06/20/2026
There are prayers
we’re still glad God didn’t answer.
The road we were desperate to take.
The door we rattled and pushed.
The dream we held so tightly
our knuckles turned white.
We thought we knew.
We stood on one shoreline
trying to map an entire ocean,
certain that happiness lay
just beyond the next horizon.
That relationship.
That job.
That house.
That plan we carried around
like a precious stone in our pocket.
And then came the no.
Or the wait.
Or the silence
that felt suspiciously like absence.
Yet time has a way
of revealing hidden paths.
Looking back,
we see the bend in the river
that saved us from the rocks.
The storm that drove us ashore
where we needed to be.
The closed gate
that kept us from wandering
into places that would never
have nurtured our souls.
God’s goodness
isn’t measured
by how often we get our way.
It's found in the steady love
that accompanies us
through every yes,
every no,
every not yet.
Like a parent watching a child
reach for something harmful,
God sees beyond the moment,
beyond the tears,
beyond the disappointment.
And all the while
He is weaving.
Thread through thread.
Season through season.
Taking joys and sorrows,
successes and mistakes,
answered prayers
and unanswered ones,
and crafting something beautiful.
Not everything is good.
But in the hands of God,
everything can be gathered,
woven,
redeemed.
So we keep walking.
Not because we understand the pattern,
but because we trust the Weaver.
And somewhere ahead,
beyond the next bend in the river,
grace is already waiting.
© E Hamilton 2026
