Not Everything Happens for a Reason

Trusting God When Explanations Fail

By: Geoffrey Schmitt

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

“Everything happens for a reason” is often spoken with kindness—but in the face of real suffering, it can ring hollow or even cause harm. Not Everything Happens for a Reason offers a more mature, faithful way to trust God when explanations fail.

Drawing from Scripture, pastoral experience, prison ministry, recovery wisdom, and a lifetime of lived faith, Geoffrey Schmitt explores the difference between God’s will and God’s permission, the reality of human freedom, and the healing power of divine presence. Rather than presenting God as a controlling force behind every event, this book reveals a God who refuses coercion and instead stays—faithfully, patiently, and lovingly—with those who suffer.

This is not a book of answers. It is a book of companionship. It invites readers to release the burden of explanation, to honor grief without rushing it, and to discover trust not in certainty, but in relationship. Again and again, the guiding question becomes simple and practical:

Now that this has happened, how do we live faithfully?

Written for those who have outgrown easy answers but refuse to abandon faith, this book offers a quieter, deeper hope—one grounded in love that heals, redeems, and restores.