A lost wallet, fairies, St. Anthony, and helper angels. A lesson in asking for assistance.

It’s said we teach what we most need to learn.

Over the years, I’ve encouraged, “Ask for spiritual assistance!” countless times, starting with myself and then as an invitation to others. And — no matter how much I know this and experience it, sometimes I’m completely baffled and surprised by the miracle that is spiritual assistance. Today, I'm inspired to share a short story with you where this experience reiterated itself to me yet again - I hope it is of service to you!

This past week, my boyfriend could not find his wallet. He spent half the day retracing his steps, driving to the park we were at, calling places he went the previous day, unpacking every corner in his car, searching through clothes and random drawers in the house. I helped him look, feeling both determined and discouraged as our search went longer and longer.

Finally, looking defeated, he held his phone on speaker with the bank’s auto-voice on the line. He looked at me and said, “I have this feeling it’s around here somewhere, yet we’ve looked everywhere. I don’t want to, but I’m going to start ordering new cards.”

In that moment, I remembered what I had somehow forgotten all day. We can ask for help!

I somewhat abruptly asked him to hang up the phone and told him that we forgot to invoke a miracle.

I then shared a prayer, and said something along the lines of:

“We humbly ask for miraculous divine intervention. We invite the fairies, St. Anthony, the helper angels — all energies of unconditionally loving assistance — to help us find this wallet for the highest good. We are listening. Thank you, thank you, thank you. So be it. Blessed Be. Amen.”

Fairies help find lost items, and St. Anthony is the patron saint of lost items. My mom taught me about him, so I’ve been calling upon him since I was a child, and the helper angels quite simply love to help.

We smiled after the prayer, and I went into the other room, returning to what I was doing. Two minutes later, my boyfriend called out and said, “I know where it is.” He walked into the kitchen and opened up a zipper on a lunch cooler we had with us at a picnic the other day. Sure enough, there it was.

We celebrated and thanked the energies of unseen support. Then he said, “I’m so happy we found this. But I still can’t find my book that’s been missing for the last week.”

Even though I knew he couldn’t find his book and had previously thought about where it might be, in that moment, I had a clear vision of it sitting on the table in our camper trailer. I said, “I know where it is!” We walked outside, and sure enough, there it was.

Something that had taken days of thought was resolved within five minutes after asking for spiritual assistance.

In my experience, asking for spiritual assistance can refine the frequency I’m attuned to within my mind and body – similar to changing a radio station.

If my thoughts are looping on the station of, “Ugh. He probably lost it. I’m still going to help out…but this feels pretty hopeless,” then asking for spiritual assistance can serve as a divine disruptor, pivoting perception and thoughts towards images, words, feelings, and directions that weren’t previously considered.

My boyfriend’s thoughts immediately clarified after we shared the prayer, as did mine. Both of us received ideas and inner images that weren’t present to us previously.

Although in this situation, we did shortly thereafter find exactly what we were looking for, I don’t want to give the impression that the Divine is like a genie who magically grants wishes.

In this situation, my boyfriend hadn’t actually lost his wallet; he left it in a place he forgot about. His gut feeling told him that — and asking for spiritual assistance helped to direct him towards its location.

In instances where the proverbial wallet is indeed lost or stolen, asking for Divine Assistance can offer help in other ways. This could look like giving the intuitive nudge from the start that the wallet is stolen, not lost. Or perhaps Divine Assistance might support the communication process of canceling cards and ordering new ones and providing a caring presence to lean into in the midst of processing upset or disappointed feelings.

I also want to acknowledge that this story is a relatively trite example in the wider weathers of life and the world at large. What can you do when the “lost wallet” is actually heartbreaking grief, health challenges, climate collapse, systemic injustice, and/or something that feels completely out of your control?

I don’t have an answer for you – and I genuinely feel like it would be a disservice if I attempted to answer this big question with a simple “how to” or quick fix.

I can share that boundless Compassion is available for the human experience – and to me, spiritual assistance is synonymous with compassionate presence.

Compassion is not apathetic or disengaged, Compassion leans in to the mess and magic; Compassion cuddles close in the deepest trenches of tragic and awe.

Compassion means “to be with suffering” – to be with the places inside that are hurting or perhaps hiding – waiting to be lovingly acknowledged.

To request Divine Assistance is to have compassion for yourself and others: to become present to your need for help and assistance, embrace it, accept it, and surrender to it. Guidance may arrive in the form of external help and/or internal nudges. Some days, assistance is simply a feeling of peace in a moment of worrying about things beyond your control – and sometimes spiritual support arrives like a lit match, lighting a passionate inner fire on words, actions, boundaries, and behaviors ready to rise.

However it arrives, Spirit helps you attune to the next right step — and sometimes that step is pausing. Sometimes that next step is leaping into uncomfortable territory. Sometimes that next step is naming and/or asking for what you need, even if you have absolutely no idea if or how it will show up.

Wherever these words find you today — moving through big waves or small steps — may you remember to ask for spiritual assistance. Perhaps try it on like an experiment, notice what you feel and perhaps find <3

With love and care,
Madeline