Let me introduce you to my friend, Jennifer. Jennifer Rothschild is the author of 10 books with combined sales of over a half-million units, including the newly released God Is Just Not Fair: Finding Hope When Life Doesn’t Make Sense. She’s been featured on Good Morning America, Dr. Phil, Women of Faith and Extraordinary Women and is the founder of Fresh Grounded Faith events. She became blind at age fifteen and now helps others live beyond limits. She resides in Springfield, Missouri with her husband of 21 years, Dr. Philip Rothschild, and their two sons Clayton and Connor. Connect with Jennifer on Twitter and Facebook.
Over the course of the next few weeks, I’ve invited friends to share their words in this space as we explore the mysteries of prayer during the Summer Bible Study.
I turned on both lamps on the dresser in the guest room. When I detected light from the right lamp but not the left, I placed my hand on the bulb to make sure it was working. It was warm.
If the lamp was on, the problem wasn’t the light bulb.
My heart sank when it hit me. This could only mean one thing—
The few fragments of sight I once had in my left eye were now gone. It’s not like there was real vision there to begin with, but at least it wasn’t vast blackness of nothing at all.
I had lost the majority of my sight as a teenager because of a degenerative disease called Retinitis Pigmentosa. Blindness had been hard but at least it had a little light perception–not enough to function, but it did give me a reprieve from total darkness.
Standing in front of the guest room dresser that day, I suddenly felt trapped in a claustrophobic cave and overwhelmed by dread and loss.
My eyes welled up with tears and my throat tightened. “God, please give me back my left eye.” I prayed because I knew God heard me and could restore even my limited sight.
“Oh Father, I really want my left eye back. I don’t even need total healing if you would just give me back the little light I had in my left eye.”
It’s been over five years since I asked God to restore my left eye, and it remains as black as a starless midnight sky–now both eyes only see black.
God heard my prayer. He just didn’t answer me the way I wanted Him to.
Do you have a desire you long for God to hear?
“I need healing, Lord.”
“God, please restore my marriage.”
“Father, I feel so lonely. Please bring someone to love me.”
God hears you and your desire, my friend. Even if He hasn’t answered it yet, that does not mean He disregards it–or you.
Your voice isn’t a vague noise from a distant guest room in Heaven.
God hears you. He just may not answer you in the way you want Him to.
“You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry” (Psalm 10:17). My friend, God hears you, He listens when you cry out to Him. He created your heart, and He gets you. He knows what you want and need, and when He hears you, He immediately sends encouragement your way.
On that day in the guest room when I prayed for God to heal my eye, He did hear my voice. He regarded my sorrow; He did not answer my prayer by giving me healing. He answered my prayer by giving me encouragement–the ultimate encouragement. Himself.
So, I write this post today with blind eyes on a talking computer. And, if your eyes are filled with tears because you long for God to answer your prayer and it just seems He hasn’t, well, maybe He has.
God has heard you.
The Lord may not have answered you in the way you wanted Him to but He has answered you in the way you needed Him to.
Maybe, like me, you need something far more satisfying and eternal than the specific answer to your prayer. Maybe the reason God hasn’t answered your prayer in the way you want Him to is because He wants to grant you what you need most – that which is more satisfying and eternal… the ultimate encouragement… Christ Himself.
“Satisfaction doesn’t come from answers to our prayers. Satisfaction comes from the encounter we have with God through his Spirit because of our prayer.” – God is Just Not Fair: Finding Hope When Life Doesn’t Make Sense
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This week, were giving away 3 copies of God Is Just Not Fair: Finding Hope When Life Doesn’t Make Sense by Jennifer Rothschild.
This is a book about finding more than just answers. It’s for anyone who needs hope when life doesn’t make sense – for all who reach for a God who feels distant.
Do you believe God is just not fair? If you’re like Jennifer Rothschild, you wrestle with questions when you experience painful circumstances. Does God care? Does he hear my prayers? Is he even there?
Blinded as a teenager, Jennifer overcame daunting obstacles, found strength in God, and launched a successful speaking and writing ministry. Then in her 40’s, everything changed.
Jennifer hit a wall of depression and discontent that shook her to her core, undermining many of her past assumptions about her faith. Jennifer wondered who God was and why he continued to allow her to struggle and doubt. Where, Jennifer pleaded, is his hand of healing and hope in my life now?
To win, click here to leave a comment on the original blog post at MargaretFeinberg.com. The three winners will be selected and announced on Friday.
Congratulations to the winners: Krystal Maess, Alisha, and Tricia!
I was just reading with Stronger study by Angela Thomas about God being everywhere. In Psalm 139, God not knowing the difference of dark and light, because He is Light and knows no darkness! Oh how we see Him! thank you for you!
I think this is something we all wrestle with – why doesn’t God answer our prayers the way we think they should be? Doubt creeps in, fear, hopelessness. I have read some of Jennifer’s books and done a bible study. She writes from her heart.
A friend of mine had her newborn pass away yesterday and it reminded me so much of my struggle with infertility and left me crying to God wondering why it’s so unfair that her and I and many others have to go through this-a simple desire to hold a baby in our arms when it seems as if there are so many people out there who simply don’t “deserve” to have a baby because they abuse their children, etc. Thank you so much for sharing this. It gives me a hope for a future that I can’t see.
I’m amazed by Jennifer’s story. I got to meet her in person as she was a keynote speaker at my church one year. She is such a gentle and beautiful woman of God. She writes of what she knows and lives with each day. This post encourages me to be so ever grateful for His presence in my life.
The hardest part of “unanswered” prayer is my expectations. They seem to always get in the way…how do you pray with expectation and belief with out forming an expectation and becoming disappointed if the prayer is not answered (the way you thought, as quickly as you thought, etc)…
love the comment when she said peace does not come from answered prayers but from the act of praying. I agree with Tara the disappointment comes from the expectation
God’s answers, like His timing, are not ours to understand. This above all else is the hardest lesson to grasp in knowing God. His will, the bigger picture, we often can’t see – I’m finding rest more every day in just remembering that at this moment He is enough. That ultimately just knowing Christ’s love for me is enough for the moment and the details will work out in time and usually far better than I could ever have dreamed.
Awww, I love me some Angela Thomas.
This is such an encouraging, yet challenging post. I am in a season where I am praying, begging God to move in a huge way & no necessarily for my sake alone, but for the sake of thousands of orphans & hundreds of families. I am among the group longing & praying God would release our young sons from the Democratic Republic of Congo. It has been a long season of praying…and God has answered prayers, just not in the way I would hope or expect. There have been blessings in the way He has answered prayers & has drawn me into a closer relationship with Him. But I wrestle every day with the “how is this just or fair” question. Each day, I rest on the fact that my God is sovereign and loving. Jennifer’s books sounds amazing…would be a very good read for me at this point in my life.
Jennifer speaks from her relationship with our Abba Father, that is where our peace comes from. Run into His arms and tell Him all your worries, concerns, dreams, hopes, and problems. He will hold you and comfort you with His presence. Maybe some of those prayers are answered the way you hoped but maybe they aren’t, you should cling to Him, not the results of the prayers. He is our Peace.
Sadly, I often struggle with the purpose of prayer. I know God is always fair and always good, but sometimes it’s harder to see than others. I need help! Since losing my only child at the age of 19, I struggle even more with prayer. I long to have a closer relationship with The Lord, but it seems there is always something blocking me from being who, what and where God would have me to be.
Hi there Margaret. I remember you from E-Women a couple of years back when I was volunteering in the green room. It was your first year with them I do believe. I love this post and I’m so happy you are giving away copies of God is just not fair. I already have one so I do not need to be included in the giveaway.
I’ve wrestled with things over the years. A family member’s alcoholism. My son’s epilepsy (that is now controlled with medicine, but not healed per say) and my right leg which is currently broken on purpose in order to straighten a bent tibia that kept causing me to fall. I remember sitting next to Jennifer on an airplane once and speaking briefly about my leg and the upcoming surgery and she simply mentioned “so, you’ll be healed” – I didn’t know how to answer that. The truth is, once this surgery is complete and my leg heals, I’ll be able to walk again yes. I should be pain free, yes. I shouldn’t fall down as much, yes. However, I will never be allowed to run, or jump, or do much that is high impact because of the metal inside. So healing is rather relative. I’ve had well meaning people pray over us and it’s been sweet and yet the answer is still the same.
God does not always answer my prayers the way I see fit and I’ve had to learn to trust that. I agree, he does hear us. He does answer prayer, just not always to my liking. What he also does is pull me in so tightly to him that I cannot help but feel his peace. That is a gift. Instead of healing the outside, he heals my heart.
I love the honesty of this book. I love the transparency. Jennifer writes from the heart. It’s not a lament about God, it’s about finding hope. The hope that Jennifer has through Christ just oozes out of her pours and out of these pages. It’s contagious for sure.
Great post. Thank you for sharing it with us.
My heart was broken when my husband of 33 years decided he didn’t want to be married to me anymore. I prayed and pleaded with God to restore our marriage. After much prayer, I found out that my (now ex-husband) has had other relationships during our marriage. I have grown children who have been affected by this also. It has taken a toll on my relationship with my daughter. Where is God in the midst of all this struggle?
I needed to hear this…dealing with a lot of discouragement and despair. My hope is in Him…thanks for the reminder!
I think we have to come to the deep down realization that Christ is enough. I know discouragement and despair all too well. If we lost everything and had Christ, we have everything.
Lifting you up right now, Deborah. May God saturate you in his love today.
Jennifer is so incredible; her words are gold! Grateful for her.
“The Lord may not have answered you in the way you wanted Him to but He has answered you in the way you needed Him to.” LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!!!!
KNOWING that to be true. When I was diagnosed with stage 3 ovarian cancer in 2011, although devastating, I knew instantly that God had allowed it for my protection. I was walking a slippery slope at the time and had developed a friendship that was toxic and taking me further and further from the Lord. Cancer came, as my friend Elaine says, “not as my undoing, but my emerging”. The Lord allowed my cancer journey for my protection and yes, He didn’t answer my prayer for healing the way I wanted Him to, but He answered the way I needed Him to, and I met Him in so many precious ways along the path He set me on. Oh my, I could go on and on and share how He spoke so specifically to me. He gave me a Word the morning of my surgery from Judges that “you will not die” and He would “consume all”, but there was still a hard road ahead. He walked with me every step of the way, and He called my heart away from a harmful influence and drew me so very close to His side. (There’s just soooo much detail to all of this, but the end result…I surrendered, responded and am so deeply in love with the Lord.)
There’s a line in a song that Deborah Klassen sings in a song entitled, “He is Able”. It says, “And if He chooses not to act in the way we thought He would, Confident He’s working all together for my good.” Yes…He answers not the way we want, so He can answer the way we need. Praising Him for “no’s” because truly Father really does know best *smile*.
Thankful,
Joy
Oh my!! Another sweet, “sacred echo” for me today! Just this morning God sent an almost identical message regarding what happens when God doesn’t answer prayers the way we expect, or want, Him to. Then I read this beautiful, encouraging blog post a couple hours later…. Yes, God is speaking directly to me and I thank you for allowing Him to use you!! For me, what’s so difficult about these and other “unanswered prayers” isn’t that it makes me doubt Gods ability to answer my prayers, but that it causes me to doubt God’s unconditional love and grace and mercy for me that He would find me worthy enough to WANT to bless me with answered prayers- the way *I* would want them answered….especially if I, in my imperfect human mind, can’t fathom anything “wrong” with my requests. For example, I have been praying for my earthly father’s emotional heart to be healed which would cause him to draw closer to God and perhaps even heal an emotional and physical divide between our family members. Basically, my father has caused so much pain to my mom, brother, and myself through the years and has now isolated himself from all of us (even physically now). I know he needs healing on an emotional/spiritual level first and foremost, so that has been my number one prayer! If God doesn’t orchestrate this to happen in my dad’s lifetime, it would be difficult for me to understand that, even though I know God grants us all “free will”. It makes me question if MY prayers are even heard….
Thank you so very much for this encouraging post, another “sacred echo” from my Heavenly Father, and thank you for joining me in prayer for my earthly father & family! I continue to pray for your ministry…God bless you!!
Jesus knew we would need Him.
It’s a mystery. It’s a challenge.
I am so thankful he goes before us
To open grace filled moments.
For the past year life has definitely not seemed fair for my family. From August through October my husband had three surgeries for malignant melanoma. He was left with lymphedema and now is facing treatment at Moffitt Cancer Center. I had emergency surgery for a perforated colon and am still healing from that. My three grandchildren were asked to leave their Christian school that they had attended for eight years. And now, I have shingles. What keeps me positive is that I know, God is good. He is in control. And I trust Him. The summer Bible study, “The Sacred Echo” has been a great help. I have been spending much time with it. I even have a special journal I am keeping through the study. Thank you Margaret for helping me keep my eyes on Jesus.
What an encouraging post. I would love to read this book by Jennifer! It’s a relief that I’m not the only person struggling in this area. The most difficult aspect of unanswered prayers for me is trying to stay hopeful and being patient. I have to remind myself that it’s not because I didn’t have enough faith or didn’t believe hard enough.
What is the most difficult aspect of unanswered prayers for me, is feeling like God has abandon me. Over these past few weeks, I’ve been feeling like God doesn’t really care about me. I’ve been wrestling with why He hasn’t answered prayers and answered what I thought was His will for my life. Last summer He asked me to give up dreams that I’ve had since I was a little girl. He’d made promises to me, and it felt like He was taking back those promises in asking me to give up those dreams. Struggling to know and believe that He has something better for me, when He’s asked for me to give up my dreams. Feeling cheated and hurt, like He doesn’t care for me, just like others in my life.
That’s the hardest part about unanswered prayers for me, right now.
Hi sweet Bethany, I can read the pain in your message and I know God hears your prayers and sees your tears. My prayer is that His presence – which is present! – would drawn near to you in this time. Though the result may not be answers, He will satisfy in the midst of questions. Blessings to you sister.
Tara, that is a wonderful question and something I ponder often! One of the ways I help my heart and mind as expectations grow is to continually ask God for His will to be done. It’s as if I’m submitting my expectations to His will. And, for me, this is a daily occurrence. Blessings to you sister.
Congratulations, Tricia! You’ve been selected as a winner! Please send your mailing address to carrie@margaretfeinberg.com.
Congratulations, Krystal! You’ve been selected as a winner! Please send your mailing address to carrie@margaretfeinberg.com.
Congratulations, Alisha! You’ve been selected as a winner! Please send your mailing address to carrie@margaretfeinberg.com.
Thank you so much! It was the perfect birthday present!