Question about answers to prayer

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rhalie

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Why would God answer important prayers and then take those answers away?
 
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The prayer may have been answered but another sin from another person may.have removed the prayer.
We’re like a tapestry. The front is smoothe & beautiful. If it is turned backwards, it’s a world of knots. Answered prayer is the front. The back is full of tangled knots that weave in & out. These can change the design of the front, if not careful.
We pray to God. Others are praying to God. What if someone’s prayer was the opposite of yours??? I never thought this deep before.
I don’t think it’s God taking away your prayer as it is a complex world w multiple needs & desires that cross over or overlap.
Good question
 
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That’s a great answer, Tweed, and it fits exactly with what happened in one situation. The other is a bit more complicated. I got laid off in Dec 2017. I worked a temp position for many months and then got a permanent position which seemed to answer a lot of questions in my life (it moved me closer to my aging parents, etc.). However, it seems the people who hired me didn’t do a very good job. I wasn’t really qualified for the position (I could have learned it in a few months, but they needed someone able to be a fund accountant for a large fund autonomously within a month and I had no government accounting experience - which I was very honest about). They gave me no timeline and I wasn’t told what the problem was until the day they terminated me.

So, why did God give me signs that it was the right job (it answered three large life questions), yet it was completely the wrong thing.

Thanks, I’m just so confused.

RH
 
tweedlealice said:
The prayer may have been answered but another sin from another person may.have removed the prayer.
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No. Just no.
God doesn’t take someone’s “answer” away because a third party sinned.
God’s “answer” in that case all along was that he wants the original asker to be able to cope with the loss.
 
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God wants you to do something else now.
And honestly, you don’t want to continue working for bosses who don’t know what they’re doing and didn’t train you for your job. That’s a disaster waiting to happen.
Jobs like this are often a stepping stone to something better. Take what you managed to learn and find a new better job.
 
Tis_Bearself,

All that is true. I’ve had a ton of layoffs in my life. This was the first time for people to hire me that didn’t know what they were doing, though. My last three jobs were my “retirement” job. I kind of thought maybe that was all over because of the “signs” that I saw. Maybe not. I guess I haven’t figured out what all of this is about yet, although, I’m learning that I didn’t trust God as much as I thought I did. Maybe that’s what it was about…

RH
 
I agree with you… the sins of one don’t necessarily transfer to another, but there’s some truth in the tapestry analogy. We’re all woven together in very intricate and complicated ways that make it difficult at times to understand how our prayers are being answered and what the will of God for us is.
 
God answers every prayer, but sometimes the answer is not the one we want.
 
I understand that, but why keep giving and taking over and over again. I also understand learning to trust which is a good thing, but a job for two months? It’s not like it’s really a loss, I hated being there and was very happy when it ended and I’m back in the same exact spot. I’ve been laid off a lot, but this particular one seems meaningless. The only reason I took it was that it seemed that there were a lot of answers to prayer in it - the one about being near my parents only one of them.
 
Odilon said:
Looks like you chose the wrong job.
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Sort of sums it up.

God has a plan for each of is. To go to heaven.

God has a vocation for each of us, marriage, religious life? Vocations lived out help us to the goal, heaven.

God gives each of us talents.

It is up to us to use our rational minds to best use those talents in a way that will bring us to the ultimate goal = heaven.

God gave us free will. He does not select one specific person for us to marry, and if we don’t find that person we are destined to misery. God tells us about marriage, His Church teaches us about marriage and how to discern. We freely choose our spouse.

Same for our job. God does not micromanage us, so, if we take the job at SuperCorp instead of the job at XYZ, Inc we are somehow “out of God’s will” (unless the SuperCorp job would require us to do things that would hinder our progress to heaven).

Use the talent God gave you. Work hard. Network. Seek career counseling. Join professional groups. Join parish groups where you can also network.
 
I’m in my 50’s - I’ve been laid off many times over the years mostly due to the economy. I never questioned God about it before. I just am tired and tired of learning new jobs - 13 over 25 or so years (of course most temporary) - after a short military career. I was laid off the last time over a year ago and was out of money and I had the offer, so I took it. I live in a very expensive part of the country but can’t leave due to taking care of my parents. I am only questioning this time because I guess I’m tired…
 
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My dear brother, I’m also in my 50’s. We did what they told us to do, didn’t we? We studied hard, worked hard, went to Church and did our civic duty, you went a step further than I could and did your military duty! and “they” told us if we did that then we would be able to have a job and a house and a decent car and maybe a vacation now and then.

Instead, in our 50’s we have to go back to entry level jobs. Right now I have the same paycheck as I did in 1990. A quarter of what I was paid in 2007. House, gone, good cars, gone, savings, gone, looking at working these low pay, unskilled jobs until our bodies simply give out.

Yep, I know. I hear you.
 
Yep, I’ve been making almost the same for about the last 10 years. I hope with the economy getting better salaries might be going up a bit.

I’m a single mother - raised three kids myself and God has always taken care of us. I never had a house; I finally bought my first decent car three years ago. I worry because I don’t have much in the 401K and this job made really good money. I was going to be able to retire someday. Oh well…

I was sort of joking yesterday and I said that at some point ( maybe 75 ), I’ll get disability because I won’t be able to do it anymore.

RH
 
OK,
I’d say, that new job, got you closer to your Parents. You gained some experience in that job to take w you to the real God given job. (?)
You should be able to collect unemployment pay(?) You could challenge the firing, as they didn’t send you for proper training in that job. But, as long as you get unemployment, I’d coast. Enjoy my parents & look for another job. Keep praying.
God is faithful.
Tweedlealice
 
Actually, the project that eventually was going to get me closer fell through just days after they hired me. I didn’t gain any experience as I already was well qualified for the accounting part and the only thing I learned (the governmental forms), I’ll never use again unless I work for that district again, which won’t happen.

I definitely get unemployment which I was getting before the job, which barely pays my rent, so I’m working short term project jobs instead.

I’m the one taking care of my parents. That’s why I took the job. I thought it was an answer, but I guess not.

I’m now thinking that this was a way to test me even more and teach me more trust. I’ve been laid off many times in my life (I’m in my 50’s) and I just was struggling to understand this one because it was obviously the wrong job, but it answered a lot of prayers (or so I thought), but I was out of my severance and had to take what came…I know God is faithful, I just didn’t get this one.

Rose
 
You are not alone in questioning what it is that we are to take away, when it seems a prayer was answered. The answer may be multivalent, and we do not necessarily see all of the answers, or the “why” of it.

As you noted, you had several issues resolved by getting that job. Assuming you are in an area with enough businesses that you can obtain another job, then it would seem apparent that receiving that job was the means of answering other issues.

Get out the resume, dust it off, and get cracking. Looking back is a waste of time if one is asking questions which cannot be answered. Pray as if all depended on God, and work as if all depends on you.
 
The point is nothing was resolved. I didn’t get to move closer to my parents, the good salary which would have made it possible for me to not work until I die is gone. However, on the good side, I don’t have to work there anymore, yay! (It was awful). Of course, I am working, I have to, I’ve been working for three weeks now on short-term projects until I find something more permanent.

I just thought that it might be worth trying to figure out - I mean that’s what I do with my spiritual director (when I can afford it). However, maybe not.

RH
 
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