Ep. 16 - Why God Feels Silent When You Need Him The Most

Elizabeth Everett addresses one of the most painful spiritual seasons a believer can face — the silence of God. When prayers go unanswered, when fasting produces no breakthrough, and when heaven feels completely still, the enemy rushes in with lies of rejection, unworthiness, and abandonment. Elizabeth speaks directly to that place and refuses to let those lies go unchallenged.

Drawing from her own season of breaking — marked by divorce, health crises, the loss of close friends, and a son's overdose — Elizabeth shares how she kept pressing into God even when she could not hear him. She unpacks the story of Joseph, who endured betrayal, slavery, and imprisonment with no new word from God, yet watched heaven orchestrate every detail behind the scenes. The silence was not punishment. It was preparation.

Elizabeth walks through what God is actually doing in the quiet: building character, removing what cannot sustain the promise, healing deep wounds, and aligning kingdom relationships. She challenges listeners to surrender their timeline, take every lying thought captive, and trust that delay is not denial. Rooted in scriptures from Psalms, Isaiah, James, Jeremiah, and Hebrews, this episode is both a spiritual reality check and a call to persevere with faith when nothing around you is moving.

The silence is not the absence of God. It is where faith is born.

Learn more about: Happy Horizons Children's Ranch

Grab your copy of Elizabeth’s new book, The Breaking: The Season That Almost Took Me Out and the God Who Didn't, here!

Contact Elizabeth Everett:                                                                                               Website: graceinthebreaking.com                                                                          Email: info@graceinthebreaking.com                                                                        Instagram: @graceinthebreaking                                                                                YouTube: @GraceintheBreaking 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:05

When you've prayed, when you've cried, when you've fasted. In heaven, it feels completely silent. Not delayed, not unclear, just radio silence. Like you're talking, you're talking and you're talking to God. But it's like he's not talking back to you. No one is. Have you ever felt like God completely went quiet on you in the moment that you needed him the most? If you have, this episode is for you. But I need you to hear me when I tell you this truth. God's silence is not his absence. Be still and know that I am God. Psalms 46 10. I want you to chew on that for a moment. He's omnipresent. He is here now. He's the same today, yesterday, and in the days to come. He hasn't changed. So just because we can't hear him does not mean he's not there. Sometimes we just close our ears up. We're too caught up in our pain. We're too caught up in our expectations of now to hear. Friends, family, I'm so glad you're here. I'm Elizabeth Everett, and this is Grace in the Breaking, where we stop striving and we start surrendering. So if this episode speaks to you today, please like, follow, and share it with a friend who this who needs it, who it might resonate with. Because in the silence, he's always here. Let's be real. During those silent moments, it's the hardest season to walk through in your entire life. Trust me, I've been there. Because when we expect him to be loud and answer prayers immediately and be clear, and then he doesn't, that's when like all these emotions of the spirit of rejection can come in, and the enemy starts whispering, you're not good enough. You did something wrong. He doesn't love you. These are all lies. The enemy, the enemy tells stories all the time, but it's important for you to know that those whispers are just that lies of the enemy. Because that suddenly, after those whispers, that rejection hits you. You have to rise up and go above that. Because listen to this. How many times have we heard, but my God, why have you forsaken me? Even David cried out like this. Jesus echoed this on the cross when he was dying for our sins, the most excruciating death one could have. So when you feel this way, I need you to remember those words. My God, why have you forsaken me? And then I want you to remember how God did not forsake. He was doing his greatest work in the stillness, in the quiet. Because here's the truth the silence, I'm gonna remind you again, is not the absence of God. When we're going through it, God is close to the brokenhearted, and he saves those who are crushed in spirit. His word never changes, it never falters. So why are we even contemplating that idea? Why are we even letting it sit as a resonating factor in our mind? That's an imagination. We have to take that thought captive and we have to kick it back to hell where it belongs in the mighty and holy name of Jesus. Because I'm gonna tell you something. During my darkest season, I was fasting, I was praying, I was surrendering, and it was quiet. I could not understand why God wasn't answering my prayers fast enough. And just like I talked about the enemy is so good at whispering in your ear, it's exactly what he did. You're not good enough, you're not fasting long enough, you're not heart as pure, you've done too much to be repaired. You've done this, you've done that, you've done this. And then one day I realized wait a minute, God does love me because I'm still waking up. There's got to be a way through this. So I kept pressing, even when I didn't hear him. I stayed true. I didn't have a word to hold on to. What I had to hold on to was the security that in my darkest, when I was crying out, screaming on the floor, somehow every single time I was surviving, I would feel a peace and my tears would dry up. He wasn't doing this to punish me, he was doing this to prepare me, and that's what he's doing for you too. Let's talk about Joseph. God gave him a dream, and then everything around him went silent. Everything. Okay, let's take a look at what he went through through the crushing and the pruning. He was betrayed, he was sold by his own family, he was forgotten in prison. There was no new word, there was no new prophecy, there was no reassurance, just silence. But God. But what Joseph could not see is God was ordaining every moment and putting every single piece together behind the scenes. And Joseph, he was patient. Because what intended to harm me, God intended it for good. Genesis 50, 20. So when all of these hardships are coming at us, it's very easy for us to retreat and go, oh, woe is me, oh, poor pitiful me. Let me get in the bed and let me pull those covers up to my chin. Stop it. Get up. It's gonna be okay. Whatever is happening to you, whatever you are going through, whatever you've been through, it is not your final destination. If you woke up today, there is a greater plan. And I can assure you that you will get through this. This storm, this wilderness will not last infinitely. It's time to leave Egypt. So let the past go and ask God how to move forward. Even when you feel like he's silent, he's working. What is he revealing about you in this season? What have you had your ears so closed to and you've been so focused on not hearing his audible voice, not seeing the changes that you thought were going to happen immediately? He's preparing you. Are you going to allow him to have you like putty in his hands and make you pliable? Pray to be softened up for that to happen. Because guess what? Friends, family, he'll do it. He will do it. God will go silent when he's doing his deepest work in you. We do not understand it, and at the time it feels isolating. But what if those emotions that you're feeling are revealing something greater inside that needs attention that still needs healing to? Think about that. Whatever comes immediately to your mind, I want you to write down. I want you to make a categorized list because that's the Holy Spirit speaking. Those are not your thoughts. His thoughts are higher, they are greater. So write them down, make them plain, and start inviting him into those memories, those situations, how that body is resonating. Because again, his thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. Isaiah 55, 8 through 9. So just because we believe it's happened, it's supposed to happen one way, the Lord has greater plans. He sees a greater picture outside of everything. He sees beyond, he sees what is ahead. And nine times out of 10, that rejection you're feeling is protection because the delay is not a denial, it's a preparation. You know, we've talked about that you can't have everything that you prayed for all at once. A lot of times our character can't hold it, it will crush us. We just talked about that. But God, man, he's always building everything for us. Silence forces a question. Do we trust him? Listen, it's hard. I get it. We are human. I've been there. I will be the first to admit when I first was going through that silence during the period of my breaking with my health, with a sudden divorce and a wreck and the loss of my best friends, my son's injury, son's OD. Like all of this was a lot. And I'm like, God, where are you? I can't hear you. Help me. So I prayed harder. I fasted harder. I showed God that I was not going to give up. Shucks, I'd come this far. What do I got to lose? Because I sure don't want to go to anything worse than what I'm experiencing. And that's the mindset you have to pick up and go. Not one that you retreat and just fall into yourself. And oh, woe is me. Friends, family, I'm here to hold you accountable. Rise up. There is the land of milk and honey beyond this. You just have to keep going. So, do you trust God without the constant confirmation? This is going to be literally a mental switch that you have to switch in your brain. Okay. It's not gonna just happen. No. This is where the trust comes in. This is where your faith is produced. When we don't see movement, but we know what's ahead. Because anyone can trust God when He's speaking to us. What if this is a test? Think of all of the reasons to keep pondering that. What if every single thing that you've prayed for requires a layer of yourself to be released? Literally peeled back from that onion, cutting an apple, however, you want to imagine that analogy in your brain. There is a reason behind it. We can't be crushed all at once, we can't be pruned all at once. But as each piece is coming away, it's preparing us for what is to come, what we've been praying for, because God wants to give us every desire of our heart. His word says it. Now, some desires will crush us. God sees ahead. He wants to preserve us. He is a lavish God. So listen, he wants to do exceedingly and abundantly more than you could ever ask, think, or imagine. And I get it. It's hard in that waiting season. But you got to ask yourself, can I trust him when he's quiet? For we walk by faith, not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5, 7. Meditate on that. Remember, I said even in the quiet, this is where your faith is being birthed. We're human. Listen, I'm still going through that season of some promises that I'm holding on to. Just because I haven't seen it doesn't mean that I stopped doing what I'm doing. It doesn't mean that I stop consistency because God recognizes consistency. He rewards it when we go to him, when we trust him, when we just keep giving him all the glory where glory is due. If I can do it, honey, you can too. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed. John 20, 29. Listen, each day we have the opportunity to grow closer to God. Sometimes people get comfortable and quit chasing him. But why would you do that? Because once you've experienced his love, once you have gone through the pressing, the pruning, the stretching, and you see the miracles, signs, and wonders that are abundant and actually happening all around us every day, but we've closed our eyes to see that. Once all of your senses have been reopened and you're seeing this, how can you not love him? How can you not chase him? How can you not feel conviction when gossip comes out of your mouth or your lack of respect or anything that's drawing up malice? Practice the pause, stop dropping pray. You know, those change everything. I just want you to know that the silence will stretch your faith in ways the noise never could. I remember there were so many days that felt like, it was felt like Groundhog Day. So literally I'm waking up, I'm I'm trying to carry about my routine, and it was so mundane, right? It became just second nature. I couldn't wait for the day to go by so I could get in bed and go to sleep, only to start it over again because that's how that's how much I wanted that promise on my time. That's how much I wanted my pain to stop. That's how much I wanted everything that was wrong to be miraculously turned upside down. But you know what? It didn't happen that way. Actually, what happened in the process, I finally had to go. You know what? I surrender my timeline. Like I can't do this every day. It's like I was putting myself in hope deferred because I would get my expectation. Today's going to be the day, it's all going to change. But I wasn't ready for that. And you might not be either. Only God knows that. Because, see, when we take a look at ourselves, we're blindsided. We don't see the shortcomings, we don't see the inconsistencies in our character, and we don't see where we need to heal. It's a process. This is where the silence comes in. He is literally showing us and identifying what needs to be healed, giving us the opportunity to invite him in. And boy, is he a good God because he always comes through. He's just waiting so patiently on us during this silence. Let me show you what's happening in this season. So A's building your character. Because we remember we've talked about when your character can't sustain the promises, there will be pruning, there will be stripping. But trust me, on the other side of that is glory to glory to glory to glory. The testing of your faith produces perseverance, James 1 through 3. So every single thing we're going through, there is a reason. So we start to learn not to be so emotionally reactive. We start to not let things get under our skin. We start to notice that like offense is rising up. As we start to notice, I want you to go, ooh, hi diggity dog. This I'm actually healing. I'm on the right track. Thank you, Jesus. Once you find your rhythm, once you start to notice, once you start to get still and actually see where this is going, the healing process goes a lot faster. Because remember, it takes that final surrender. He's removing everything that can't go with you. So we've talked before how I thought I had the happy life, right? On the outside, I had the big house, I had the children, I had the marriage, I had all of the material things that one might want in life. But I was dying on the inside. So he had to literally strip piece by piece by piece to show me that what truly mattered was him, what I had put as idols above him. So remember, those get stripped. And a lot of people go, Oh, I want the glory. I want to be up there, blah, blah, blah. But you're not willing to go through the pressing. You give up right in the middle. It's not too late. You can pick up, pack up that cross, and carry it daily, but it's your choice. No one's gonna do it for you. You have to put forth the effort. You have to chase God. He's not gonna come chasing after you. He cuts off every branch that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes. So remember, like I said, he's picking, he's picking. Oh, this doesn't need to go with you. This doesn't need to go with you. This relationship needs to be cut off. This friendship needs to be cut off. And it's not to hurt you, but it's to make you more dependent upon him. And a lot of times the season, again, that you've been praying for, that you're going to brings a whole separate set of friends, kingdom alignments, kingdom relationships, people that are going to push you into your greatness. Because he's teaching you in the stillness. The Lord will fight for you. You only need to be still. You're learning that you don't have to validate every conversation that comes against you. You don't have to defend yourself. Be still and know that he is God. He's aligning things that you cannot see that I can't see. I look back now, and what he was doing with me is like mind-blowing because every single step he was pruning to make it better, pruning to make it better. He never missed a beat. Even when I wanted to throw my hands up and quit would be a revelation. But I still didn't hear his voice, but it would be a revelation in how I was reacting. And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him. Remember, he's seeing everything outside of what we're seeing. He sees the big picture, and that's what counts. What feels like nothing is often everything in your life shifting. Everything is being uprooted. Let's go a little deeper because the silence, you know what? It feels personal. I've been there. God, why them and not me? Comparison, friends, family, it will steal your peace. So just stop it now. Just because they're there and you're here doesn't mean there won't be a switch. You are going to rise up in your time, not before then. God wants you to be able to sustain what he's giving you. So hold on in the silence. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the glory. Plans to prosper and not to harm you, according to Jeremiah 29, 11. So here's your truth bomb. Delay is not a denial. And silence, it is not abandonment. Wait for the Lord. Be strong and take heart. Wait for the Lord. Psalms 27 14. I would much rather wait for my promise than to get it, to lose it, not be able to hold on to it, or not be able to appreciate what I've prayed for and what I got. So listen, if you're in that final silent season, God has not left you. His word says he says he will never leave you. He will never forsake you. According to Hebrews 13:5. Even in the quiet, friends and family, he is working. Even in the quiet. So hold on. Do not let go. Because the Lord is good to those whose hope is in him. To the one who seeks him, according to Lamentations 3, 25. Share this with someone that you know is hurting, that's walked through the silence and feels like it'll never end. Because it will. Strengthen their faith when they cannot hear you. We surrender our timeline. We trust the process. And to you we surrender in the mighty name of Jesus. Friends, family, the choice is yours. You can surrender, keep moving forward and keep chasing him. Don't get complacent. Don't quit before your miracle. Don't quit before your promise. The silence is refining you. So chase him harder. Cancel out all the noise and be better than you were the day before. Friends, I am blessed to sit here in front of you today. I love each and every one of you. If this episode resonates with you, reach out. DM. If you're feeling isolated, come join the community. Check out graceinthebreaking.com. Hit a submission for information, and I will reach out to you personally. Till next time, friends, I love you. Stay close to Jesus because he's right there with you. Thank you so much for spending this time with me today on Grace in the Breaking. If this episode spoke to your heart, please remember to follow, download, and share it with someone who might need a little encouragement right now. You can find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast platforms. As I close, I want to leave you with this reminder, 2 Corinthians 12.9. My grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in weakness. So no matter what season you're walking through, you are not alone. And there is always Grace in the Breaking. For more information, resources, or to connect with me, visit graceinthebreaking.com or email me at infograceinthebreaking.com. Until next time, friends, stay rooted in faith, hold on to hope, and remember that there's grace in the breaking.