I’ve passed the 90-day mark at my new job, and I am loving it. I learn new information daily, and I’m becoming more and more comfortable in my new role. And every morning before I go to work, I try to start off my day with the Lord.

I pray before I pick up my phone. I blast the Gaithers or scriptures on audio while getting ready, and I listen to a Christian radio station on my commute. It’s a pretty good routine, and gets me started off right.

But one particular morning, I just couldn’t shake an unsettled feeling. I was restless and hadn’t slept well. I knew I had some tough issues to handle that day at work. My boss was traveling, and I was left in charge. Decisions I make in my healthcare position can often pose threats to seniors’ health, rights, and legal protocol. Also, I was running late.

When I arrived to the parking lot, I decided to take a few extra minutes to ask for some strength for the day. After I prayed, I felt pretty good, calmer, and ready for whatever that day had for me.

Turns out, I was definitely not ready for all that day had for me. It was the most challenging day I had experienced at this new job so far.

We had a flu outbreak, and I was on the phone with the Department of Health, state licensing, ombudsman, and numerous families. My 10-hour day looked a lot like those movie scenes of doctors and nurses rushing about in a panic to deal with an influx of ER patients. I felt underprepared and overwhelmed. At any time, I could make a decision that would affect someone’s health or my job.

But even the hardest day at work so far was no match for God. I struggled through a brand new crisis scenario with a steady head, and I felt nudges of God directing my thoughts. Looking back on that day, it was nothing short of a miracle that we got everything in place to prepare for a flu outbreak safely and without further infection spread.

But, what I learned from that experience was …

1. Always follow the Holy Spirit’s promptings. God knew what problems my day held before I even arrived at work, and He prompted me to say those parking lot prayers. Did I need them? More than I realized!

2. Doubling up on prayers will not necessarily make the trial “easy.” God never promised we would experience easy trials or that He’d “cut us some slack” if we pray. Sometimes He just wants us to rely on Him to get us through. But He does promise to get us through and give us the strength we need.

There is no trial too big for God, no problem He doesn’t already foresee, no question He can’t answer. Matthew 7:7 says, “ask and it will be given you” because God already has it prepared for us. We can “seek and we will find” because He already knows where to look. We can “knock and it shall be opened” because God wants to reveal His plan to us.

There is no limit to what God can do. And nothing can separate us from His love (Romans 8:35-39). I remember an experience had by my grandfather, Brother Russell Martorana.

While driving to visit a nearby mission of the Church, Brother Russ was praying and asking what message he should share with the brothers and sisters. He heard a voice say, “Tell them they can go as far as they want to with me.” God is ready to take us to the next level of our relationship with Him, and when we try His promises He will always prove them faithful. So let’s ask and know we will receive, seek and know we will find, and knock and it will be opened to us.

The enemy lies to us, saying it’s OK to be afraid or that we’re not enough or that we will never overcome. But we have been baptized and given the Holy Ghost. God is no longer walking alongside us. He is within us daily. The enemy wants us to move further away from God when we feel discouraged, but our God is alive and within us and will never leave us. So let’s listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit nudging us to be in God’s will, and He will direct us for good.

This article has undergone ministry review and approval.