Last year, a young woman in one of my coaching circles told me she had been praying for a leadership role for almost two years. When the opportunity finally came, a team to lead and a seat at the table, she froze. She had no systems, no confidence in her voice, and no habit of stretching. The blessing arrived, but she wasn’t ready to carry it. Within months, the same opportunity she had begged for felt like a burden.
Her story is not unusual, many of us believe that if we pray hard enough and wish long enough, doors will simply open. Doors do open but what happens next depends on who is standing in the doorway.
You have prayed, planned, and waited. You have watched and celebrated others get promotions, scholarships, partnerships, proposals and platforms. You start asking yourself, “Is something wrong with me? Did I miss my turn?” As women, we often carry extra weight in the waiting: family expectations, timelines set by society, comparison fuelled by social media. The delay can make you doubt your worth, shrink your dreams, or stop preparing altogether because “nothing is happening anyway.” If that is where you are, hear this: delay is not denial. Often, it is preparation time. The things you desire, pray for, and plan for will find you, if you become the woman who can hold them. The brutal truth is that an unprepared woman can receive the right thing at the right time and still lose it.
Imagine a farmer who has prayed for a bumper harvest. When the rains come and crops grow but if he never built a barn, the harvest rots in the fields. The blessing was real but preparation was missing. So imagine another farmer who built his barn during the dry season, with no guarantee of rain. When the harvest came, he is ready, people call him lucky but it is called time and chance. As the saying goes, “luck is a meeting, and you are responsible for showing up to it.” Preparation is not only about being ready for any opportunity. It is about becoming the woman who can steward the right one, aligned with your purpose.
A person's greatest fear should not be failure, but succeeding at things in life that don't really matter
Often times I am asked how do I prepare for something when I do not know when, where, or how it will arrive?
My answer: that is exactly the point. If you knew the date, you would prepare for one event. Like the day of the Lord’s coming you do not know, you must prepare yourself. You work on your capacity, not just your calendar. You become the person who is ready regardless of the season.
3 Strategies to Prepare for What You Are Praying For
1. Say yes to new and unusual things.
Growth lives outside your comfort zone. Say yes to the speaking invitation that makes your stomach flip, the committee no one wants, the course in a field you know little about, the introduction to a stranger. Each “yes” builds a muscle you will need later. Start small: this month, say yes to one thing that feels slightly uncomfortable. Opportunities rarely arrive wearing familiar clothes.
2. Support things bigger than your current stage.
Volunteer for a project, serve in a community initiative, or help a woman who is further ahead of you. Proximity to larger things stretches your thinking, expands your network, and teaches you how bigger rooms operate. When you support something bigger than you, you rehearse for the day you lead it. You also sow seeds of generosity that return to you in due season.
3. Learn to adapt to change.
Disruption is the doorway through which most blessings enter, and the same disruption crushes the unprepared. Train your adaptability: learn new skills, stay curious, take feedback without defensiveness, and practise staying calm when plans shift. Ask yourself weekly, “What changed this week, and how did I respond?” A woman who adapts turns disruption into a blessing and the one who resists turns it into a burden.
Stop treating your waiting season as a pause, it is a preparation ground. While you wait, you are being shaped: your character, your skills, your confidence, your capacity. The woman who receives the answer to your prayer must be bigger than the woman who prayed it.
Ask yourself today: If my breakthrough arrived tomorrow, what would I need to be ready for it? Start there.
The life you build today shapes your legacy tomorrow. Prepare like it is coming, because it is.
You do not have to prepare alone, I am happy to support your journey.Choose the path that fits you:
Join The Emerging Female Leaders Intensive, a focused experience for young women ready to build confidence, capacity, and leadership.
Register for the next cohort of our Personal Evolution Program for exclusive group coaching that moves you from confusion to clarity.
Book a one-to-one coaching session for personalised guidance on your unique journey.
Reach out today your preparation starts now.
Omosefe Osinoiki
Identity & Leadership Coach