5 Minutes with Jesus is a daily devotional series for people in the midst of real life, whether facing anxiety, grief, questions of purpose, or simply needing encouragement and connection. Hosted by Sheila Walsh, each five-minute episode offers Biblical truth, honest reflections on faith and emotions, and closes with a moment of prayer.
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| Sheila Walsh: When Prayers Go Unanswered | 5 Minutes with Jesus | October 15, 2025
- I don't know what kind of
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- Battle you're facing right now, but i want you to know this.
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- When we pray and refuse to give up
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- Our circumstances might not change.
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- But we are changed by the love of our father,
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- Who never lets us go.
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- In luke chapter 18, verse one, we read this.
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- One day jesus told his disciples a story to show
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- That they should always pray and never give up.
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- So i was 38 years old when barry and i were married,
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- And because of my age, we took the business
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- Of getting pregnant very seriously.
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- But as it happens to many women, with each passing month,
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- It was just another disappointment.
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- But then it happened.
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- There was that little plus sign we were expecting.
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- So exciting.
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- The first few
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- Weeks of my pregnancy were a blur of absolute joy.
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- At our sonogram, we learned that the baby was a boy
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- And we were so happy.
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- Then one phone call interrupted our happiness.
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- I would be 40 years old when our baby would be born.
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- And my doctor asked for additional tests.
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- When the results came back,
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- She asked us to come into her office.
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- I'll never forget that day.
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- We sat on one side of her desk as she sat on the other,
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- With a brown folder in front of her.
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- I don't remember everything she said, but i remember this.
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- Your baby is incompatible with life.
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- I didn't even know what that meant in the moment.
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- Barry and i sat in silence, just stunned.
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- Then she said something that snapped back into reality.
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- She said that she recommended performing a termination
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- The following day.
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- No, i said vehemently.
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- Absolutely not.
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- This little one will have every day, every second,
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- Every moment.
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- God has planned for him to live.
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- So we drove home kind of in silence.
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- I don't know how to pray.
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- I just didn't know.
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- You ask god for a miracle.
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- We asked for little one, and now he might be gone
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- Before i could even hold him.
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- How do you
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- Pray when it feels as if everything is going wrong?
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- How do you pray when god gave you what you asked for.
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- But it's not what you hoped for.
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- Perhaps you've prayed for a husband
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- And now you struggle with a difficult marriage.
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- Or you prayed for a new opportunity at work,
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- And now you just wish you could go back to where you were
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- One day. turn the tide for me.
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- My early morning reading was from luke chapter 18,
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- Where jesus told his friends to pray and never give up.
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- So i drove to the beach where we were living at the time,
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- And i prayed like i'd never prayed before.
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- Dear jesus, my heart is aching.
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- I don't understand this at all, but i just want to declare here
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- And now we are in this together.
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- I've always needed you, but i know
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- Right now that i need you more than i ever have.
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- I don't know how this will end,
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- But i'm not letting go of you for one moment.
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- He didn't promise me happiness, but you did promise
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- You would never leave me.
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- Honestly, something shifted inside me.
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- I had no idea how long i could carry our son.
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- But my prayers became relentless.
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- Honestly, not for perfect outcome,
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- But for the presence of a perfect father.
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- Then, in my 35th week of pregnancy,
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- My doctor called to tell me she'd made a mistake.
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- Another patient's results went into my chart
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- And mine into hers.
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- There was never anything wrong with our son.
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- He was born healthy and so amazing.
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- He was the handsomest little boy i'd ever seen.
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- So now, every year on my son's birthday, i pray.
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- And i pray
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- For the other mother who got a very
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- Different phone call that god will be close to her.
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- I don't know what kind of battle you're facing right now,
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- But i want you to know this.
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- When we pray and refuse to give up
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- Our circumstances might not change.
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- But we are changed
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- By the love of our father, who never lets us go.
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- Never. let me pray for you.
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- Father, i ask right now for anyone who's
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- Going through a hard time where they don't understand
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- What's happening in their life,
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- They don't understand why the things they prayed for
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- Were not happening the way they prayed for them.
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- Lord, would you be close?
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- You didn't always promise us answers,
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- But you always promised us your presence.
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- I ask that in jesus name. amen.
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