Everything Is Always Working Out For Me

In The Game of Life and How to Play It, Florence Scovel Shinn talks about the Law of Expectancy.

“We receive what we prepare for.” — Florence Scovel Shinn

She says we should live in the atmosphere of the answered prayer.

Instead of living in fear that nothing will work out (as so many do – as I was raised to do), we begin living in the expectation that our good is already on its way to us.

Hold the expectation that “everything is always working out for me.”

And while that sounds lovely, what does it actually look like in real life?

How do you hold that expectation when life feels uncertain, or when things seem to be falling apart?

One of my favorite parts of Florence’s teachings is that she continually points us toward what she calls the Divine Selection.

It isn’t about my selection, or my timeline. It’s about God’s plan.

You don’t try to force one specific outcome because you’ve decided it’s the only way happiness can arrive. (Often when people do that they end up unhappy with what they’ve forced or with something that is less than what it could have been).

There is never a greater outcome than the Divine Selection.

I see a lot of manifestation teachers encouraging people to try to manifest a specific person (they literally call it your “s.p.”). It’s often an ex-partner or someone they’ve become attached to, but always a very specific person, one that you can name.

That always felt weird to me. Like trying to force something or force someone.

What if that person isn’t actually the Divine Selection?

What if someone else is and you are just seeing a small glimpse of that in the person you desire, but there are other people who fit that bill, too?

There is someone else, who you haven’t even met yet, that is the perfect selection – the Divine Selection – for you.

“The divine selection would have given perfect satisfaction and brought good to all. The divine pattern is the only safe pattern to work by.” ~Florence Scovel Shinn

Sometimes our wants come from a deep place, sometimes they are just emotional desires. Sometimes they’re tangled up with fear, comparison, or longing.

I think emotions like jealousy can actually be guidance for you.

When you feel jealousy, recognize that it is showing you something that you desire.

Ask yourself:
What is this pointing me toward?

What about this feels meaningful to me?

What is this showing me that I want?

Instead of trying to copy someone else’s life, I can bring that desire to God and ask for my own Divine Selection.

My version.

Not a specific thing, but the version that’s actually meant for me.

It feels very different. It feels lighter.

It allows you to celebrate what others have while knowing that what’s meant for you is yours.

Florence often says that if it was meant for you, you cannot lose it.

This thought alone has helped me hold loosely to my desires, while trusting that the things that are meant for me will work out. I have also been able to let go of the things that didn’t work because it must mean they weren’t for me – weren’t mine by divine right.

I’ve also learned that sometimes the things that seem like they’re not working out, actually are.

In 2015, our home flooded.

At the time it felt like one of the worst things that could have happened.

I fought it internally every step of the way.

I remember being so overwhelmed with emotions one day that I threw my purse across the front lawn in frustration.

It seemed like everything was falling apart.

A couple of years later, I found myself sitting outside our RV in the Arizona desert with mountains behind me.

And it suddenly hit me…

I couldn’t be upset about the flood anymore.

The flood had become the catalyst that led us into full-time RV travel, which had been one of my biggest dreams.

I used to sit in my windowless office dreaming about a completely different life.

I couldn’t see any path from where I was to where I wanted to go.

Then the flood happened.

The very thing I thought was destroying my life became the thing that took me to exactly where I wanted to be.

I was like a toddler throwing a tantrum not realizing I was being given exactly what I wanted.

Though, now I wonder...

If I had trusted more...

If I really, truly knew that life was always working in my favor...

Would another path have opened?

A path that didn’t need a flood to clear the way…

I’ll never know.

But those questions have completely changed the way I move through my life.

Today I try to hold a simple belief:

Everything is leading me toward my good.

That doesn’t mean everything feels good.

It doesn’t mean I understand what’s happening.

It means I recognize that I can’t see the whole picture.

A similar thing happened during the pandemic.

Our income disappeared almost overnight, and we had no savings to fall back on.

It was really scary at the time, but I remembered the flood.

I found myself thinking:

“If the flood brought me exactly where I wanted to go...maybe this will too.”

I decided to sit in a place of trust. I didn’t allow the fear thoughts to take hold.

I even had a little tune I would sing to myself (and still do when I begin to feel fear), “Everything is always working out for me.”

I let that become the dominant thought in my mind and let it be a song planted in my brain that carried me through my days, drowning out the voice of fear.

In 2019 before the pandemic, I had been approved to teach on an online platform but hadn’t really done anything with it.

When everything shut down, I started offering classes thinking maybe I could bring in a little income while we waited for life to return to normal.

Instead, those classes exploded.

They filled beyond anything I could have imagined.

Years later, they’re still one of the primary ways I support my family.

In fact, they became an important foundation for the next great challenge our family would face (as though they were put there on purpose… to carry us through).

Florence says we receive what we prepare for.

So, what are you preparing for?

Disappointment? Failure?

Or are you preparing for your good?

Expectancy doesn’t mean you have to pretend life is perfect, or deny any challenges that show up. And it certainly doesn’t mean there won’t be challenges.

It isn’t insisting that one specific thing has to happen.

It’s choosing to trust that, everything is always working out for you.

Even if it seems like everything is falling apart.

Even if you can’t see how it could possibly work out.

Interestingly, modern neuroscience offers an explanation for why expectancy can become so powerful.

Your brain contains a network called the Reticular Activating System (RAS).

Its job is to filter the enormous amount of information you’re constantly receiving through your senses and bring your attention to what matters most.

Sometimes, that means alerting you to danger to keep you safe.

But, it’s also why, after buying a new car, you suddenly see that same model everywhere.

The cars weren’t magically appearing.

Your brain simply began recognizing something that had become meaningful to you.

The same thing happens with your beliefs.

What you repeatedly expect...

What you mentally rehearse...

What you believe is possible...

Your brain begins filtering for opportunities connected to those expectations.

This is one reason athletes use visualization.

Researchers have found that mentally rehearsing certain skills activates many of the same neural pathways as physically practicing them.

Your imagination isn’t just fantasy.

It’s training your attention.

Expectancy isn’t expecting one specific outcome.

It’s expecting that your life is unfolding toward something good.

It’s knowing that everything is always working out for me.

It’s trusting the Divine Selection over your own limited perspective.

It’s dreaming without grasping tightly to one idea.

It’s planning without fear.

It’s holding your desires loosely.

I certainly have dreams and desires.

I still wonder how they’ll unfold and imagine what they might look like.

But now I do it playfully.

“Wouldn’t it be fun if...”

“Wouldn’t it be amazing if...”

I don’t wait to enjoy life until they arrive.

I enjoy what is happening right now, while also looking forward to the future.

I choose to expect good things.

And perhaps that’s what Florence meant all along by living in the atmosphere of the answered prayer.

Join the Summer Book Experience

Beginning July 24th, we’ll be reading The Game of Life and How to Play It together inside the Living the Game of Life community.

This isn’t just a book club.

It’s a guided experience designed to help you take Florence Scovel Shinn’s timeless principles off the page and into your everyday life.

Through reflection prompts, community discussion, live calls, and deeper chapter companion teachings, we’ll explore what it looks like to release old patterns, trust yourself more deeply, and begin creating change from the inside out.

If you still need to pick up a copy of the book, you can find it on Amazon.

Did you know I have a community?

For women who are tired of overthinking, second-guessing themselves, and carrying emotional patterns they can’t seem to outgrow.

Most of us don’t need more information. We need a safe place to release what’s getting in the way of what we already know.

Inside Living the Game of Life, we combine Florence Scovel Shinn’s teachings with emotional clearing, practical tools, and supportive community to help you trust yourself, move forward with clarity, and create a life that feels genuinely yours.

You define what success looks like. We clear what’s in the way.

Join the community here!

You’ve read the books. Taken the courses. Done the inner work.

But if you still find yourself second-guessing your decisions, repeating the same patterns, or struggling to trust yourself, there may be a deeper pattern at play.

My 1:1 work helps women identify and clear the hidden emotional patterns that keep them stuck so they can move forward with greater clarity, confidence, and self-trust.

The goal isn’t to become someone new.

It’s to trust the woman you already are.

Book a Self-Trust Clarity Session