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Does God Always Answer Prayers? · Arise Women of God

• 0:00
  Have you been on your knees before with a situation that is breaking your heart?
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  But it's been weeks, months, and perhaps even years, and all you seem to hear is deafening silence.
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  And then you look at other people and they're getting instant miracles answers to prayers.
• 0:20
  And you start to wonder, are my prayers being dropped or just ignored?
• 0:25
  Prayer Perhaps you're asking, does God always answer prayers because you're tired of living in a holding pattern and attempting to micromanag everything all by yourself just to keep from panicking.
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  Well, my friend, you are in the right place.
• 0:40
  By the end of today's episode, you will understand how to break free from the trap of spiritual control fatigue and learn how to navigate the waiting room of heaven without losing your hope.
• 0:53
  We're going to help you solve the pain of feeling spiritually forgotten by exploring an ancient prophet's watchtower, unpacking the seven year ache of infertility, and sharing a simple pivot question that unlocks a jammed line of communication.
• 1:10
  Instantly, we're moving from managing the silence to trusting the timeline.
• 1:16
  Stay tuned.
• 1:17
  Ordinary women Extraordinary Faith When God calls, we say yes.
• 1:27
  Hello and welcome to another episode of the Arise Women of God podcast.
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  I'm your host, Tamara K.
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  Anderson, and joining me today is the wonderful Wendi Christensen, my co founder of Women warriors of Light, who has also been a Christian counselor licensed social worker for over 30 years.
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  And that's especially helpful as we're tackling this really tough question.
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  Question Does God always answer prayers when we face prolonged silence from heaven?
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  I invite you to stand firm on the promise found in First John, chapter 5, verse 14, which says this is the confidence we have in approaching God that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
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  Wow.
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  Notice that it doesn't say he gives us an immediate end answer.
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  Identical copy of exactly what we demanded.
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  It says he hears us.
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  We see this beautifully illustrated in the Old Testament with the prophet Habakkuk.
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  He looked at the devastating injustice, pain and chaos surrounding him and cried out in raw frustration, O Lord, how long shall I cry and Thou wilt not hear.
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  God didn't ignore Habakkuk's plea or grief.
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  Instead, he answered by telling the prophet that an unfolding grand plan was already underway, a plan so staggering that Habakkuk wouldn't even believe it if he were told the details.
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  God then commanded him to go stand on his watchtower and wait patiently.
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  Because the vision had an appointed time, the answer is always given, but it frequently comes on a totally different timeline than our human deadlines that we Expect Wendy lived in that exact Habakkuk watchtower for seven long years, sitting
• 3:29
  in the silence where her faith was stretched.
• 3:32
  Listen as she shares her personal journey through the heartbreaking trial of infertility and how she learned how to stay in the waiting room.
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  Yes, sometimes it's no, and sometimes it's quiet.
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  And it takes time.
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  Sometimes those answers don't come for years.
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  And I've had situations where those answers didn't come for years.
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  I dealt with infertility for many, many years.
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  It took us about seven years to have my first child.
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  And for many years, I kept praying and asking and praying and asking and kept feeling God say, sometimes I didn't even hear Him.
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  Honestly, I'll be honest, because sometimes our minds get so crazy and we get so busy and we focus so much on the problem that we forget to hear, to stop and to really hear the answer.
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  And like I said, sometimes it takes years.
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  So my answer didn't come for years.
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  And sometimes it's just, hold on, just hold on, keep staying with me.
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  Keep.
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  Just wait, stay in the waiting with me.
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  And that's what I had to do, is I had to stay in the waiting for many, many years until the answer finally did come.
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  And I was blessed with this beautiful girl who's graduating now from high school.
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  It goes so quickly, but.
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  But that taught me so many lessons to sit in the waiting.
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  Because even in the waiting, I developed and grew as a person.
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  And I think that's why God sometimes holds off on answers.
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  We don't see and understand what his perspective is and what the outcome is, but he knows us even better than we know ourselves.
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  When an answer doesn't arrive on our schedules, we as human beings start to kind of panic.
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  We try to step into God's shoes and micromanage our surroundings.
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  Does that sound familiar?
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  I know it does.
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  For me, Wendi is now going to explain how this desperate need for certainty can drive us to push God away entirely if we're not careful.
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  I think it's interesting because human beings, they really crave certainty.
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  We want to have structure.
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  We want to have that control.
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  And when a prayer seems like it's met with absolute silence, it triggers our need to micromanage our environment, right?
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  It's so true.
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  I'm not getting the answer, so I'm going to do it.
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  I got to do everything that I can.
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  And I think women really want to control their environments.
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  And so they're like, okay, if.
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  If he's not going to answer it.
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  And it's not happening.
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  I'm going to do A, B, C and D to make sure that it happens right.
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  So we have this really innate feeling to try to control our environment instead of pausing and reflecting and just sitting in the present.
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  Because I think that that's something that can be really valuable.
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  Like I said, sometimes it's the stretching in just sitting in the waiting process that teaches us the most.
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  So, my friend, if you feel you are hitting a concrete ceiling with your prayers over a massive heavy issue like a long term health crisis or a child who has wandered, the best strategy isn't to walk away, it's
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  to shift your focus.
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  When I can't get an immediate answer to a massive question, I stop asking that question for the moment and break it down into smaller actionable questions that keep the window of communication open.
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  For example, I will ask something like God, do you love me?
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  And then wait for that peace to descend as a resounding yes.
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  Or what?
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  I will use another question that always seems to get answered right away.
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  Who can I help today?
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  Who needs comfort?
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  Who needs my thoughts and my prayers?
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  When you ask God who you can serve, he seems to answer with lightning speed.
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  Because sometimes someone always needs help.
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  And asking these simple questions help keep that line of communication open with our Heavenly Father.
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  While we're waiting for the other big answer to appear, Wendi is now going to share how she sees this pivot as a literal clinical cure for the self centered weight of depression and anxiety.
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  I love that.
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  Break it down into smaller questions or approaching it from a different way and then go and get outside of myself and serve.
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  And sometimes in the service of others you get answers too, where you become blessed because as you're helping somebody else, you'll hear that quiet whisper that will often bless you.
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  I've had that happen so many times where God's answered my prayer in the service of someone else.
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  Plus, depression is one of those.
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  I deal with a lot of depression and anxious clients.
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  And when you are in a state of depression, you are only focused on yourself.
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  Even anxiety, it's that fear that you are struggling to get out of.
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  It's very egocentrical because you're thinking of you.
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  I am feeling sad, I'm feeling down, I'm feeling hopeless, I'm feeling fear.
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  It's all about me, me, me, which that's okay to be in that space.
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  But if you can stop and reflect for a second and look outside of you, just like you were saying with service, then you start focusing on other people.
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  And as you're serving your fellow being, you're also serving God, right?
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  So as you focus on other people, it tends to lift some of that depression and that anxiety because you're not being so egocentrical and only focused on you, you're focused on other people.
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  It lightens all kinds of things when you focus and serve other people.
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  So, my friend, God is always hearing you and answering you, even if that answer is stand watch and wait.
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  Do not let the adversary convince you that silence means absence.
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  If your primary prayer feels stuck today, pivot, ask a smaller question.
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  Look for a way to serve other of God's children and watch how the static begins to clear.
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  God knows your timeline, he knows your heart, and he will sustain you through the waiting, help you stay resilient and find your footing when heaven feels silent.
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  We want to give you our Roadmap to Revelation 6 steps to hearing God in your daily life this PDF, along with our free audio meditation to help you receive light and revelation done by Wende, will help you calm
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  your mind and hear heaven's whispers.
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  Even better, you can get these free by clicking the link below.
• 9:59
  When the urge to micromanage your life seems overwhelming, open the Guide to Step Number three, the Growth Process.
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  It's a tool Wendy and I use to recognize those stretching seasons are where our spiritual roots grow deep and little by little.
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  Then use step number six.
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  Write down Daily God winks to prove he is still there, even when the big answer doesn't arrive.
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  So, my friend, God is there.
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  He hears your every prayer and he does answer in his own time and way.
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  May you be blessed with an abundance of patience as you wait for his timeline to unfold.
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  And until next time, may you arise.
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  Do it God's way.
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  God Strong.