Unanswered prayers

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Gabrielle_S

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My question is about physical healing. I want to trust in Jesus and all the promises he made with respect to healing but I find myself doubting everything since my prayers are not answered the way I think he’s promissing me. I keep going over certain phrases over and over and I need help because I must not be interpreting something right. These phrases are “Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find and knock and it will be opened to you” also “If you ask anything of the Father in my name he will give it to you” I know that some people may ask for silly things like money or material things that are not for their own good but Jesus never said to anyone “sorry I can’t heal you, that illness is good for you- it’s your cross” I feel like I’m doing what the word of God tells me to do. I pray all day long, I say my rosary daily, I attend a healing prayer group where they lay hands on me and ask for healing. I attend healing Masses and anointing of the sick once a month. I was even told at a healing service by a woman known for her gifts of healing that God was healing my problem. She didn’t even have any knowledge of what it was but she named the problem and I was sure that day that God had spoken to me through her but not so. My problems have only worsened and new illnesses have come my way.
Please help me make some sense of all this. I want to trust Jesus but I struggle with why he’s apparently not answering my prayers. I have 2 young children and I wouldn’t expect them to trust me if I didn’t do what I said I would. I feel the same way about trusting Jesus.
Thank you for your answers.
Love,
Gabrielle S
 
I’m very sorry to hear of your illness. It is awfully hard to keep praying when things don’t change as a result. I’ve definitely been there a few times. It might sounds cliche to say keep praying, but I truly believe that. Have you consulted a physician regarding your condition? If it keeps getting worse, then maybe it is time for God to act through a doctor to heal you. I’ll pray for your improvement and continued faith.

Eamon
 
Before I start, let me say that I’m sorry for your pain and suffering. Jesus often said “your sins are forgiven” before healing someone’s physical illness. Jesus always promises to heal our hearts and our sin. Jesus also prayed while suffering in the garden “Father, let this cup pass by me, but not my will but yours be done.” It is important that we always pray with God’s will in mind. If our physical pains are not healed, then we must pray that our emotional and mental hurt will be. Pray that your suffering be joined with Christ. Don’t lose your faith. Those who have life easy have a more difficult time getting into heaven, because they do not know that they still need God, but those who suffer much in this life and still hold onto faith, will have a great reward for them in heaven.
 
Sometimes when prayers aren’t answered in the way we think they should be, we think God isn’t listening or maybe our faith isn’t strong enough.

Jesus says something different.

In John 9:1-3:
As he passed by, he saw a man blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him.”

If this man had not been born blind, he wouldn’t have received Jesus’ healing touch and been an instrument to bring others to believe in Jesus.

St. Paul also dealt with this in 2 Cor. 12:7-10:
And to keep me from being too elated by the abundance of revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to harass me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I besought the Lord about this, that it should leave me; but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

I, myself, have been dealing with a chronic illness for almost five years now. It has changed my life drastically in my activity level and independence. It has also changed my life drastically in that I have learned to depend on God each and every day to get me through the day. Because of this, I would rather keep this affliction in order to stay close to Him, than to be healed physically and fall away from Him again. Only God knows what I need, so I trust in Him.

Have you received anointing of the sick? This special sacrament sanctifies our suffering, makes it holy! I have received this sacrament three times, and will receive it again this week. While I am still not healed physically, I know the Lord is healing my spiritually and I gain a great sense of peace from the sacrament.

God bless you as this is a very difficult time. Lay your burdens at Jesus’ feet, join your suffering to His on the cross – you will receive great graces from this!
 
i’m terribly sorry to hear about your suffering. i know how frustrating it can be to pray and pray, and not see the result we want.

but remember that we can offer up our sufferings to God, and unite them with His. that, in your suffering, your faith can be strengthened, your patience grown, your relationship with Him developed.

i’ll say a prayer for you, as you struggle with this. may you find grace and peace in His encouragement.
 
i’m so sorry to hear this. but take heart, He is with you, and He loves you.

we’ll be praying for you.
 
I am sorry to read about your suffering. God is and will bless you.

Read the story of Lazarus. When Jesus finally arrived, after he knew Lazarus was sick for two days, the Apostles felt Why didn’t he go sooner - Lazarus would still be alive then?" But Jesus said that it was God’s will to use the resurrection of Lazarus for a greater good.

God always has a plan, He always anseers prayers. But remember it is God’s will not ours, we may not know His plan yet.

I guesst you pray for the strength to overcome, and for the vision to see God’s plan for you.

He is absolutely there with you, trust me on this 🙂
 
Perhaps I should not recommend a book that I have not completed reading yet, but I am in the middle of Jim Glennon’s “Your Healing is Within You” and I find it helpful and inspirational. He is not a Catholic, though, in case that matters to you. He is a priest of the Anglican Church.
 
I’m not sure if this is a consolation or not but Jesus will answers prayers if they are good for our soul, if it helps us on the path to eternal salvation.
I have borderline heart failure and will need a transplant in the next few years. I’m 33, married with a 9 year old daughter. A heart transplant is only successful about 50% of the time. Being sick has brought me closer to Jesus, it’s made me depend on him for strength, and helped keep e on the right path because I am acutely aware of my mortality.
Keep praying, offer your suffering for the salvation of souls, and accept whatever God’s will is for you.
(I’m assuming you are getting medical treatment for your problem.)
 
Please remember that there are more kinds of healing than physical. God always answers prayers, but not always in the way we want or expect.

Peace,
Linda
 
Suffering has a purpose. It has value. God does hear your prayer. But you are praying wrong. Noone except Mary ever got God to change His plans ( this was the miracle of water to wine at the wedding feast at Cana). You need to put a clause at the end " not my will, but thine be done". It’s hard for us all to accept pain and suffering. But that’s a sure sign from God that you have been accepted as His child. Some people are even put aside for Heaven it would seem. If you have bad things in this world, don’t be disheartened, Heaven is for all eternity. This life is short.
Do not be afraid of suffering. Trust in God and it will all work out. Even though it has been extremely diificult for you, has it worked out? Did you get by? The pagans suffer a lot more than the Christian you know. They run away from it and hide. But it never leaves them. They put on a brave face and smile. They look for every luxury and comfort but can find no true happiness or peace. They are miserable. The Christian knows it has value, it’s anointed with grace and Gods peace. And we know it is only for a short while. Try reading the following. And I will say a prayer for you.
From St Francis De Sales.
The everlasting God has in his wisdom foreseen from eternity the cross that he now presents to you as a gift from his inmost heart. This cross he now sends you he has considered with his all-knowing eyes, understood with his divine mind, tested with his wise justice, warmed with loving arms, and weighed with his own hands to see that it be not one inch too large and not one ounce too heavy for you. He has blessed it with his holy name, anointed it with his consolation, taken one last glance at you and your courage, and then sent it to you from heaven, a special greeting from God to you, an alms of the all-merciful love of God.
 
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