A Prayer for the No's

A no is never easy. It never will be.

I have often heard that God answers prayers in three ways: yes, no, not yet.

Obviously, we want the yes. And if we can’t immediately get the yes, we will likely accept the hopeful not yet, because while it might encourage impatience, it still puts a promise in play, something to look forward to.

Rarely do we want to hear or receive a no.

No’s are hard, no’s are painful, no’s take time to heal.

And while sometimes, in hindsight, we can see the why of a no, the reason(s) we were turned in a different direction, other times we never understand why a door wasn’t opened, or why it was seemingly shut in our face. So even though we move on and find new things to pray for, that no still stings, still sits on our hearts like a scar.

Maybe that no is a lost dream, a loved one that wasn’t healed, a relationship that ended, a goal that was never reached.

We all carry the pain of past no’s and it never fully goes away.

So today my prayer is that we would find comfort for that pain. That its ache might dull in the face of new blessings, new open windows, new yes’s and not yet’s.

So often life feels like something that is thrust upon us. We have moments of planning, dreaming, and hoping, and then, without warning, we find ourselves living out something completely different. I pray that we might find purpose in the lives that we didn’t expect, and that we would find joy in places we never knew we’d be in.

I pray for the passions that felt extinguished when something didn’t work out. I pray that it would no longer feel like a loss of that passion, but an opportunity to transfer it to something else.

I pray that we would find renewed wonder in what the world has to offer—all we can learn, all we can find. I pray that new dreams, new goals, and new hope would stir inside our hearts, strengthening our faith and shining light into our darkness.

A no is never easy. It never will be.

And even if we never understand why we are given a no, I pray that we would find the courage to trust that there is still good to be found after a no. I pray that in the face of any and every no we would understand that we are not alone, not ignored, not being punished, and not being left behind. God is always with us, always listening, always working things together for our good.

I pray that our faith would grow in the wake of a no—not in spite of it, but because of it. And I pray that we would never lose the persistent to keep praying, to keep asking, to keep trusting that no matter the answer, God has it all under control.