More From Lisa Stackpole

As I consider my life thus far, I can see many times that God graciously answered my prayers as I had prayed them. At the same time, I can also remember many prayers that God graciously did not answer — at least, not in the way I had hoped at the time. Someone once told me that God always answers our prayers: sometimes God answers “Yes,” sometimes “No,” and sometimes “I’ve got something better for you.”

The incident I wrote about in today’s reading happened 38 years ago. God used it to strengthen my faith in many ways, but the road was not an easy one. Even after the realization I shared in the meditation, I struggled with depression for more than a year, until God showed me very specifically that I had to give up the dream I’d envisioned and trust God with my future. (How God brought me to that point is another story!)

Once I was finally able to move forward, I enjoyed life and being single. Then, seventeen years after my traumatic break-up, the Lord brought me together with Jerry, a co-worker who was fourteen years my senior and lived hundreds of miles away. It seemed to be an unlikely relationship. And yet, as things developed, God convinced me that it was God’s plan for me. I was almost 50 years old when we married, and we had nearly 11 wonderful years together before the Lord took Jerry home.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing! Now I can look back over the decades to see something that wasn’t in view as I looked through Dad’s kitchen window on that cold December day — marriage to a wonderful man — the “something better” that God had for me. Thankfully, in God’s grace, God doesn’t always answer “Yes.”