Pray (AND Prepare) For Your Blessings

I worked with the same veteran for about a week on the psychiatric unit. When he first entered the floor, he was determined to make a change in his life. He no longer wanted to be a prisoner to his addiction to alcohol. He told me that “it was time” to make a change in his life. However, as the days passed while he waited for placement at an inpatient drug rehabilitation facility, his determination was marred by anxiety. The veteran noted that he was looking forward to treatment, but he was also a bit nervous about the experience. He didn’t know what the facility was like, who would be there, and what types of activities he would participate in. All he knew was that a new, sober life – his blessing – awaited him. He just had to put in the work to attain it.

This got me to thinking. How many times in my life had I worked toward something, day-dreamed about it, only to be incredibly nervecited (my term for nervous, yet excited) when the day finally came? As a premed, I spent days dreaming about being a medical student, but at my white coat ceremony, I was equally scared about the responsibility ahead and excited about the chance to change patients’ lives. Once I got accepted to Wharton, I couldn’t wait to enter the business world. I wanted to learn about finance, accounting, marketing – everything seemed exciting. But on the first day of pre-term I was worried that my background in medicine and entrepreneurship hadn’t adequately prepared me to go tit-for-tat with my business school classmates. Yet four years into my MD and one year of the MBA down, here I am. THRIVING. Now, the question I have is, what could I have done differently to prepare for these blessings in my life? How could my mindset or actions have been different leading up to these new beginnings?

Below are some tips on how you can prepare WHILE you pray for your blessing. Trust and believe I'll be using them myself!

1. Reflect on Your Aspirations

I’ve realized that when I pray for God to make a change in my life, it’s important for me to reflect on what I hope to achieve. My mother often says, “everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial.” I’ve used this as a guide in my decision making over the years. There are TONS of things that I could be doing, but I always stop and ask myself, “how will this new endeavor ultimately lead me to become a future business leader and physician who makes an impact for Christ?” If the answer is unclear, then maybe I shouldn’t be pursuing it.

Learning Point: Remember to assess and reassess your life goals and aspirations. Use those aspirations as guideposts for your current actions.

2. Do Your Research

It’s easy to say that you want to achieve a goal. It’s also easy to pray that “God’s will be done.” But in order to fully prepare for a blessing, you MUST do your research. What education do you need to acquire? What are the barriers to entry for your chosen industry? Will your dream job bring in enough income to provide the lifestyle that you want? Blogs, YouTube, and self-help books are a great starting point to learn more about the whatever it is you hope to achieve.

Learning Point: Don’t blindly pray for a blessing. Take the time to understand exactly what it is you hope to do.

3. Get (or Sharpen) the Skills You Need

Once you’ve done the research, it’s time to get into action. No use in praying for God to help you become a doctor, lawyer, designer or whatever your goal, if you’re not interested in gaining the tools to get you there. Don’t like to read? Law school might be tough….Don’t like asking people to spend money? Sales might not be for you…But if you know that you’re willing to get the training that you need to achieve your goal, go on ahead and ask God to bless you bountifully!

Learning Point: Prepare yourself with the skills necessary to do whatever it is you hope for!

4. Make Sure that Your Finances are in Order

“It takes money to make money.” That’s a saying that you may have heard before. I agree with this sentiment, but I’d like to emphasize that it doesn’t take A LOT of money to make money. Moreover, sometimes the money you need to achieve your dreams will come in the form of a loan. Think of it as an investment in yourself. My business school classmates, many of whom left six-figure jobs, are strong advocates of self-investment. Wharton costs about $200k, but the hope is often to get to a point in one's career where the return on this investment will be ample. Here are some key questions to ask yourself: Do you have access to enough capital to achieve your dream? If not, how can you acquire funds while minimizing the chances of defaulting on loans in the future?

Learning Point: Figure out how much money is required to achieve your goals, and make a plan to use the funds responsibly.

5. Envision Success

Envisioning success is one of the most important parts of preparing for your blessing. Of course, it’s normal for doubt to creep in every once in a while. We’re human after all. But what’s important is that we envision ourselves at the proverbial promised land. For me, it’s been a huge motivator to think about the feeling of pride and joy that I will have at my medical school graduation day. I think about getting to wear a long white coat for the first time. When you pray for the blessing that God has for you, I encourage you to CLAIM IT in advance!

Learning Point: Mentally imagining the success that you long for helps to make today’s challenges and uncertainties a bit more bearable.

Though I prayed (and prayed….and prayed some more) to get to where I am today, my prayers often assumed that everything would seamlessly come together on its own. Now that I’ve realized the importance of combining preparation and prayer, I’m hoping that at the next big junction in my life, I’ll be less nervecited, and just plain ecstatic!

Peace and blessings,

-Atasha Jordan, MD (to be)