The following is adapted from Intuitive Certainty.
In my book Intuitive Certainty, I reference many authors who have influenced me. One of my favorites is Florence Scovel Shinn, a Christian mystic whose books, including The Game of Life and How to Play It and Your Word Is Your Wand, have remained in print for nearly a century. Her conviction that faith should shape how we speak and what we do, even before we know the outcome, inspired me.
When she writes of “speaking the word,” she means putting our hopes into words instead of repeatedly giving voice to our fears. Shinn urged readers to follow their hunches when they sensed a direction. I particularly liked her phrase “dig your ditches,” meaning preparing for what you claimed to trust was coming. Preparation, in her view, was an act of faith.
Two of my other favorite quotes are:
- “Your good must be built on a rock of fearless faith.”
- “It is useless to say we have faith and then act to the contrary.”
Shinn’s books made me think about how often I asked for guidance yet hesitated to take a step without certainty. Her message gave me a practical way to think about trusting God and influenced me long before I fully lived it. Over time, I began to speak and pray aloud about what I wanted, pay attention to the guidance I sensed, and act on it. Then I left the outcome with God.