Day 13 - NO

Day 13 – I have avoided this issue but it was thrown in my face today. How often have you prayed something and God has said a resounding NO? Those are the days I just want to bury my head in the sand and say that I give up.

Today and yesterday, both of my daughters struggled with answers of "No" and to similar things. They each tried out for the play, "Annie". They are both good singers and dancers but unfortunately, come from two rather tall parents. "Annie" is the story of an orphan who is 11 and she lives in an orphanage where there are other children her age. Therefore, my daughter, Hope, who is 5'7" is too tall to be a child even though she, herself is only 12. My other daughter, Grace, is 5'4 ½ "which again makes her a rather tall orphan. She had her heart set on getting the role of Annie. She has thought of nothing else since May. Tryouts started and then the callback list came out. Grace got a callback and Hope did not. Heartbreak number one came for Hope. She had realized her dream of being an orphan was probably dashed by the fact that she was just too tall. Then, Grace went to callbacks today and never got a chance to sing for the part of Annie. They decided to call 4 to stay after the regular orphan readings and she was not one of them. It was clearly the 4 that they were considering for Annie. Grace was the tallest out of the 15 orphans that they called in the first place. She just wanted a chance to sing so that they could choose based on the best voice. She prayed and prayed since May and the answer was still, no. Her heart broke and I saw my very confident daughter just try to pick her head out of the sand and try not to just give up.


While that is minor in the grand scheme of life, it is very telling. We sometimes miss the point when we are asking the questions of God. What is His will isn't always what we want. He wants us to be more like Him. Colossians 3:10 says: ¹⁰and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

 He also wants to grow our faith in Him. He sometimes tests us to see if we will still believe even when the answer is no. Hebrews 11:6 says: ⁶And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

There are times when we need to mature and understand the great aspect of how He is blessing us before we can truly receive what He has to give.

 The biggest thing that I have learned over time is that if we operated on my timing, I would have missed out on some HUGE God moments in my life. His timing is perfect! Sometimes when we ask a question, He might have something better in store for us.

Finally, both selfishness and unconfessed sin have a way of blocking us from seeing answers to prayer. If it is all about us, God will find a way to knock us off our feet and wake us up a little.


During my mile today, I was still cramping in my stomach from the virus I caught from my daughter. It was painful but not as painful as knowing there was nothing I could do for my girls and their broken hearts. All I can do is comfort them, turn them to scripture and pray.


I, too, have a prayer that I have been told to wait on for a number of years. It is difficult to wait or hear a no because we cannot see the big picture. I know that God is painting a masterpiece in the background but all I can see from time to time is the little dots like you see in an Impressionism painting. It looks like a total mess up close but when you stand back and see the whole picture, you see the bigger plan or overall beauty involved.

God doesn't want us to hurt. He wants us to grow closer to Him and the best thing I can pray is that this experience this week for my daughters will have them clinging to Him instead of being angry.