On Letting Go, Realignment, and the way Allah Answers Prayers
Bismillah…
This is a reflection on how Allah answers prayers in unexpected ways –
not always by giving us more, but sometimes by gently removing
what not longer aligns with what we asked for.
About eight years ago, I made a quiet decision:
to write consistently on a personal blog.
From that decision, my first personal website was born:
berkahlahirbatin.com,
which I often shortened to BLB.
I published two to three essays each month.
No rush.
No pressure.
Just consistency.
And I stayed with that rhythm for nearly five years.
Until May 2022.
One day, the website’s appearance suddenly broke.
The colors shifted.
The text became hard to read.
The overall experience felt uncomfortable.
At that time, I had no understanding of websites, hosting, or domains.
Those worlds were completely foreign to me.
I contacted the hosting provider.
Their response was simple:
“Our hosting facility caught fire.”
I was stunned.
The website had been designed by a friend.
I only received the finished version and focused on writing.
Whenever technical issues arose,
I relied entirely on the hosting provider,
who also happened to be a writing community I trusted.
Months passed.
May.
June.
July.
Each time I asked, I was told,
“Next month.”
How Allah Answers Prayers in Unexpected Ways
In November 2022, just before leaving for my first Umrah,
I reached out once more.
And while standing in the sacred land,
I made a very honest prayer:
“O Allah, if You are pleased with me continuing to write on this website,
allow it to be fully restored when I return home.
But if by early December it remains the same,
I accept and let it go.
If it is time for me to return to writing books or novels,
I surrender to Your will.”
I returned home.
And nothing had changed.
With a heavy heart, in December 2022,
I chose not to renew the hosting.
Seven months
was more than enough time
for good intentions to be fulfilled.
Was I sad?
Of course.
Five years
is not a small thing
to release.
But now, I understand
why letting go was necessary.
I often prayed,
“O Allah, allow me to go global.
Allow my work to reach beyond borders.”
Only later did I realize the quiet contradiction:
How could something global grow
from a name that was deeply local
and difficult to remember internationally?
This is how Allah answers prayers in unexpected ways.
Not always through addition,
but through realignment.
Three years later,
barakahstory.com was born.
Alhamdulillah…
This time, it didn’t arrive by accident.
Someone came into my life
and gently shifted my mindset,
helping me see growth, expansion,
and alignment from a wider lens.
Through that awakening,
this new space emerged.
Alhamdulillah,
in 2025,
barakahstory.com finally took form.
This time, I chose a different approach.
I learned to build the website layout myself.
It’s simple, yes.
but intentional.
Minimal, yet elegant.
And most importantly,
I am no longer fully dependent on others
when something breaks.
Given the current conditions in Aceh,
frequent power outages due to flooding,
relying on professionals
would have been nearly impossible.
Electricity might be on for a day,
then gone for several days.
Coordination becomes fragile.
So, I chose to move slowly,
independently,
step by step.
Ironically,
in the darkness,
I found clarity.
With limited access to the outside world,
I had space to reflect deeply.
I began to see patterns in my life,
threads that Allah had been weaving
all along.
I remembered a question
my mother once asked me softly:
“Why is your life full of twists and hardships?”
I answered her with another question:
“If there are two stories, Mom;
one where life is smooth like a highway,
and another filled with turns and wounds,
which story do you think people would learn more from?”
She fell silent.
Her eyes glistened.
Perhaps she was revisiting her own journey,
becoming an orphan at a young age,
carrying a life that was never easy.
That was when I understood:
Allah often chooses the harder path
not because we are weak,
but because a story
must be lived through us.
And perhaps this, too is how Allah answers
prayers in unexpected ways.
He answers through process.
Through delay.
Through redirection.
Through doord that close
So others may open.
This is what BLB vs BS truly means to me.
Sometimes Allah answers our prayers
not by adding something new,
but by removing what no longer aligns.
Not to leave our hands empty,
but to replace it with something more fitting,
more expansive,
more aligned with what we asked for.
When I look back now,
I see that it wasn’t only a website
that was rearranged.
Relationships that never reached marriage,
plans that dissolved,
paths that shifted
each was a form
of divine response.
Had those relationships become marriages,
I would not be the person I am today.
And if someone could not walk beside me
in mutual growth, values, and shared purpose,
Allah Himself gently closed the door.
Because He knows
who is worthy to lead one’s life,
both in this world
and the next.
That is why
I no longer feel anxious about marriage.
If it is written,
Allah will bring it
in His way.
If not,
perhaps that meeting
is reserved for timeless.
I surrender what I cannot control
to the One who controls all things.
My only task
is to carry out the mission
entrusted to me,
as sincerely as I can,
while time is still given.
May this path
be pleasing to Allah.
And may you, dear reader,
become a meaningful part
of this journey.
The essence of this reflection is simple:
In the end, this is how Allah answers prayers in unexpected ways –
through surrender, trust, and quiet redirection.
Accept whatever Allah gives you,
the joyful
and the painful alike.
For Allah is Most Kind.
And He always gives
what is best,
even when it does not arrive
wrapped in beauty.
And yes,
something sacred is coming.
