When God Says No

A Lambda Award Finalist: a black gay man struggles with his marriage, faith, and desires in this “tender, funny tour of a mind struggling to do the right thing” (Steve Martin). Gary Gray marries his first girlfriend, a fellow student from Central Florida Christian College who loves Disney World as much as he does. They are nineteen, God-fearing, and eager to start a family. But a week before their wedding Gary goes into a rest-stop bathroom and lets something happen. God Says No is his testimony—the story of a young black Christian struggling with desire and belief, with his love for his wife and his appetite for other men, told in a singular, emotional voice. Driven by desperation and religious visions, the path that Gary takes—from revival meetings to out life in Atlanta to a pray-away-the-gay ministry in Memphis, Tennessee—gives a riveting picture of how a life like his can be lived, and how it can’t. A Stonewall Book Award Pick 2010 Finalist for the 2009 Lambda Literary Award for Gay Debut Fiction “A revelatory and sympathetic guide to a misunderstood world.” —Steve Martin, author of Shopgirl and Born Standing Up

“A memoir … and a book of wisdom.” – Rev. Andy Lambkin “Brenda reminds us to live courageously in the face of adversity.” – Fr. Mark James O.P. What do we do when deep grief invades our lives? How do we negotiate the unwelcomed journey we find ourselves on? What do we do with our unspeakable pain? Even more, what do we do when we have asked God to spare the life of our loved one and he does not give the answer we hope for? In When God Says No, Brenda Smit-James tells the story of her journey with grief following the untimely death of her mother – a journey where she questioned God and his goodness, questioned whether Jesus was worth following, and questioned the relevance of the Christian life. In telling her story, Brenda shows us how grief can be engaged and not merely endured and how we can face the darkness of grief with quiet courage and, in so doing, find a way back into the light again.

No is not a four-letter word, but it certainly feels like one. It’s one thing to feel God’s love when life goes your way, but what happens to your faith when life doesn’t go as you had planned? When prayers go unanswered and dreams unfulfilled? When the sick stay sick and the dead do not rise? When you’re lost in the desert and the Promised Land seems like empty promise? When God says, “No,” how do you grapple with disappointment? Author Elizabeth Laing Thompson walks alongside readers as she tackles the difficulties that stymie our faith, stifle our prayers, and stunt our relationship with God. When God Says, “No” will help you to discover hope when life feels hopeless, good in what feels bad, and new dreams when old ones have died. This book is a fantastic reminder of Who is in charge—Who He is and how He works. How He loves us and why He limits us. The better we know Him, the more we understand that He says “No” to a few things, so He might say “Yes” to many more.

“Our Father, who art in heaven….” The opening words of the Lord’s Prayer have become so familiar that we often speak them without a thought, sometimes without any awareness that we are speaking at all. But to the disciples who first heard these words from Jesus, the prayer was a thunderbolt, a radical new way to pray that changed them and the course of history. Far from a safe series of comforting words, the Lord’s Prayer makes extraordinary claims, topples every earthly power, and announces God’s reign over all things in heaven and on earth. In this groundbreaking new book, R. Albert Mohler Jr. recaptures the urgency and transformational nature of the prayer, revealing once again its remarkable, world-upending power. Step by step, phrase by phrase, The Prayer That Turns the World Upside Down explains what these words mean and how we are to pray them. The Lord’s Prayer is the most powerful prayer in the Bible, taught by Jesus to those closest to him. We desperately need to relearn its power and practice. The Prayer That Turns the World Upside Down shows us how.

This little book is really a labor of love. It is not by chance that you are reading it. It is written out of love and through the inspiration of God to assist you and others overcome obstacles and seemingly roadblocks to achieve God's Plan for you by listening and responding to God's till small voice in you. The book provides numerous examples of when God said No's in the Bible, followed by great Yes's. It also provides examples of when God said No's to me, followed by great Yes's. You will start listening more closely to God, and receive the blessings which God has for you.. The book is reader friendly. It is not about theology or philosophy, it is inspirational and faith/trust building. Please share it that you will be a blessing to others.

When our prayers are good and reasonable, there seems to be no reason why a good God wouldn't grant what we ask. But even to the greatest sains God sometimes says no. Yet when God doesn't answer prayer the way we expect, our pained disappointment with God can cause faith itself to collapse. With warmth and wisdom, Anderson probes prayer's toughest mysteries in When God Says No.

In many situations and throughout the ages, when people have petitioned God for the relief of their suffering, or the suffering of others, God has said "No." In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed that the "cup be taken from him," if it be God's will. God answered no. Three times St. Paul begged God to remove the "thorn from his side." Three times God said no. When, says Father Lanahan, my family prayed desperately for my brother Neil to be cured of melanoma, God said no. When we prayed for a twenty-five-year-old niece to survive a car accident, God said no. When the victims of war in the former Yugoslavia, or in any of the hundred places war is being waged at any given time prayed; when people afflicted with cancer, alcoholism, or AIDS prayed for deliverance; when the victims of physical, sexual, or emotional abuse prayed to be spared, the answer was "No." This book is not another theological or philosophical attempt to provide a rational solution to the divine puzzle of why God allows innocent people to suffer or why our prayers in Jesus' name are not effective. This book attempts to provide simple, practical, pastoral insights for the ordinary person who comes to listen to the Word of God when we assemble as Church. When God Says No ends in Heaven. Face to face with God, says Father Lanahan, we will not be given the answer to the question that no theology, no book, not even the Bible, no dogma, no authority, not even that of the Church, has ever answered: Why the suffering of the innocent? Instead, we will be blessed with the fullness of salvation and healing and made whole at last. We will be with the Answer in love forever.