Faith Filled Family Magazine August 2016 | Page 32

Healing Never Came
You prayed for healing, and the person died
anyway. Why did it happen? How do you deal
with the questions directed at God?
By Bobbie Schaeperkoetter
Do you remember the old Garth
Brooks song, “Unanswered
Prayers”? A line in the chorus
says “Sometimes I thank God for
unanswered prayers. Remember when you’re talking to the
man upstairs, just because he
may not answer doesn’t mean
he don’t care. Some of God’s
greatest gifts are unanswered
prayers.”
In the song he and his wife run
into an old high school flame.
The gist of the song is that
seeing this girlfriend from his
past brings back a slew of mem-

ories. In high school he was sure
he loved this girl and each night
would pray for that relationship.
As he is remembering, he looks
at his wife and is overcome with
thankfulness for the blessings
that God has given him. That is
when the chorus comes in to say
that all too often God’s greatest
gifts are unanswered prayers.

is all mighty and all knowing. He
is always working for our good
and sometimes that means he
doesn’t answer our prayers the
way that we think he should or
in the time table that we think he
should. In many cases, I understand that and am even grateful
when I look back at some of the
things I’ve prayed for.

I’ve always loved that song and
I’ve always agreed with Garth
Brooks. There are many times
I have been thankful that God
knew better than to give me
what I asked for. After all, God

But, if I can be really honest here,
there are times that I haven’t
understood His ways. What if
we are praying for something
that has implications a little bit
larger that high school crushes?