Faith in the Unanswered Prayers
Welcome to the Holy Spirit Untethered. My name is Amber Beals, and it is my job and my mission to allow the Holy Spirit to speak through me, to help demystify who he is, what his role is, and to deeply encourage you to seek a relationship with him. Alright. Let's get started. Hey, guys.
Amber Beels:Welcome back to the Holy spirit untethered podcast. My name is Amber, and I have some very exciting news. Now if this isn't your first time listening to my podcast, you would know that I have been pregnant for the last nine months, And my due date was June 26, which was the day that my last episode came out with Fernando. If you haven't already, check out that episode. It's real good.
Amber Beels:But my daughter decided to come a little early. So she is here, actually, right now. I'm holding her. And she came into this world on June 22 at 10:16PM Pacific Standard Time, and she is here, Viva. Yeah.
Amber Beels:She's just staring at me. It's her first podcast recording milestone for my little daughter. But yeah. So she came a few days early, and that's okay. We couldn't be more excited to have her here.
Amber Beels:Everything went smoothly. She's healthy, and she's beautiful. And we're super excited, Eric and I both, to meet new parents. And let me say that the last two weeks have been very trenchy. You know, they say the newborn trenches, they yeah.
Amber Beels:They're pretty trenchy out here. There's a there's a lot going on, a lot of things to learn, a lot of emotions, a lot of, like, responsibility and daunting expectations of, like, I have a little baby human that depends on me for everything. And so it's been a wild ride so far, but it's been really a blessing as well. So today, she is 10 old, and she is doing great. So I'm very, very excited.
Amber Beels:So you might hear her cooing or something in the background because she was falling asleep, and now she's staring at me with her big blue eyes and very interested in what I'm doing right now. So what's funny is this week, the week that I was supposed to give birth on the twenty sixth, I had all these things that I wanted to do before she came into the world. Right? I had some loose ends and I needed to tie, and I was like, yeah. I'm gonna take maternity leave.
Amber Beels:Like, I took it on Friday. That was my last day working. And then Sunday, she decided to come, and I was like, gosh. Dang it. I have all these things that I wanted to get done, including recording my last episode because this is the last episode of the Holy Spirit Until the podcast season one.
Amber Beels:So I wanted to record it before she was here, but, you know, the Lord had other plans. Aviva had other plans, and so she's here. She's here for this recording, and I'm excited for it. So today, I wanted to talk about the theme of today is unanswered prayers. Like, what do you do when the Holy Spirit doesn't answer a prayer?
Amber Beels:Even though in scripture, it may seem like, oh, this is a promise. The Holy Spirit should answer this prayer, and then he doesn't. What do you do? What it what how do you react in that situation? And why would he not answer some prayers if the prayer was good?
Amber Beels:Right? If it was not selfish, it was not, you know, whatever. It was good. Like, why wouldn't he do that based on his character? And so we're gonna dive into that today because recently with my labor of having Aviva, I experienced some of that.
Amber Beels:So we're gonna go into that a little bit, my experience in in bringing Aviva into this world and how I processed some of that, you know, just unanswered prayers from the Lord, the whole the whole experience. So we're gonna dive into that. But before we do, let's go ahead and pray. So if you can and it's safe to do so, go ahead and close your eyes and pray with me and Aviva. Alright.
Amber Beels:Dear heavenly father, I just thank you so much for today. I thank you for this podcast. I thank you that this podcast, this whole season has been such a blessing, holy spirit. I just thank you so much that you have partnered with me to create this podcast. I thank you that for all the guests that were on, Lord, I thank you for today's episode.
Amber Beels:I thank you for Aviva and that she gets to be here. And I just pray, Holy Spirit, that, again, that your words would come through, my words would fall away. I pray that you would bless every single person that is listening to this podcast. I pray you would prepare our hearts, Lord, and just allow this message to just refill our soul to be able to know you a little better and to be able to connect with you. And we pray all these things in Jesus' name.
Amber Beels:Amen. Alright. So while I the last couple weeks, I have been diving into my pastor class. So, like, I just recently got licensed as an official Foursquare pastor, and a lot of the things that I learned were, like they're called the articles of faith. And so one of the articles of faith is called divine healing.
Amber Beels:And so I this ties into that because I feel like a lot of people, they look at divine healing and they're like, okay. Yeah. You can be healed by the Lord. That's one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is to be able to heal or be healed. And I've experienced it.
Amber Beels:I've experienced being healed, and I've also experienced not being healed. And so this is kind of what I am using to base this unanswered prayer because it's it's along the same line of, like, him not healing somebody and him not answering a prayer. And so I'm gonna go in Mark. So I'm in Mark chapter one verse 14. And it says, now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God and saying, time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.
Amber Beels:Repent and believe in the gospel. And so I know you must be saying, okay. What does that have to do with divine healing? Basically, this is God saying that the kingdom is here and the kingdom is not yet. It's both here and not yet.
Amber Beels:So it's here because the Holy Spirit is here, because Jesus came the first time, and we are given those gifts to the Holy Spirit. But it's also not here yet because Jesus isn't here for the second time. He hasn't fully come to have his bride taken home. Right? So Jesus is coming back.
Amber Beels:It's 2025, and we believe that Jesus is gonna gonna come back. He's he is planning on returning to take us home. Right? And we are in that waiting season. We are waiting.
Amber Beels:And so we have access to the kingdom because we have the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit well, if you've been empowered by the Holy Spirit, you have access to all these gifts, one of them being healing. And so the kingdom is now, but not yet. And so it's kind of a a hard thing to wrestle with because it's like, okay. Yeah.
Amber Beels:We have access to some things, but yet we are not fully there yet. And so I think that a lot of people, they can get wrapped up because if you have enough faith, you can get healed. Right? When Jesus healed a lot of people while he was on Earth, a lot of the times he would say, because of your faith, you are healed. Like, he always attributes it to the person's faith.
Amber Beels:Like, you have enough faith. You are healed. And so some people can kind of get wrapped into that and be like, well, okay. I just have to have enough faith. I just have to have enough faith, and the Lord will heal me.
Amber Beels:And if I didn't get healed or this person didn't get healed, well, obviously, because they didn't have enough faith. And you have to be careful with that because it kind of feels almost cultish to be like, well, no. I just I just believe that the Lord is going to to heal me. I have all the faith in the world. And it's good to have faith.
Amber Beels:The Lord wants us to have faith, but he also gives us wisdom. Right? He also has a gives us a brain. And so, like, if you're sick and you just believe the Lord's gonna heal you, but yet he puts opportunities in your lives to for you to go to the doctor, maybe you should just go to the doctor. You know?
Amber Beels:There are these things. It it's a balance. Right? Like, yes, you can have faith that the Lord will heal you, but what happens when he doesn't? Where where are you left then?
Amber Beels:Right? It'll shatter your faith sometimes if you don't get healed. And so when I first found out that I was pregnant, my friend Eloisa Eloisa, shout out to her. She's amazing. She has been on this podcast twice now.
Amber Beels:So I'll put in the show notes the different episodes that she was in if you wanna go take a listen. Really good episodes. But when I first found out I was pregnant, and I've talked about this before in this podcast, I experienced a lot of fear because I lost my first pregnancy. And so she gave me a book called supernatural childbirth, and it's by Jackie Mize. I think I've mentioned it before on this podcast.
Amber Beels:But this book is really good. It's by, again, Jackie who had four, I believe it's four children. And she talks about her experience, and she talks about how she was able to have these deliveries and not experience pain. And she talks about how when you, like if you tense up your arm, like, if you make a fist and you tense up your arm and then you release, that's what her contractions felt like with no pain. And I read this book.
Amber Beels:And before I read this book let me just explain what kind of person I am. I am one of those people that don't like to experience pain. And so when I found out I was pregnant and assuming that I was gonna make, you know, make it to term, I was like, no. I just want all the drugs. Give me all the pain medicine.
Amber Beels:I don't wanna feel anything. Like, just hook me up to things, and I'm gonna try to coast through this, like, you know, type thing. I'm I'm that type of person. I think I have a low pain tolerance. Like, I just I don't like being uncomfortable.
Amber Beels:And so that's if you had asked me before I read this book if I was gonna have an epidural, I'd be like, yes and amen. I'm gonna have an epidural, you know, type thing. And so after I read this book, I was like, oh, well, okay. If I could have enough faith to not have an epidural and still not feel the pain, that would be amazing. Like, I could glorify God in that, and I wouldn't have to have that epidural.
Amber Beels:I mean, I don't know if you know how they administer epidurals, but it's this long, long, long needle that they stick in the back. And, I mean, that kinda seems a little scary. So I was like, well, if I could just, you know, have the lord take care of my pain, that'd be, you know, win win win win. And so after I read this book, I was like, no. I'm gonna have it naturally.
Amber Beels:And so I read this book, and then there's supplementary book that goes with it, and it's all the prayers. So she talks about her experience in the supernatural child birth book, and then she has another one with all the prayers that she prayed over herself, over her kids, over her unborn children. And so I did. I took that book, and I started praying over myself. I was really diligent about it.
Amber Beels:I was really careful about what I said over myself, over Aviva, over the whole labor and delivery experience. I did all the things. Right? And I had all the faith. And I was like, no.
Amber Beels:It's gonna be great. I'm I'm not gonna need all these things. Right? And so, well, the day of the delivery came. Right?
Amber Beels:So I started going into early labor Saturday night on June 21. And, you know, they were the contractions were contracting, and it wasn't too bad. Like, it was painful, but it wasn't too bad. And so I was like, okay. And then that night, I didn't sleep because they just kept me up.
Amber Beels:And then Sunday morning is when I started going into more, you know, transitioning from early labor into active labor. And I was at home, know, laboring with Eric, and, you know, I'm starting to feel these contractions real good. Like, getting more intense. They're getting closer together. And I love Eric to death.
Amber Beels:He's, like, trying to help me manage my pain. And so I wanted to hold something or cause some kind of pain on my hands so that I could con counteract the pain that I was feeling with the contractions. And so we have a lot of board games. And one of the games we have involves these, like, shotgun bullets. They're these bullets.
Amber Beels:Right? And they're hollow. There's no lead in them. It's for a game. And so he took these bullets, and he put them in the freezer so that they got really cold.
Amber Beels:And I would hold them and then press my thumb into the top of the bullet, like, stabbing my thumb with this bullet every time I had a contraction. And I'm sure I looked crazy to Eric, but so every time I had a con contraction, I would just, like, shove this bullet into my hand. It was great. And so that was me trying to cope with the pain of those contractions, and it got worse and worse. So I call my doula.
Amber Beels:She comes. She meets me at the house, and I'm like, I think we need to go to the hospital. So at this point, my contractions were really bad. And I was starting to curse and, you know, do things that maybe are not super pleasing to the Lord because I was just under so much pain. And I was having a hard time just getting in the car.
Amber Beels:Like, they were getting so intense, and she's trying to coach me through it and, you know, teaching me how to breathe through it and correct through it and all the things. And in my head, I'm like, oh my gosh. How am I gonna make it to the hospital? Because the hospital is thirty minutes away. And I have to make it in this car all the way to the hospital without, like, losing my mind or, like, you know, causing Eric to have some kind of panic attack.
Amber Beels:So I'm like, my gosh. How am I gonna do this? So we get to the car. They finally get me in the car, and I just decide I'm gonna pray the entire time. I just yell out to the Lord, and I'm praying.
Amber Beels:And I am just, like, praying without ceasing, like like Paul says. And I start quoting scripture, and I'm just like, Lord, I rebuke all pain in Jesus' name. I rebuke all pain in Jesus' name. And I start quoting from Isaiah 53 verse five, which says, he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
Amber Beels:The chastisement for our peace was upon him, and by his stripes, we are healed. I kept saying that by by your stripes, I am healed. I don't have to feel this pain. Lord, I rebuke all pain in Jesus' name. And I just kept praying and praying and praying.
Amber Beels:I'm like, no longer under the curse. I'm no longer under the curse. Like, with Jesus, he came and he atoned and he he lifted the curse. I don't have to feel pain. I don't have to feel pain.
Amber Beels:And so I'm just, like, praying this in the car, and then Eric starts praying with me. We're, like, both praying. And this is the time, that whole car ride, that the Lord answered my prayer. I I don't wanna say that I didn't feel any pain because I did feel some, but it was so less than it was when I was at the house. Like, it was nothing in comparison.
Amber Beels:So he really dampened my pain during that whole entire car ride just to make it to the hospital. I was like, Lord, I just have to make it to the hospital. I just wanna make it there. And the Lord answered my prayer. I did not feel that much pain on the car ride to the hospital.
Amber Beels:So praise the Lord for that. Soon as I got to the hospital, that was a different story. So I definitely felt pain there. And I I arrived at the hospital, got to triage. They measured me at four centimeters, and I basically transitioned from four centimeters to 10 in about three hours.
Amber Beels:So it was back to back to back to back contractions. And at that point, I was like, I I need something. And I asked for the epidural because I was like, I can't handle this anymore. If I had breaks in between the contractions, I probably could have made it without the epidural, but it was just so intense because they wouldn't stop. And what's funny is my prayer, especially in the book, it was I pray for a quick, easy, painless delivery.
Amber Beels:I pray for a quick, easy, painless delivery. And so the Lord answered the quick and easy part because, it was very, very fast. As soon as I got to the room, it was just bam, bam, bam, bam. Like, my charge nurse at the end of it when I delivered finally, she, like, took a deep breath, and she was like, man, I didn't even, like, chart anything. Like, things just kept happening.
Amber Beels:And I thought I he would be easy because, you know, first time moms, normally, it takes a while with you. It, like, flew by. And so the Lord answered that prayer. It was quick. Didn't answer the painless part.
Amber Beels:But so afterwards, after it was all done, she came out in, like, ten minutes. Like, I I got the epidural, found out I was already at, like, nine centimeters dilated. I was basically almost complete at that point and ready to push. And so started pushing. She came out.
Amber Beels:She she was great. And after everything had kinda died down, I was kinda processing of, like, why didn't the Lord answer that? Why did I still feel pain? Like, I still had to get the shot, the epidural. And, you know, I I processed it for a couple of days, and then I finally talked to my mom.
Amber Beels:My mom was there the entire time. She she wasn't there at my house while I was, you know, in early labor, but she was there when we got to the hospital. She was there in the room. She was there for the entire delivery. And she told me because when I got to the hospital and I started feeling pain again, what I ended up doing was just praying the entire time.
Amber Beels:I kept just saying, I rebuke all pain in Jesus' name. I rebuke all pain in Jesus' name. I rebuke all pain in Jesus' name. That's all I could do was kinda, like, grunt a little bit and just say those words over and over and over. And I'm sure all the nurses and all the techs thought I was Looney Tunes because that's all I said.
Amber Beels:And that's all I could say. And I I wasn't screaming. I wasn't yelling. I just was, you know, feeling the contraction and just saying, I repeat all pain, she's the same. Like, that's all I could say.
Amber Beels:And so afterwards, my mom, she told me, she's like, Amber, I am so proud of you, and I'm impressed because you just prayed the entire time. Like, I could tell you were in pain, but you were so calm and just prayed the entire time. And my grandfather asked my mom. He said, okay. Well, how many f bombs did she drop?
Amber Beels:Because I've had surgery before many years ago, like, twelve years ago. And when I had that surgery and granted, I was a different person twelve years ago. But when I had that surgery and I was going through a lot of pain, I I cursed a lot. That was my release of my pain was cursing, and my grandfather witnessed a lot of that. And so when he asked my mom, he was expecting her to say, oh, you know, she she dropped a lot of f bombs.
Amber Beels:But, no, she was like, she didn't curse once. All she did was pray the entire time. And there were tears in her eyes when she told me that. Like, she was super touched that I got through labor by praying. And that's when the Holy Spirit really revealed to me.
Amber Beels:He's like, that's why I didn't answer your prayer. It's because I knew it would affect your mom, and it affected other people in that room that you don't even know about. You handled it by surrendering to me, and I wanted people to see that. And I knew that if I didn't answer that prayer, that you wouldn't be mad, that your faith wouldn't be shattered, that you would just trust that there was a reason why I didn't answer that prayer. And that just hit me of, you know, I asked the Lord to use me.
Amber Beels:Use me to further your kingdom. Use me however you see fit. And so when you say those words, you have to be careful what you ask for because he might use you during your labor and delivery. So that was the reason. He was furthering his kingdom.
Amber Beels:He was using me as an example for others. And I am honored that he would use me in that way. Because in my head, I'm like, okay. These nurses probably think I'm crazy because I keep just saying these things over and over again. And at the time, I didn't care because I was in so much pain.
Amber Beels:When you're in that much pain, you really have no like, you're not aware of your surroundings. You don't know what's going on. Like, there were so many people in and out of that room. And and I'm exposed, and I don't care because I am just in so much pain. And so to know that the Lord was using even that time to use me in a way to further his kingdom was just an honor.
Amber Beels:It really is. And I'm glad that he was able to use me, and I'm glad that he trusted me enough knowing that if he didn't answer that prayer, which he didn't, he answered the other prayers, not that one, that I would still trust him and ask him later about it and be like, so what happened? Like, why didn't this get answered? And so I wanna encourage you guys if there is a prayer that you have been praying, maybe there's something that needs healing, maybe it's someone that is lost and you've been praying for them over and over and over again, just know that it's not a no. It's a not yet.
Amber Beels:Right? And so even though the Lord didn't take away my pain during that delivery, he did take it away, and it got replaced with joy because now I have Aviva. She's in my arms right now, and she just fell asleep. She's so cute. And that was the that was the answer.
Amber Beels:Like, just get through it, and now you get to hold your baby girl. And for you guys, if you don't get healed, if it's a healing thing, if you don't get healed in this life, you will get healed in heaven. He's gonna restore your body. You're gonna get a new body. And so you just have to trust him enough that if he decides to allow you to feel the pain, there's a reason why he's allowing you to feel that pain, and it's for a greater purpose.
Amber Beels:It's for others. It's because other people are watching. You are an influence to somebody. There's always somebody watching. Not everybody's watching, but somebody is.
Amber Beels:Right? And the Lord knows who it is in your life that you are influencing. He knows who the people in your life that you have an effect on. Right? And so if the Lord allows those things, just trust him.
Amber Beels:He is a good God, and he loves you. And he wants to bless you. He loves to bless his children. He loves to shower you with love, but he also loves to see you grow into your potential. He loves to use you so that he can influence others and build his kingdom, and he himself can get glorified.
Amber Beels:And that should be our goal is to glorify the Lord and love him and allow ourselves to be used even in that way, even when it hurts because it's not forever, and the reward is great, and the Lord is worthy of it. Right? He is so worthy of all praise and all things And to be able to be used by him should be an honor. It should be a pleasure. Right?
Amber Beels:Even if it's hard. Maybe not in the moment. But when you reflect back on it, just know that the Lord used you and he's pleased with you. Right? And so I wanna encourage you that keep praying, keep surrendering to the Lord.
Amber Beels:That was the thing. Like, at the house, I I was trying to manage the pain by myself. I was trying to distract myself from the pain, and it wasn't until I got in that car that I fully surrendered. That I fully was just like, okay, Lord. I can't I can't do this myself.
Amber Beels:I fully surrendered to him, and that's when he started using me. That's when he gave me relief in the car and then used me at the hospital to be able to be an influence to other people and to just glorify him. And it was a blessing. It hurt, but it was a blessing. And I'm glad it happened.
Amber Beels:And so I, again, just wanna encourage you guys. Just reach out to him. Seek his face. Scriptures say, if you seek the Lord and you seek the kingdom, everything else will be added to you. Everything else that you need, your needs, he will provide for.
Amber Beels:You just need to seek him and partner with the Holy Spirit and allow him to mentor you and allow him to guide you through life and convict you of things. Conviction is a good thing. It's a good thing because he's stripping away things that no longer serve you, and he's making you into the person that you were meant to be. And it's it's a process. It's a process, and it takes time, and it won't be complete until we're back in heaven with Jesus worshiping him, and it's gonna be awesome.
Amber Beels:But until then, partner with the Holy Spirit. Allow him to work with you. Allow him to work through you, And life will be that much sweeter because of it. The trials will be that much easier because of him. And maybe not easier, but you can still feel joy even in the trials and come out the other side and know that the Lord loves you and you're doing the right thing.
Amber Beels:Alright, guys. I hope that that is the message that I had today, and I hope that it blesses you. I don't know if it was a good one to end with, but it was just what was on my heart because it just happened. And he as you guys know, a lot of the times, I use what's happening in my life to talk about the holy spirit and how I partner with him and how he influences my life, and it's a blessing. So, guys, that wraps up season one.
Amber Beels:I am so excited. It's a little bit of sweet. Like, we made it to 52 episodes. It was funny because Melissa, my best friend who edits this podcast, she was like, I know you wanna hit your 52, but you can, you know, you can do the fifty second episode later because she knows that, like, I'm sleep deprived and, again, in the newborn trenches. But I was like, no.
Amber Beels:I have to do it. And what sucks is that this is my second time recording this episode because the first time I recorded it, it was great. And then noticed that my audio wasn't recording. So fun times. Fun times.
Amber Beels:But we're here. We're recording it. Aviva's here. She's sleeping, and life's good. So, again, guys, if you haven't listened, there's 52 episodes.
Amber Beels:There's a lot of them you can go through. Relisten to some of them. Some of those guest episodes, they were amazing. A lot of my guests had really, really, really good things to say, very filled with the holy spirit. Go and relisten to those episodes.
Amber Beels:I mean, I might do that since I'm off. So I will be back. There will be a season two. I'm gonna take the summer off, so I will probably be back in fall sometime. So I don't know exactly when, but I'm sure I'll make a little trailer just to get you guys excited again about coming back season two.
Amber Beels:I have some guests lined up already for season two, so really excited for that. But right now, I'm really excited about just figuring this whole mom thing out and the parenting thing out and just enjoying enjoying the newborn phase. You know? I know it's I know they're the trenches, but, you know, there are certain things that are just super cute about newborns. And so I wanna enjoy this this phase, and so that is what I'm gonna do for the summer.
Amber Beels:So I hope you guys have a great summer. I hope you guys are able to catch up on some of the other episodes if you haven't listened to them already. I hope you guys have a blessed season in the next few months, and I will be back, I promise. And I will see you guys soon.
