Every day, we face choices. Health, finances, relationships, work, home, family — and sometimes even what to have for dinner. So often we find ourselves conflicted, stuck in limbo, not knowing which way to turn.
What if, in those moments, you could reach for a lifeline? What if there were a direct line to something wiser than your worried mind — and all you had to do was dial it?
That is exactly what prayer has been for me. Not prayer as a formal ritual, but as a living conversation with the spirit that moves through all things. And I have learned, again and again, that there is nothing too small to bring to the light.
Years ago, when my sister and her family decided to move from Santa Barbara to Washington, DC, I knew it was time for me to move on too — but I had no idea where. I was dating a man who lived in New York, I had very little income, and a publisher had expressed interest in a book I wanted to write. New York kept nagging at me. I had friends there, a spiritual community, and it would put me closer to my family. But I was terrified. It felt like such a leap.
One night, before sleep, I prayed and asked for guidance. I had a dream so vivid I can still recall every detail. A man appeared in a beautiful room and said to me: “My name is Baruch” — which is not his real name, but a Hebrew word meaning “blessings” — “and I’ve come to invite you to New York. You can come by boat or by plane, and you’ll be taken care of in the way you have been accustomed to.”
I woke up with absolute clarity. I was moving to New York.
Two months after I arrived, I ended the relationship. I realized he had simply been the vehicle that brought me there — to a city where I would spend six years discovering my confidence, my creative voice, and my capacity to stand fully on my own. I wrote my first book. I built a whole body of work. I found that being guided didn’t mean having all the answers in advance — it meant trusting that the way would be revealed as I walked it.
When it was time to leave New York, I faced the same crossroads. Both my parents had passed. My sister was now in Los Angeles with her daughters, and she asked me to come. I was so conflicted. How could I leave the life I’d built, the friends I loved, the rhythm that was finally, beautifully, my own?
During a spiritual class, we visited a church in New York that had a labyrinth — an ancient walking meditation in which you bring an intention or question to your inner self and walk the winding path as a metaphor for the journey inward and back out. As I walked, I asked for clarity about the move. And what came was an image: a trapeze. I was shown that if I could let go, there would be someone on the other side to catch me.
I laughed out loud at how specific and graphic the spirit could be. And in that moment, I knew. I packed my bags with joy, knowing I was returning not as the terrified girl who had left Los Angeles years before — but as a woman who had finally reconnected with her purpose.
This is what I want you to know: guidance is available to you. In every situation, at every crossroads, there is a wise voice within you that will counsel you — if you make room for it to speak. It won’t always come the way you expect. Sometimes it arrives in a dream. Sometimes in an image while walking a labyrinth. Sometimes in a feeling so quiet you almost miss it.
The key is willingness. Willingness to stop the noise. To move beyond the fear. To give the decision over to something larger than your worried, calculating mind. As I have always loved: ships are safe in the harbor, but that’s not what ships are made for. Prayer is what helps us leave the harbor — even when we can’t predict the weather.
The Prayer
This prayer is for anyone standing at a crossroads, longing for clarity. Add the specifics of your own situation as you speak it.
Dear Beloved,
I quiet myself, and I ask that I may move into clarity and receptivity so I may hear the voice of my wisdom in choosing the proper and right decision for the situation.
I am presented with various options, and as I consider these options, please guide me to make the right decision that is the perfect choice for me and my family’s well-being. As I move forward, I ask to keep the highest good of all concerned in mind.
Allow me to see what is most beneficial for me and not be distracted by my wishful thinking or the red flags and the pitfalls in my way — to see clearly where there is a greater opportunity for more joy, more peace, and less stress.
As I move forward, I ask that I may not let my fear stop me but that I may be guided by the hand of the higher, protective power that is for me. Let that guidance now give me a sense of strength and security, and a solid foundation to see the choice that will bring me greater productivity, greater alignment, and greater cooperation, always moving hand in hand with my higher self in this decision.
I want to trust myself, to trust my intuition, to move away from self-doubt and second-guessing and let my divine presence be part of this choice so I may move into my fullness and choose what is right for me.
I claim my patience, remembering that there is no urgency in the spirit. I thank you for helping me move past my own limitations, my ego, and any parts of me that hold me back from knowing that I’m always guided. I always do know what is best for me and my life. I now give this decision over to the light within and I go free.
So be it.
The next time you feel lost at a crossroads, remember: you don’t have to figure it out alone. Quiet yourself. Ask. And then listen — not just with your ears, but with your whole being.
The spirit is always ready to give directions. All we have to do is dial.
Agapi Stassinopoulos is a best-selling author and speaker. This post is adapted from Chapter 2 of her book Speaking with Spirit: 52 Prayers to Guide, Inspire, and Uplift You (Harmony Books).