Discernment can be challenging. Have you ever prayed for or about something and then while waiting for God’s response gotten yourself all mixed up as to whether He was the one responding to you or if you were just making answers up in your own head? Then the conundrum of that scenario made your brain hurt so you just abandoned the prayer altogether, which ultimately made you feel even more stuck and confused?

We try so hard to hear God’s voice clearly because if we hear His word loud and clear, if He would just audibly speak to us, then of course we would absolutely follow through with His desires. But alas, we often don’t get to hear Him audibly speaking to us so instead we allow our minds to get all twisted up in the striving to discern what He’s saying to us that we grow extremely frustrated with prayer and discernment.

I offer one suggestion to help alleviate this frustration, PRAY IT BACK TO HIM. When you think the Lord is speaking something to you or revealing something to you in response to your prayer, pray it back to Him.

It goes something like this:

Lord, I think you are saying [this] to me, revealing [this] to me, telling me [this], showing me [this] – exchange [this] with whatever it is you believe you have discerned – is this correct? Is this from You?

Then wait for Him to confirm it to you. This process redistributes the burden from you back to God. Let Him show you and confirm it to you. The repeated confirmations help us draw clarity.

This isn’t a new idea or something I came up with. I learned this first in Spiritual Direction, but I also realized Peter put this philosophy into practice when he walked on water. Matthew 14:22-33 tells us that Peter and the other disciples saw Jesus right there before their own eyes, walking on water, and even though Jesus said to them, “Take heart, it is I; have no fear,” in an attempt to quell their fear and bewilderment, they still struggled in their discernment as to whether or not it was truly Jesus. Still Peter desired to know for certain, and so he PRAYED IT BACK TO JESUS saying, “Lord, if it is you, bid me come to you on the water.”

We know how the rest of this story goes. Jesus says, “Come,” and then Peter begins walking on water as Jesus just had, but outside elements (namely wind) made Peter doubt and so he began to sink. Mind you, this all goes down (pardon the pun) with JESUS right there in front of Peter. Jesus who was making it possible for Peter to freaking walk on water. H-E-L-L-O! This is us, this is soooo us. Well, I suppose I can’t speak for you, but I know it’s me! Yikes!

Of course Jesus reached out and caught Peter, but not without proclaiming, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” So in addition to our praying, discerning, and then praying it back to Jesus, we must also TRUST in Jesus. Eliminate the doubt and walk forward, maybe even on water like Peter!

Jesus provides our way, and He is always there coaxing us along, but so often we lose our trust and more importantly, we lose sight of Jesus. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Pray everything back to Him. Trust Him and move forward in faith with Him.