How can you detect God’s guidance when it seems He’s not answering your prayers about it? Or, if you do get an answer only to discover you may have misunderstood, what should you do?
In this episode of Footsteps to Heaven, host Terry Modica welcomes Mark Wilson, an author known as the Catholic Bard, for an honest conversation about discerning God’s will. Mark shares how a seemingly unanswered email turned into a writing ministry and how he learned to recognize God’s guidance in his relationships.
You’ll hear Mark describe how prayer, the doors God opens, and the experiences of everyday life have helped him recognize God’s guidance. He also shares how he returned to a deeper understanding of his Catholic faith after a period of questioning what he believed.
Whether you’re wondering about God’s plan for your life, trying to hear Him more clearly in prayer, or seeking to deepen your Catholic faith, this conversation offers practical points to consider.
Mark Wilson is a Catholic writer who began a blog in 2020 after praying for direction in his creative work. What started as a search for a clear writing goal became a lasting ministry, with nearly 900 posts published over six years.
Mark’s Catholic faith has been shaped by his parents’ example, especially his father’s deep commitment to prayer. After a period of questioning his Catholic faith, Mark returned to it through prayer, reading, and a renewed commitment to learning what the Church teaches. He later earned a degree in theology from Franciscan University and worked for seven years at Catholic TV in Watertown, Massachusetts.
Are you wondering?
- How can I discern God’s will when I don’t hear Him answering my prayers?
- How do I know if God is opening a door or telling me to move in a different direction?
- What should I do when I think God is telling me something but I’m not sure I’m hearing Him correctly?
- How do I know whether the person I’m dating is the person God wants me to marry?
- How can I hear God more clearly when I get distracted during prayer?
- How can I deepen my Catholic faith when I’m questioning what the Church teaches?
- What’s the key to correctly discerning God’s will?
Next Step:
Option 1 – Set aside time for prayer this week and bring one question about your life or vocation to God. Pay attention to the opportunities, relationships, and doors that open or close, while remaining humble about your interpretations.
Option 2 – If you’re looking to deepen your understanding of the Catholic faith, consider attending your parish’s RCIA/OCIA classes or volunteering as a sponsor so you can continue learning and discerning alongside others.
Chapters:
01:04 – Meet Mark Wilson, the Catholic Bard
02:48 – How the Catholic Bard Writing Ministry Began
05:22 – The Writing Opportunity Mark Thought Was Lost
07:05 – Discerning God’s Will in Marriage
07:22 – Recognizing God’s Guidance Through Open Doors
09:42 – Discerning Your Vocation: Marriage or Single Life?
13:32 – How Prayer Helps You Discern God’s Will
15:05 – Hearing God’s Guidance at Mass
15:36 – How to Pray When You’re Distracted
16:18 – Hearing God Through Morning Prayer
17:05 – Catholic Prayers and Listening to Scripture
17:31 – Asking the Holy Spirit for Guidance
18:25 – Catholic Prayer Groups and Community
18:58 – How Mark’s Father Taught Him to Pray
21:35 – What to Do When You Question Your Catholic Faith
KEY TAKEAWAY: God’s will often becomes clearer through persistent prayer, the circumstances and relationships He places in our lives, and a humble willingness to remain open to the possibility that we have misunderstood His direction.
📚 Read Mark Wilson’s blog on Patheos.
Connect with him on Facebook.
Excerpt:
Mark Wilson: I’ve always written on and off during the years, and this is the first time I’ve actually been able to have a formal writing. So, back in 2020, God actually answered my prayer.
I was driving home with my wife, Kristin, from Walgreens to pick up her epilepsy medication. It had dawned on me that God had actually answered my prayer distinctly, clearly, precisely. I told Kristin that I was amazed that God actually answered my prayer.
And she said, “Why are you so surprised?” Why am I surprised? You know, because sometimes I feel like God wants to leave us hanging, that God wants to keep us guessing.
He answers the St. Teresa’s and Padre Pio’s of the world, but with people like me, he keeps silent — as in that movie that came out [“Silence”], directed by Martin Scorsese, with Adam Driver, who played Kylo Ren in the Star Wars movies, and Andy Garfield, who played Spider-Man in the lead roles, wanting God to speak to them in a dire situation, instead only getting silence.
It’s asked in the movie and the book it’s based on: “Am I just praying to silence?” Sometimes I wonder that myself.
So when God actually answers my prayer, I think, “Whoa! God answered my prayer in a way that I actually understood. Who does that?”
I’d ask God what direction my writing should go in. I have dabbled on and off over my life with creative writing, as I said. I have had phases in which I really worked on a project. And then my mind would drift on, you know, I’d work on something else.
So early that morning, I had written a blog post of random thoughts on this matter, and I needed a clear and distinctive goal to channel my desire to write on what had been presented to me. I was on Facebook not too long before that — this grand revelation of God commenting on something — when a conversation led me, asking my Facebook friend at the time, Patheos channel manager, Rebecca Bretton-Weiss, if they actually took new writers.
She told me to email her, so I did. And I didn’t hear anything back. Nothing.
“I guess this isn’t happening, then.” This is the first time I thought God had said “no” to me.
I remember praying about my future wife, Kristin, and concluded it was not Kristin who God wanted. I just thought I clearly heard that in my heart. But after dating on and off several times, I came to the distinct conclusion we’re not meant to be married. But as of January 2nd, 2026, we’ve been married for 16 years, so I was wrong.
When someone says the Lord told me such and such, don’t take it as a sealed, dumb, definitive conclusion connected into reality, because sometimes people think they hear God and it’s not really God. About a week later, after sending this email to Rebecca, I inquired about the writing offer again. There had been some email problems, and I never saw her responded email.
The offer was still on the table. It was actually going to happen. This is when I got the epiphany of God answering my prayer.
This episode is a companion to Terry Modica’s workbook “Knowing God’s Will and Doing It Well“.
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