Practical Spirituality: Faith it Til’ You Make It

By Rev. Marla Sanderson

I have faith that life will always get better for us if we treat our challenges as stepping stones rather than obstacles.

Some years ago, we lived in a small California town and were, quite frankly, broke. With no chance for employment and a bleak outlook for our business, the best bet seemed to be to leave town. But we were too broke to move.

To remove any doubt, our absentee landlord decided to sell the house we lived in. Was it an obstacle or a stepping stone? Surely it was a challenge, but we knew there was something good in it.

We worked out an arrangement with our landlord to sell the house for him, and split what would have been an agent’s commission. This would provide enough money to move to Nashville, our place of choice.

So we thought.

To get to the point of this story (which is FAITH) I’ll have to save the many “miracle” stories for another time. We found a buyer, and scheduled the closing. Two days before the Friday closing date, we rented a huge U-Haul truck for the move with our only credit card. Friends helped us load, and our plan was to leave on Saturday, the day after we were to get the check.

On Friday, around noon, with our beds already deep in the truck, we got a call. The closing was postponed until late Tuesday afternoon.

It only took a few seconds to decide. What choice did we have? We would leave as scheduled and trust that everything would work out fine. The accountant agreed to deposit the check in our bank account the day after closing.

What could happen? Would the Infinite Creative Spirit that had supported us all our lives—the same one who’d provided miracle after miracle to get us this far actually leave us stranded by the side of the road somewhere? The idea was ludicrous, laughable, impossible!

So with nothing but faith and a credit card that might get us half way, we took off on Saturday morning and didn’t look back. To indulge in fear and doubt was way too scary, so we focused on gratitude for what had happened so far and for arriving safely at our destination.

Truly and absolutely I knew we were safe. God would not let us down. I was exhilarated to feel so free.

It was the hottest week of the decade in most of the country, so we took the northern route. I remember standing in a gas station somewhere in Wyoming, with the wind blowing hot and dusty across the wilderness. Something in the back of my mind said “Yeah, I could live here.” But we went on.

The money appeared in our account as expected, and we celebrated with a fabulous dinner somewhere in the heart of cattle country. Our faith allowed us to claim a higher good and to move out of a bad situation. We knew we’d done the right thing; but more than that, we learned a priceless lesson about how Life works for us.

I have faith in the upward spiral of Life and an Infinite Loving Power that propels me always toward something better.

It got us from Northern California to Nashville, and if I ever feel doubt, I can look back at that summer and let the flow of Life move me on.

Marla Sanderson has been a student of spiritual practice for more than 35 years.  She began as Assistant Director of The Next Step, a psychic and spiritual community in a New Mexico ghost town.  As workshop leader, teacher, practitioner, and minister, she has led relationship and personal growth workshops, taught psychic development and meditation, Living Love, and the Science of Mind.  Marla is available for workshops and speaking engagements.  She recently founded the New Thought Center For Creative Living. www.newthoughtctr.org.

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