You Will

The night was long, and the disciple sat in the doorway of his small cell, hands trembling over the beads of his prayer rope. He had prayed, fasted, kept vigil, yet his heart felt like a boat unmoored on open sea.

He went to the elder, whose lamp still burned though the stars were nearly gone from the sky.

Disciple: Father, pray for me. I do not trust the steadiness of my own heart. I fear I may fail in what God is asking. Some days I feel strong, clear, called; other days I feel adrift, as if I belong everywhere and nowhere at once.

Elder: Sit, my child. The wind shakes a tree more when its roots are deepening. What you feel is not faithlessness, it is the stretching of the soul toward its true home.

The disciple bowed his head, breath faltering.

Disciple: But what if I falter? What if in this loneliness, this longing, I choose out of desire rather than obedience? What if I move too quickly, or too late? I want only to follow God. But I am afraid.

The elder looked at him with a stillness born from years of silence.

Elder: You asked for prayer that you might remain faithful.

Disciple: Yes, Father.

The elder’s voice did not rise. He spoke as one naming something already accomplished.

Elder: You will.

The disciple felt the words land like stone and fire inside him, heavy enough to anchor, bright enough to warm.

Disciple: How can you speak with such certainty?

Elder: Because God’s hand is already upon you. Because longing of this kind is not born of the self. Because you do not seek escape, you seek God, and those who seek Him with tears and hunger are not abandoned. Your struggle is not evidence of failure, but of calling.

The disciple’s eyes filled.

Disciple: Then pray that I may not turn aside.

The elder placed his hand upon the disciple’s head like a seal, a stone placed atop a well so the waters would remain pure.

Elder: My child, you fear your weakness, but I trust His strength. You think your fidelity hangs by a thread, but it is woven through eternity. You will be faithful, not because you stand, but because God holds you upright.

A long silence passed, and with it the storm inside the disciple eased.

Elder: Now rest. The door is open. When God calls, you will walk through it, steady, faithful, and in His time.

The disciple breathed, and it was enough.