TRUST IN GOD’S VOICE, HEED HIS COMMANDS
Have you ever prayed for God’s help, His guidance, perhaps a sign? Have you also been presented with assistance, a way through and a clear signal because of your prayers, but pretended not to hear or see, since it wasn’t exactly what you hoped for? That’s me. I’m that person who asks for a sign, receives a sign (sometimes multiple signs), and then waits for a “signier sign.” God’s patience is nothing if not boundless.
Four months into the pandemic, I attended a talk via Zoom, and listened to a religious sister tell her vocation story, and subsequently, her calling to become a spiritual director. For the next week after, I reflected on Sr.’s story and casually researched spiritual direction programs. I didn’t know what had gotten into me. However, I did know that I felt unfulfilled and purposeless, and the isolation that quarantining had forced on everyone, allowed me the space to assess my life. I had been praying for perseverance to get through each day, which got progressively more difficult as time passed. I asked God if there was something I could do with my life other than run reports and analyze data. I prayed for something, anything, that would give me life. That is when I received answer after answer, sign after sign.
The application deadline for the program I preferred had passed, but I was given an extension. I needed letters of recommendation from two people with busy schedules, but they happily agreed. I had to write a personal statement and submit application materials within a week, and my workload suddenly decreased, and I had more time.
“Listen to my voice,” God said.
Despite every answered prayer being met with my doubts, God continued to provide signs that I was exactly where He wanted me to be, and each day for the past three years, His voice is what I heed.
“Walk in all the ways that I command you,” God continued, “so that you may prosper.”
Anna Gonda