Guideposts

3 Prayers That Always Work

My mother was hospitalized with cancer the summer of my fourteenth year. Day after day, I knelt at a crude altar at a church camp in Missouri, desperate, begging God to heal my mother.

She died a few months later.

Prayer doesn’t always “work”: As hard or as much as we may pray, we

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from Guideposts

Guideposts2 min read
A Fragile Piece of Faith
The sun was barely up, and I was the only one awake. I sat in the living room with my coffee. Our cat, Sherry, was asleep, curled on top of the box of holiday decorations that I’d lugged down from the attic more than a week ago. Sherry looked peacefu
Guideposts6 min read
Christmas Together
I pulled up outside my mom’s house on Christmas Eve. I sat in the car, trying to gather myself. Every year, Mom invited me and my older siblings, Michael and Joanna, to Christmas Eve dinner. Mom wanted a big, happy family gathered around her table. T
Guideposts2 min read
Abundant Grace
This issue features an excerpt from our popular annual devotional Walking in Grace. For years, we called the book Daily Guideposts, then changed the title after asking readers how the devotions made them feel and what they thought the book should be

Related Books & Audiobooks