Is What I Want Ever Going To Happen? 3 Spiritual Truths To Give Comfort While You Wait.

Waiting for something we deeply want can be an incredibly trying experience. At times it can feel like our desires and prayers may never come to fruition. It is in this period of waiting in which we can often feel frustrated and even in despair. I personally have experienced this several times and have even played witness to friends and clients who have reached a point of hopelessness in their season of waiting. I must say that I feel fortunate to have had several experiences throughout my life that I can only describe as spiritual or even miraculous where I am reminded that I am not alone in the attainment of my aspirations. In the following article are three of my own personal and spiritual truths that I hope will assist you in remaining hopeful during your season of waiting. 

Timing Is of Importance.

I don’t think patience is a character trait that most of us are born with. I believe it is a practice and a testament to some degree of our faith. It is the ability to trust that all things will work out in the timing and the way that it is meant to transpire. I had one of my life’s major lessons with practicing patience at the age of twelve when I experienced my very first premonition. I remember vividly praying to God the night before that he would grant me a boyfriend. I was incredibly emotional on this particular night, and my prayer was accompanied by the sounds of my deep inhales as I choked on my sobs. I realize this may appear a bit dramatic, but for some context, my father had moved several hours away and I believe I felt a desperate need to fill that void. I don’t remember falling asleep that night, however somewhere in the midst of my tearful prayer, I did. The next morning, upon waking, I had a knowing. I knew that I was going to marry a man named Nathan (For privacy purposes this is not the real name that was made known to me). This knowing was one of the strangest occurrences I have ever experienced. It felt like a piece of information suddenly existed inside me, yet there was entirely no logic to validate it. The years would pass by and the certainty of my knowing and my patience would fade into a distant memory. I wanted love desperately in my early adolescent years, yet it always appeared to elude me until one day at the age of nineteen I met a man named Nathan. I would marry this man thirteen months later and still to this day he was one of my life’s greatest loves. It took years after I had experienced the spiritual knowledge of his existence for me to ever meet him. I met him in an entirely different town than we both grew up in and the timing of our lives put us in a place where we were both open to creating a life together. Sometimes it is challenging to grasp why things take so long to come into fruition.  I do however believe there is an alignment that must occur between us, our desire, and the will of God. I know it can be challenging when one feels like they have been waiting forever for something they really want to transpire, but what I have come to believe is that there is a much larger tapestry being woven than what we may realize. Trust that all is coming and it may be better than what you could imagine or even ask for.

Possibility Is Truly Limitless.

Sometimes it is challenging to believe in what we want because our true desires may appear to not be probable. Often times when we feel something is impossible or not likely, we will allow ourselves to settle. I personally believe that we all have access to the supernatural support of God, if we so choose to seek it. I myself experienced a time when a desire of mine appeared to be so incredibly unlikely that it would ever come to pass. During this time, my two children and I lived with my mother and I was desperate to have my own home. I applied to so many places, however I kept getting denied due to the inability to prove that I made three times the monthly rent required. I felt unbelievably hopeless and knew that I would have to defy odds in order to find a home for myself and my children. One evening I decided to write a specific prayer. I addressed this prayer to God and I asked for a three bedroom home, with a yard, located in one of two areas, at a price point of $1600 or under. At the end of this prayer I asked that God grant me this, but only if it were his will. I then proceeded to light a candle and recite the prayer I had written, out loud. Later that evening I went on Zillow, as I did every night to see if there were any new listings for a home that I could potentially rent. On this particular evening, I was shocked to see that there was a home listed in which included everything I asked for, including the monthly rental price of $1595. My mouth gaped open, as I urgently filled out the online application. The following day, one of the property management associates called me and said that I was sixth in line for this particular home. I knew that sixth in line for a home is not promising, however I had a feeling that this home was an answer to my prayers. Two weeks passed by and I heard nothing. I recall at this point telling my brother-in-law that I had a feeling that I was going to get this house and he rolled his eyes and scoffed, “ Lisa, you are sixth in line. There’s no way you are getting that house!” I will admit his doubts challenged my optimism, however I continued to hold onto my faith. Then, five weeks went by and they took the home off the listing. Words cannot describe how deflated I felt. I second guessed everything at this point. I thought that maybe I didn’t have an intuitive feeling, after all. I was so confused and so disheartened. I applied for another house and got denied again. As discouraged as I was, I continued to keep looking, until one day I received a call that changed everything. It had been seven weeks since I first applied for the house I had initially wanted when a frantic property management associate informed me that I had moved to first in line. She asked me if I was still interested, and of course I exclaimed that I was! Miraculously, they never checked my proof of income nor did they even show me the house. There was an urgency to get me in, yet I didn’t worry about disliking the home. I knew this house was an answered prayer. I moved into that home within a week and my children and I were elated. I don’t truly know why the property management didn’t follow protocol in regards to checking my proof of income or why they never showed me the house before I moved in. All I know is that everything I asked for in that letter to God transpired and that house ended up being such a continuous blessing to both me and my children for years to come. If anyone were to tell me that they were feeling discouraged in regards to a desire that felt beyond their grasp, my advice would always be to give it to God. I do think there are things we ask for that are not for our highest good and sometimes what feels like an unanswered prayer is really just a blessing in disguise. I would encourage anyone who feels hopeless in their waiting to remember we are never alone and a little bit of faith and prayer can make the impossible miraculously possible.

The Power of Prayer. 

I acknowledge that prayer is not a regular practice for many people. To some, it can feel awkward or even unnatural. The one thing that I will say with certainty is that I do not believe there is a wrong way to pray. I remember reading something where someone said to not plead or beg God for what you want, but to give gratitude. I think that giving thanks is a beautiful thing, however in one’s human experience we are not always in a place of gratitude. I’ve received my most profoundly answered prayers when I have completely lost every ounce of grace and have gone beyond the pleading and begging point. Im talking about having a full adult meltdown. One of my most prevalent memories of this was shortly after my divorce. I was incredibly confused and disheartened. I thought my marriage would stand the test of time, yet it had all crumbled to pieces. I needed God to talk to me, yet all my prayers felt like they had fallen on deaf ears. I became unhinged from all the pain and confusion. I laid on the floor of my bedroom and I screamed at God. I exclaimed repeatedly, “Why can’t you talk to me?” I kept yelling it over and over through my muffled cries, however I was silenced abruptly, when my five year old daughter entered the room. She came over to me and said these exact words, “ This is your opportunity to stand up for yourself. God is Lord, he is mighty, and he can fight for you.” Everything stopped in that moment. I couldn’t believe what I heard. I knew that this was not my daughter talking to me. First of all, she was five and the word, opportunity was not yet part of her vocabulary. In addition, my daughter wasn’t raised in church, therefore a phrase such as “God is Lord” would be highly unlikely for her to say. In this moment I knew God had talked to me through her. In hindsight, everything she  had said ended up being true. It was my divorce that acted as a catalyst in assisting me with learning to stand up for myself. I have had so many prayers full of tearful pleas answered with some sort of comfort or consolation almost immediately. I would encourage anyone who is struggling with anything to pray and to not worry about what it may look like. I recommend thinking of prayer as telling someone about your struggles whom you absolutely know loves and won’t judge you. This may feel uncomfortable if you are not in the practice of praying, yet I promise your prayers are always heard and I absolutely know we are not alone.