them to God carefully, ask sincerely, and believe He hears. And then… nothing seems to change. Days pass. Weeks stretch longer. Sometimes months or even years go by, and the situation remains exactly the same.

It is in those moments we tend to ask ourselves, “Did God hear me?“

Scripture assures us He does. Psalm 34:15 says, “The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are attentive to their cry.” Not some prayers. Not the eloquent prayers. Not only the confident prayers. Every cry.

The tears we cry into our pillows. The pain we hide from those who wouldn’t understand. The brokenness we don’t want to talk about because we are too ashamed.

The difficulty is not that God is silent — it is that God does not always answer according to our timeline.

We often think an unanswered prayer is a sign God has not moved. But sometimes what we are asking God to change is not the only part of the story He is working on. God sees connections we cannot see, future moments we cannot anticipate, and consequences we cannot predict.

A child sees a closed door and assumes the parent is withholding – a parent sees the danger on the other side. We measure prayer by immediacy, but God answers with wisdom.

There are three ways God often answers prayer: yes, no, and not yet. The “not yet” can feel the heaviest because it requires trust without evidence. But “not yet” is not rejection — it is timing.

Jesus Himself prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, asking that the suffering before Him might pass. The answer was not the removal of the cross, but the strength to walk through it, and through that obedience came resurrection.

Sometimes God changes our circumstances, and sometimes He changes our strength during them.

If your prayer has not yet been answered, do not assume God is absent. He may be working in ways too intricate for you to see right now. Faith continues to pray even when results are not immediate, trusting that God hears before we see.

Hope is not believing God will do exactly what we ask. Hope is believing God will do what is best.

And His “best” always comes from love.

Prayer:
Lord, when my prayers feel unheard, remind me that You are listening even in the silence. Give me patience to trust Your timing and peace to believe Your answers come from wisdom and love. Amen.