When God is Silent

When God is Silent
by Mary May Larmoyeu x

July 4 was THE single hardest day of my life thus far." That's what my daughter-in-law Tonya says about the
day my oldest grandson was in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. He had a hole in one of his lungs.

Surprising even his doctors, after about 24 hours the hole disappeared. "I don't see things like this very often,"
the nurse told Tonya. "Your baby is a miracle-baby."

God answered Tonya's prayers for her child ... immediately. But He doesn't always answer that way.

Does God care about ears?

When my grandson was about two years old, tubes were put in his ears because of frequent infections. One
ear didn't heal when a tube fell out. The result: another hole. Eventually my grandson had surgery, but it wasn't
successful.

"On a Sunday afternoon drive, I was having it out with the Lord," Tonya says. "I was tired, stressed, and frankly
angry at God for not making this easier on us—it would have been an easy healing for a mighty God. In a little
fit of rage that I'm not proud of, I slammed my hand on the steering wheel, and cried out: "Do you even care
about ears, Lord!!!"

Can you identify? I sure can.

There are times in my life when I've cried: "Lord, why don't you do something now?"

A dear friend of mine has poured out her heart to the Lord for a couple of years, begging Him to heal her son
of cancer—either miraculously or through the skill of a physician. Despite her faithful prayers, her son
continues to struggle. Why?

I love what Beth Moore says in her Bible study Believing God: "I wonder if the way He heals may vary
according to His objective?"

Beth surmises that God might heal instantaneously if His main objective is to show his supremacy. And then
she asks, "if His primary objective is to teach sufficiency in Him or to mature and build faith, I wonder whether
He heals through a stitch-by-stitch method?"

Then she says that God cares more about our knowing the Healer than He does about the healing. Ouch! Do I
really care more about God and His ultimate purpose than I do the answer to my prayers?

Looking Back

Almost two years have passed since my grandson had his second ear surgery and he seems to hear fine
now. God not only "healed" his ears "stitch-by-stitch" through modern medicine, but He also provided a
schoolroom of faith for his parents and grandparents.

Speaking of faith, I'm still in that schoolroom. Still learning to trust my almighty, all-loving God ... when I simply
do not understand.

HOME

Subscrib e to
Encouraging
Women With
Hearts for
Their Homes

E-ZINE HOME

www.marymaywrites.com

Mary is the author of Help for Busy Moms: Purposeful Living to Simplify Life and the
co-author of The Grand Connection: 365 Ways to Connect with Your Grandchild's
Heart. She and her husband, Jim, live in Little Rock, Arkansas, and have two
married sons and five grandchildren. Visit her at www.marymaywrites.com and read
her blog for grandparents .

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.
—Proverbs 3:5