I woke up with a beautiful thought this morning.  As a Catholic, I was raised with the knowledge that I could pray to God and ask for help and guidance with any issues I was having.  This gave me great comfort, especially in times of need.  But, as I got older, I met people who didn’t know that they could pray — perhaps due to their upbringing or a lack of religious instruction.  However, as I was writing my book, I came to realize that even religious people who knew about prayer were limiting their prayer experience.  They knew that they could ask God and the divine for guidance, but they didn’t realize that they could actually receive the answers they were seeking.

Many devout people are also very humble.  And I believe that humility is an incredible virtue, and something that we need more of in today’s world.  However, it’s important not to confuse humility with a lack of self esteem and empowerment.  Some people who pray also think that asking is enough, and that they may not receive an actual “answer,” per se.  “Why would God deign to speak to me?  Who am I to receive such clear guidance?”  But prayer is a two-way street.  Receiving answers and divine guidance are part of the process.

 The gift within us is the ability to access this divine guidance, divine wisdom — in answer to our prayers.  We’ve all heard the wonderful phrase, “Ask and you shall receive.”  But I don’t think that phrase is meant to be taken literally.  If I ask for help with a problem, it doesn’t mean that the problem is going to be instantly solved.  So my inspiration this morning was this: That if we ask for something through prayer, we will receive…the divine guidance we need to resolve the issue in question.

It’s important and good to ask for help and guidance through prayer, but we need to be open and confident in the fact that we will receive wise inspirations and answers by listening to our inner voice.  By listening to our inner voice — and accessing the gift within us — we will be able to get the direction we need to fulfill the intention of that prayer, and to resolve the issues at hand.