Some prayers are answered with yes. Some are answered with protection.

Angel 1: She’s still asking about that one prayer.

Angel 2: The unanswered one?

Angel 1: She’s been praying it for years. She thinks he stopped listening.

Angel 2: He didn’t. He just isn’t going to give her what she’s asking for.

That what felt like rejection was the kindest thing he ever did for her.

– Jacqueline Whitney

Angel 1: Does she know that yet?

Angel 2: Not yet. Right now it feels like silence. Like he forgot. Like the answer is no for no reason. But one day she’s going to look back at this exact prayer and understand.

Angel 1: What’s she going to feel?

Angel 2: Relief. The kind of deep, full-body relief that only comes when you finally see what you were saved from. She’s going to sit with the life she’s actually living and realize how different it would’ve looked if he’d said yes.

Angel 1: Will she be grateful?

Angel 2: More than grateful. She’s going to thank him for not giving her what she begged him for. She’s going to understand that the silence was love. That the no was protection. That what felt like rejection was the kindest thing he ever did for her.

Angel 1: She just has to wait a little longer.

Angel 2: She just has to trust him a little longer. The thank you is coming.

Jacqueline Whitney is the author Held: A 50 Day Devotional For Parents and All That You Deserve.