When Prayers Aren't Answered: Opening the Heart and Quieting the Mind in Challenging Times

In the depths of grief, some find solace in their faith while others wonder why God has deserted them. In this gentle and wise guide, a beloved spiritual teacher counsels that prayer works — but not always in the ways we expect. Welshons, who has worked closely with Ram Dass, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, and Stephen Levine, confronts life’s most challenging experiences directly, acknowledging both the reality and inevitability of suffering. Then, with insights gathered from the world’s spiritual traditions, he demonstrates how to use painful circumstances as fuel for enlightenment. In short, step-by-step chapters, Welshons shares stories of transformation from his own life and the lives of those he has counseled. With the empathy of experience, he lights a path toward the communion, peace, and even joy possible not in spite of suffering, but through it.