Recently, I’ve been planning a trip to Scandinavia – somewhere I’d always wanted to go. But I was having working out the details, and I found myself wracked with doubt, confusion and uncertainty about whether I should be going at all. The stress and anxiety got so bad that I was on the verge of cancelling the trip altogether – and forfeit all the hundreds of pounds I’d already invested in various bookings.
Finally, one night, when the anxiety was crippling me, I went to one of my special places in nature. I knew the roar of the rushing river would help calm and steady my nerves. Plus, I went to ask for a sign. This river is potential place to see kingfishers, though they’re definitely not easy to spot. I asked the universe to send me one as a symbol that I should be doing this trip at all.
I spent nearly an hour amidst barking dogs and loud children, scanning the river and seeing nothing. I prayed very hard to show me this sign, and was on the point of giving up and leaving, when I suddenly heard the elusive bird’s distinctive whistle. I stood on a raised mound and seconds later, a shot of brilliant, iridescent blue flew past right in front of me, followed immediately by the roar of a plane overhead. I felt an immediate release of pain and a healing flooding in. All the mania and uncertainty fled from me as swiftly as the bird and gave me the first bit of peace I had felt in a long time.
Faith is such a fundamental aspect of our being, and yet, how many people engage with it? Whatever it is that you believe in, having the strength of that connection is invaluable. Sometimes, when things get bad, faith is literally the only thing I have left to keep me going. It helps me to access that sometimes small inner voice and give me guidance on what to do when I’m plagued with indecision.
Even so, messages can get blocked or obscured by the wheels of doubt and confusion spinning round, and sometimes you have to outrightly ask the universe for a sign of what to do and then make the space to receive the answer. It’s a way of asking for help, by reaching out to something bigger and more powerful than yourself.
Faith is also what creates the bridge between your ideas and desires and the ability to enact them. It can boost your fears with a belief that you can succeed and give you the confidence to propel you forward. Faith is what anchors you to the bedrock of the earth, while letting you reach for the stars.