Are you waiting for answers to a prayer right now? Do you secretly question when or if you’ll receive your answer? I am in a season of unanswered prayer. I suspect I’m not alone. Our prayers may be different, but the waiting and the uncertainty aren’t. Read on for five reminders for your season of unanswered prayer.

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I stood there staring at their little mouths gaping like tiny yellow-ringed black holes. Their mom had apparently made their nest in the back wheel-well of our car—making use of the car during quarantine even if we weren’t. 

How were they even still alive after traveling thirty miles on the highway plus a day away from their mother? That familiar sick feeling in my stomach rose up—as it always does when I see the innocent suffer. 

We decided to leave them where they were until we got home, since they’d survived that long; and if there was a chance we could relocate them at home, we feared their mother would reject them if they smelled like us from riding in the cabin. 

An hour later we were home. Miraculously the birds survived the drive. It felt like a sign. 

I painstakingly picked a tree close to the car where their nest might fit. Worried the nest wouldn’t hold since the mother built it for a less precarious location, I remembered they had survived that long: Surely God would watch over them as His Word says He does. 

My husband and I donned gloves and carefully pulled the nest and babies from the car. Everything was going great. Surely, they’d make it. We secured them in the tree as best we could and prayed God would watch over them as only He can.

The next morning the little bird babies were gone. They had fallen out of the nest. No matter the care we’d taken with them. Or our prayers.

I really struggled with questions for days. Some might say they were just little birds—no big deal. They were the least, yes, but God usually likes to use that category most. I had been so confident He would answer my prayer for them.

But He didn’t. Why?

When prayer goes unanswered

Did I do something wrong? Did I not have enough faith? Why wouldn’t He answer such a simple prayer? A selfless prayer.

And somehow I forgot all the prayers that God had answered in my life to focus on those not answered.

In the same way that death has a way of bringing all our losses back, I also wanted answers for my biggest unanswered prayer of this season: children of my own.

Reminders for the Season of Unanswered Prayer

#1 – I am not entitled. 

God is generous—bestowing all manner of gifts on us. Especially here in the US where we are immeasurably blessed, it’s easy to forget we do not deserve all those things.

For years, I waited for the husband God had for me, hoping and praying that I wouldn’t be called to live separate like Paul. It wasn’t until after I met and married my sweet husband that I realized just how blind I was to my own motivation.

A husband wasn’t my due. Through my husband’s beautiful example of God’s love for me, I was deeply struck by the fact that I didn’t deserve him.

The same is true for children of my own. This is not something being withheld from me.

#2 – There is a reason for this.

As hard as it can be to accept amid unanswered prayer, God has a reason for this time in my life. I won’t pretend to know or understand what that reason could be, but I do know that God is good and has a good reason for this, too.

#3 – My cup runneth over. 

It’s human nature to focus on the negative. To focus on the one undesired outcome and ignore all the others. Not to mention those things I never even thought to ask for. My entire life reflects the goodness and abundance of God.

#4 – It is well (even still). 

As I said before, I don’t pretend to understand or like this part of my life. However, there is beauty in wanting something so much, not getting it, and still trusting and praising a good and faithful God.

As a Christian, it can be easy to fall for the lie that our lives will be perfect because we follow Christ. No, they won’t. And I’m guessing that we are the best witnesses for Him when we don’t have it our way and choose to trust Him anyway.

#5 – God does answer my prayers. Every time.

Dr. Charles Stanley said, “God answers every prayer with yes, no, or wait.” He may not respond with what I want to hear, but He answers me.

He’s not sitting on His throne with his arms crossed until I ask nicely or say please. He listens to me. He sees my busted heart.

And I think—in addition to yes, no, or maybe—He says, “I see you, I hear you, and I care.”

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I don’t know why God chose not to save our little bird babies, I don’t know if a child of my own is in God’s plan for me, and I don’t understand why God chooses to answer prayers the way He does sometimes.  

But I do know that I am loved and blessed beyond human comprehension. I know that faith isn’t about being okay every minute; it’s about trusting through the pain.

And I know God hears me.

Are you struggling with unanswered prayer today? Please share in the comments below what encourages you.

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More reading on the subject…

• 10 Encouraging Verses for the Time in Between from HISsparrowBlog
• Infertility: A Different Kind of ‘Happily Ever After’ from HISsparrowBlog
• When the Answer is No from HISsparrowBlog

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I frequently link up with the following: Grace & Truth with Embracing the Unexpected, Tell His Story with Jeanne Takenaka, and Let’s Have Coffee with Joanne Viola.