If God exists then why won't He answer my prayers?

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Holly3278 said:
Because it seems cruel of God to continue to make my son suffer like this. We’re doing everything we can to help him gain weight but it’s not working so we asked God for help but if he is there, he’s refusing to help.
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As a mother, I totally get where you are coming from, and my heart and prayers go out to you.

I have a child with Autism. I used to pray that God would take that cross from him. It did not happen, and I grew really frustrated. At some point, I changed my prayer. I now ask God to give my son what he needs in order to live a grace-filled successful life. And, I ask God to give me the grace to accept his will and make the right decisions for my child.

Since changing my prayer, my son had blossomed before our eyes. Everyday he is acquiring more and more skills he needs. Everyday, it is getting just that little bit easier for me to accept the diagnosis. God is good. He has answered my prayers even though he has not cured my son.

The Bible says that the prayers of the righteous avail much. This is because the righteous’ prayers are aligned with God’s will. I’m not claiming to be righteous, not by any means. But, sometimes God’s will is not ours. Sometime his will is not that we are miraculously cured. Sometimes the crosses of life come for our sanctification, as heart-wrenching as that might be. Sometimes the grace is in bearing that cross well. Consider whether or not your prayer needs to change, and if so, how you might change it.
 
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I was misunderstanding what you were saying by talking about St. Monica, but she is the patron saint of patience so it still applies. God answers every prayer, it’s just some he answers with a no and some he answers later. Job comes to mind, perhaps it would do good to meditate on the perfect wisdom and glory of God, and then just trust in him. Having the vision seemed to work for Job, too.
 
Holly3278 said:
Hey everyone. I’ve been having a lot of very serious doubts about the existence of God lately. I’ve tried in the past to be a good Catholic and I have prayed and prayed and prayed for God to cure my son of his weight gain problem but it is like God has a deaf ear to my prayers. He refuses to help my son. So, if God does exist and He is a God of love, why isn’t He answering my prayers for the cure of my son?
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Firstly I know how you feel, God isn’t answering my prayers either and my life gets worse every day. Secondly God does exist 100%, no doubt about that but I don’t know why he doesn’t answer some prayers.
 
As a person with a crippling medical condition, I’ve had times in my life when I beg God to heal me and yet I wake up another day. One day this past fall I decided to make some phone calls and find a physician who actually knew about my kinda rare condition.

You know what? I found an entire team. I cried in the office at the first appointment to speak to someone who knows and who can give me hope! That took the past 25 years of my life, but, God is answering my prayer through the hands of these doctors. However, it took me taking the “bull by the horns” and making phone calls and doing research to find a doc who was not accepting patients even to agree to see me.

Suffering, pain, illnesses, are part of this world. When it is our child we feel it sooooo deeply. Remember, God loves your son more than you do! God wants first and foremost that your child follow Him and at the end of your son’s life that he goes to heaven.

God is not refusing to help, God gave your son a mother who cares and prays. God has given medical professionals knowledge and skills. Trust God, but, put yourself into action. Follow doctor’s advice, if this doc is not giving you instructions to help your child either gain or lose weight, find a new doctor.
 
I was hungry and you fed me, thirsty and you gave me a drink, lonely and you visited me. When you did it to the least of these, you did it to me.

I always saw this one way, to give food, drink, and so on.
The other side of the coin is that there is the person who’s suffering hunger, thirst, and loneliness. They are the least, the hidden Christ, that others get to minister to. This is the broken world we live in. Receive the help from others, tell them how much it means to you that they have dedicated their lives to help others. Thank them for their care. See the broken Jesus in your son. Ask for strength, and Mary our Blessed Mother, is right with you. God is doing something incredible with your son today. The fullness of it is hidden today but will be revealed in the New Heavens and New Earth and you will be amazed.
 
I don’t have an answer to your suffering and I don’t have any advice for you.
I pray that you might experience consolation and confidence, and I pray that Mary Undoer of Knots might intercede.
 
The fact is that both David, his dad, and I are doing everything the doctors tell us to do but it’s not working. He gains a little weight and then something happens and he gets sick and then he loses weight which effectively means that he stays at the same weight throughout time. Because of this, CPS is threatening to take him away from me and possibly his dad too. We both have joint custody of him. I don’t understand how a loving God could allow this to happen.
 
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It is up to God to do what God believes is best.
All prayers are answered, but sometimes the answer is not what we want to hear.
 
Perhaps your prayers are leading you to the right team of physicians to determine what is going on with your son. Perhaps you are only wanting God to heal him miraculously overnight, but you have to remember; your prayers can be answered in many different ways.
 
I’m so sorry for your families suffering. Also for your doubts in God. I’ll pray for you.
Much others have said. I’ll just add God always does what is best for all concerned. That may sound like I’m missing the point or being callous. I am mean all, humankind. And we dont understand his ways, we never will completely. But one major thing we get wrong is thinking about life in terms of this life, God thinks in terms of eternal life, not just this tiny moment we call life. So God will be doing what is best for you and your families eternal life, even though you may have to suffer for a time here. You glory will be in the next life. The Bible is all about that. I’m sorry I’m on my phone not computer so I cant give you the references but there are many where Jesus tells us save our treasures in heaven not here. This is what God would be doing for you. Read pretty much any book on the life of saints and you’ll see the same thing. Mother Mary told St Bernadette that she would not be happy in this life but only in the next. Your child is making you saints, ie. Taking you to heaven (himself to of course). Ask God for strength and courage to do his will and accept whatever happens, Gods way. God bless you
 
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We don’t know for sure who reported us but we are fairly certain that it was one of his doctors offices. I guess I should also mention that CPS just came today and took my son away from me. He is going to be with his dad now. I will get a chance to get him back in the future but I don’t know the details. I have to go to court next Wednesday. I will never understand why God has let this happen to me. It seems awfully cruel.
 
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Prayers. Reach out to Social Services to begin the plan for bringing him back. Keep praying, seek comfort from Mary who also lost her son. Meditate on the “finding in the Temple” mystery.
 
I’m really sorry to hear about this development. We have to always have hope though. I’ll pray for you and your situation, that the truth comes out and for your son.
 
Your son is a servant of the LORD, as you are a servant of the LORD; he is the LORD’s servant in his being “himself” in the midst of his suffering of defective weight gain; you are the LORD’s servant in being faithful to pray for him as you suffer watching his suffering but with love for him.
Mary was the servant (handmaid) of the LORD in bearing the weight of having this Son, journeying to Elizabeth, then Bethlehem, then Egypt, then Nazareth, and Cana, and finally Golgotha, always praying, as she watched her Son die (viciously). Every day, not just at Elizabeth’s house, she voiced, “My soul magnifies the LORD…”, even as she took her son, cold, into her arms and laid him to repose in the tomb, “My soul magnifies the LORD.”

We pray to give the LORD the prayers of love he wants, not to persuade him to want to help - we are servants, our prayers are what the Master asks us to do: “When you pray, pray like this: ‘Our Father…’”

Do the service, pray; your son is doing his service, relying on others as he bears his suffering.
 
It may be difficult to offer suggestions when you leave out a lot of important details.

Are you married to your son’s dad ? What is and has been the living arrangement with you and David’s dad ?

If you are doing everything that the doctors said, then why would one of the doctors call CPS ?
 
St. Augustine wisely said: " God Almighty would in no way permit evil in His works were He not so omnipotent and good that even out of evil He could work good."
St. Paul said as well: “We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose”. (Romans 8:28)

In trial and adversity, we are called to faith, to hope, and to prayer. We are called to have faith in God and His promises to deliver us and our loved ones. We are called to have hope in that deliverance and the blessed sight of our Savior. We are called to prayer in the darkest of moments.
There is a hymn called “It is well”. Very well known. The back story of the hymn is less known. The story goes: Horatio G. Spafford was a successful lawyer and businessman in Chicago with a lovely family - a wife, Anna, and five children. However, they were not strangers to tears and tragedy. Their young son died with pneumonia in 1871, and in that same year, much of their business was lost in the great Chicago fire. Yet, God in His mercy and kindness allowed the business to flourish once more.

On Nov. 21, 1873, the French ocean liner, Ville du Havre was crossing the Atlantic from the U.S. to Europe with 313 passengers on board. Among the passengers were Mrs. Spafford and their four daughters. Although Mr. Spafford had planned to go with his family, he found it necessary to stay in Chicago to help solve an unexpected business problem. He told his wife he would join her and their children in Europe a few days later. His plan was to take another ship.

About four days into the crossing of the Atlantic, the Ville du Harve collided with a powerful, iron-hulled Scottish ship, the Loch Earn. Suddenly, all of those on board were in grave danger. Anna hurriedly brought her four children to the deck. She knelt there with Annie, Margaret Lee, Bessie and Tanetta and prayed that God would spare them if that could be His will, or to make them willing to endure whatever awaited them. Within approximately 12 minutes, the Ville du Harve slipped beneath the dark waters of the Atlantic, carrying with it 226 of the passengers including the four Spafford children.

Cont…
 
A sailor, rowing a small boat over the spot where the ship went down, spotted a woman floating on a piece of the wreckage. It was Anna, still alive. He pulled her into the boat and they were picked up by another large vessel which, nine days later, landed them in Cardiff, Wales. From there she wired her husband a message which began, “Saved alone, what shall I do?” Mr. Spafford later framed the telegram and placed it in his office.

Another of the ship’s survivors, Pastor Weiss, later recalled Anna saying, “God gave me four daughters. Now they have been taken from me. Someday I will understand why.”

Then he wrote his famous song and the words go thus:
" When peace like a river attendeth my way,

When sorrows like sea billows roll,

Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,

It is well, it is well with my soul.

Chorus:

It is well with my soul,

It is well, it is well with my soul."

In the end, God will look to us in our trials and how we responded then. Did we go to Him in faith and trust, knowing He would deliver us one way or another? Did we really have faith that His ways are higher than ours and that He knows what He is doing? I am praying for your son and you and your family. But please, never give up hope. God is great, and He will answer a faithful daughters prayer in His own way.

God Bless sister
 
My son’s dad and I are engaged. The doctors reported us to CPS because Colton is underweight. I guess it’s standard procedure for doctors to report families to CPS when a child is underweight.
 
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