{"id":25239,"date":"2026-03-11T17:08:56","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T17:08:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/uncategorized\/how-unanswered-prayers-draw-us-closer-to-god\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T06:19:53","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T06:19:53","slug":"how-unanswered-prayers-draw-us-closer-to-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/prayer\/true-stories-of-answered-prayer\/how-unanswered-prayers-draw-us-closer-to-god\/","title":{"rendered":"How ‘Unanswered’ Prayers Draw Us Closer to God"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sometimes prayer doesn\u2019t work. <\/p>\n

That may be an unpopular\u2014even blasphemous\u2014statement. But it\u2019s more or less true, from our human perspective at least. We pray for a healing that never comes. We ask for something to change, and it doesn\u2019t. We plead for answers we never get. But even when a prayer isn\u2019t answered<\/a>, it still \u201cworks.\u201d<\/p>\n

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My five-year old grandson, Ryder, sat at the dinner table, nearly in tears. He glared at the three remaining chicken fingers on his plate. His mother had told him to take three more bites of his food\u2014just bites, not even the whole thing\u2014before he could be excused from the table. He complained and cried as though eating three bites (of a food he normally enjoyed) would threaten his very existence.<\/p>\n

I sat down beside him. I tried to encourage him, to no avail. <\/p>\n

Then he straightened and looked at me, bright-eyed. \u201cYou could eat my chicken for me.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cNo, buddy, I can\u2019t. Your mom said you have to eat three bites.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut if you eat it, she\u2019ll think I did.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cBut it would still be disobeying your mom. And it would be a lie for us to let her think you ate them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I\u2019m sorry, buddy. But I\u2019ll sit here with you for as long as it takes. We can talk or we can sit quietly, until you manage to eat three more bites.\u201d<\/p>\n

His heartfelt entreaty didn\u2019t work. But we sat together and talked a little until he finally managed to finish his meal.<\/p>\n

We may not always get our preferred answers to our prayers. We may feel at times as though God isn\u2019t listening, much less cooperating. But prayer still works in such times. It continues the conversation. It reminds us that He is there. And even when\u2014for whatever reasons\u2014we don\u2019t get the answers we crave, prayer still brings comfort<\/a> and strength from being in His presence and knowing we are not alone.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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