The Work of Faith

What happens when you believe something is supposed to happen, but every step forward feels like another delay?

In this episode, I talk about faith, frustration, waiting, and the uncomfortable space between knowing something is meant for you and actually seeing it show up.

For a long time, I thought faith was simply believing. What I eventually learned is that faith often asks something of us in return. Sometimes it asks us to wait. Sometimes it asks us to trust. And sometimes it asks us to do something that pushes us outside of what we've always known.

Let's have an honest conversation about patience, endurance, sacred waiting, and what it means to keep moving when it feels like nothing is moving at all.

I'm Scarlett Draught, heavenly minded but earthly good.

The Spiritual Realist is edited and produced by Organized Movements

Recorded at Privicast Studio

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

This is the spiritual realist, and I'm Scarlett Drown. This is a space for honest conversation about spirituality, individuality, and growth. Welcome to opening your mind without pressure, performance, or pretending. Heavenly minded, but earthly good.

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Mama had a Bible open. Grandma had a job root.

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But the dirt still know the truth.

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Let's begin.

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Let the spirit speak.

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So that we can create any negative energy or any distractions while we spend this time together. So today we're gonna talk about myrrh. And you can burn the elements of myrrh, or you can get an essential oil that you can add to any air diffuser. And today, myrrh deals with patience, reverence, sacred waiting, and connects to the endurance and trust. And as we start, we're gonna talk a little bit about faith today. And this means we're gonna talk about the things that we do to not only have faith, but also the work of faith. And so, as we get our diffuser going, I have a little story for you today. And this is about a story where I realize that faith and work go hand in hand. And when I say work, I'm meaning candlework. This is where I discovered that I can use candlework to help grow my faith. So a couple years ago, I did my taxes and I was waiting on a good bit of money. It was after COVID, and I needed some income to come in, and they had given us a lot of these breaks for our businesses because we were not able to open them again. And for the first time in my entire life, I transposed two numbers. It was supposed to be a seven and a nine, and I transposed it and put nine and seven, sent the documents in, they stated everything was correct. It'll take them three to six weeks. It did not. I could wait two more weeks, right? Well, I waited and waited and waited and waited. I called back and they were like, well, technically, we have X amount of days before we have to give it to you. Wait a minute. So you already received it, you already updated it, you already processed it, but you still haven't released it yet. Hold on. Doesn't this sound familiar? Like when you're waiting on something, you got great faith that it's gonna happen, and all of a sudden, there's a roadblock and a roadblock and a door closed and a roadblock. God, what am I gonna do with this? Well, keep in mind, at this time, I'm walking a new path and I'm doing something different. My spirituality has changed, and I'm relying on God as a source to guide me down this road. How do I have faith without Christianity? Is there such a thing? Does that actually exist? I wonder, I ponder, and I came across this book, and it was about candlework. And I was like, well, seems a little witchy, a little skeptical at times, but let me read it. It's a thin book, maybe about 35, 40 pages, and it came attached with psalms. Psalms? You mean to tell me that the book of Psalms is used in candlework? I was blown away. I decided that I should find a candle on how to have endurance with faith. So I looked through the book, flipped the pages. Guess what? There was a candle I could burn to increase my faith, and also to take away roadblocks. There was a candle burning ceremony that was in there about how to increase my faith or what I could do to hold tight to what it is that I was having faith in, and also to burn or to get rid of any hazards or anything that could possibly be in the way of them releasing my money. Now, let's backtrack. Real quick, the last time I called, I was told that I had to wait 180 days. 180 days is a long time before I could make even a complaint to try to get the money released. But I waited because I mean, what is there for me to do when IRS says, you gotta wait. What do you do? You wait. I waited. And in 180 days, guess what? They did not release the fund. I called the tax advocacy department. And you know what they said, we don't take cases like yours. Wait a minute. So they don't take cases like mine. I believe the money is coming. I see that it was corrected, I understand that it was processed, I have the faith to know that this is going to happen. And yet, a heart stop. I open the book, I find the ceremony, I get to work. Because remember, faith without work is there. Whether you believe that in Christianity, whether you believe that in candle work, whether you believe that in hoodoo, whether you believe that in any religion, faith without work is there. You can believe God all you want to for a job, but if you never fill out a job application, it's not gonna fall in your lap. You can believe God all you want for a new car, but if you don't save your money and put an action behind it, it won't work. So my action behind this was I burned a candle. I took the candle, I wrote on the candle, I placed the candle on a fire safe plate, I meditated while the candle started to burn, and I let God do the rest. I prayed that anything released or anything holding back from the release of the funds be blocked. It was a finger candle, and if you don't know what a finger candle is, it's the little small candles that are about finger length long. Yeah, I did it. It was the first time I had done something outside of Christianity. It was my very first act of work that wasn't in the box of Christianity. Man, I was nervous, I was scared, I didn't know. I still had the mentality of is this a sin? Is this right? Is this wrong? Should I do this? Will it help? Wouldn't you know? Within three days, not one, not two, but within three days, I got a notification on my phone. And it said, You got a deposit. I was like, you gotta be kidding me. Ain't no way. I done called, I done waited, I done went to the advocacy, I done did everything I had to do. And when I burned that candle, guess what? It was released. I don't believe in coincidence. I believe that every move we make, every left turn we make, every right turn we make, every fall we have, every distraction that comes to us, I believe that there is always your faith guiding you to your destiny. The act of burning the candle, it didn't replace God. It actually showed God that I trust him in leading me down a path that was out of the box for what I already identified as, showing him that I believe that there are different tools and different ways to show him my faith in which he guided me in. So, what is it that you believe in God for? What is it that you're having faith in right now? And it seems to be a little pause or a little barrier or a little roadblock. I have an idea for you. In our handy dandy alabaster box, I have a candle. And in this candle, I have a stick. You can use a pen, you can use uh anything sharp to write on the candle. You take a little white candle, it can be something as small as a finger candle or a tea candle. You're gonna write in what you want, what it is that you desire. You're gonna take that candle, you're gonna place it in a fire-resistant plate or bowl or dish. You're going to light that candle. After you light that candle, you're gonna sit with that candle. You're gonna let it burn. As long as your spirit tells you to stay there, then stay there. Sometimes it takes the whole 30 minutes, sometimes it takes five seconds. It all depends on what your spirit and your guide is telling you. You're gonna let it burn. And then let God do the work. Let God use your prayer and supplication. Let him use the meditation of your heart to honor your request that you wrote on that candle. And you'll see a hand of God move in your life like never before. But the one thing you cannot have is doubt. Because without there will be no results, because you have to trust God in everything you do. This is not a guarantee. This is just something that you could use to establish your strength and faith. If you have some myrrh, you can burn some myrrh with your candle to help you gain the strength you need, to hold tight to the faith that the thing that you desire to come to pass will. And remember to always pray that it's in God's will, because you do not want something that is not for you. You want to make sure that it aligns with your highest self, because aligning yourself with something that is not for you, it will cause more damage than it will good. And sometimes we pray for stuff we don't need. For instance, if you don't have Lamborghini money, you don't need a Lamborghini. I'm Scarlet Drought, earthly good, and heavenly minded. Remember to keep the faith in all circumstances. In closing, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight. O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. Remember, always choose your highest self.

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From church fans decree.

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If something about this episode stays with you, then you're exactly who this space is for. Share with a friend you think should be here too. You can watch on YouTube, listen on all the podcast platforms, and continue the conversation at The Spiritual Realist. I'm Scarlet Drought, heavenly minded, but earthly good. Until next time, The Spiritual Realist is produced by organized movement, and I'll just do the future.