Miracles News

Tweet

January-March, 2017

A Letter to God

by Rev. Vickie Rostant, O.M.C.

Dear God,

Please take me back. I left and now I am miserable. I was beguiled by the idea of “doing my own thing.” I wanted power. I wanted to be in control. I wanted to be the boss. So, I rebelled against You and left home. Now I suffer regret and want to come back. You try to tell me that I never left; that I only think I left; that I am still safely at home, dreaming that I left. You send Teachers to bring me that message over and over. While I don’t totally get it, all I know right now is that I long to return home.

There is a story that you threw me out because I was bad. I believed that for a while, forgetting that it was my choice to leave in the first place. However, I found that I did not hate my children or abandon them when they did something I did not like. I defended them with all I had when someone tried to hurt them. So, somewhere along the way, it occurred to me that maybe you didn’t want me gone — that maybe leaving really was my decision because I did not want to listen to You. I wanted to be the one in charge.

Now, all I know is that I am not happy with anything I have created, and I want to come back to You. There is nothing in the hell in which I now find myself that brings me any comfort. I went off and did my thing: I travelled all the lands of my own making; I lived in the world I wanted, and enjoyed all its pleasures. It was so much fun in the early days when I thought I was all that! Why did everyone seem to be totally unaware of how brilliant I was? My judgments were always immediate and precise; my authority was total, and I was completely in charge. Why didn’t they seem to get that I had all the answers!

Then how could it be that, in the midst of a successful career and a full life, I found myself at the edge of a precipice with emptiness, despair and darkness yawning before me? Why was my way not making me happy? A “Thelma and Louise” dive into the abyss was a vague possibility, however, there was just enough hope in me from Your messages over time to keep me going.

As I got older, I noticed a pattern in the events of my life that revealed something that I did not appreciate at each event, as I was too busy making other plans. I saw your footprints carrying me through what I thought I wanted my life to be. It was your Love that kept me safe along the way, gently steering my path to this point, where I long to return home. I can recall numerous situations where I was obviously protected from harm, or kept out of scenarios that would have led to a completely different path.

One example: in my youth, I wanted to become a radio announcer. I took the course, diligently did all the work and was quite excited when it was time for the final exam, which was to write and record a broadcast in the studio. I was brilliant! However, after I wrapped up, I discovered that I had not turned on the tape to record my show! I failed the course, and life went on.

Another example, many years later, was when my job decided to divorce me in the early days of “downsizing.” Because of my level in the organisation, I was allowed to take time to find myself another position, or leave with a package. After a lot of searching, I chose to stay on — after all, what else would I do, having been there for over 22 years? I felt enormous relief in finally having made a decision. However, every day after that, as I walked down the corridor to my office, a wave of nausea washed over me. I had done enough internal work by then to recognize that something was telling me something. After I left, a series of incredible events unfolded that led to a different career and life. Of course I railed against each of these misfortunes, and numerous others. But now I see in them the light of your Guide gently directing me to people, places, and teachings to bring me here. Thank You for Your Patience.

Twelve years ago, at the edge of the cliff, I cried to You for help. That was something I had never done before. Remember, I had all the answers; I was strong and independent, totally capable and self-reliant. I could do it all myself. That cry for help from that dark place brought ACIM into my life, via Pathways of Light. There was an immediate recognition that this was what I was looking for to relieve the pain and emptiness I was feeling. I knew instinctively that it had the answers for me to find that other way — one that would provide a new perspective and release me from the prison I had so securely built around myself.

I realized that I had been hitting “delete” automatically, not wanting to hear what You had to say, because I did not want to hear that my way was not working and I would have to change a few things. I could change my thoughts and choose differently.

Over time, with sporadic and intermittent application of the teachings, I started to get a sense that I could not know what peace and happiness are until I applied the same time and energy towards my salvation, as I had so strongly employed in maintaining my separate state. In order to change my mind I needed to practice Your message of Love. A serious, mostly daily, study session for the past three years, beginning with Pathways of Light’s Listen & Receive 30-day home-study program, taken with a healthy dose of patience, applying the perspective of forgiveness, and loving and accepting my brothers, has brought me to this place, where, with gratitude and joy, I ask to return.

Please take us back.

Yours. Truly.

Rev. Vicki Rostant, O.M.C. is a Pathways of Light minister living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

© 2016, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this copyright notice and website address are included.

Tell a Friend

Printable Page

---

Tweet

January-March, 2017

My Breath Is the Holy Spirit

by Rev. Judy Calvin, O.M.C.

The Holy Spirit lives through me as my breath. When I allow that truth to permeate my awareness and raise my consciousness, my life — indeed, my universe — becomes miraculous. Knowing that the Holy Spirit is present with me in such an intimate way, has moved me from a life saturated with enormous guilt, sadness and anxiety to one full of innocence, joy and peace.

I am discovering there is no limit to the ways I can use my Holy Spirit breath to heal my mind and heart. Following are, perhaps, my three favorite ways that the Holy Spirit and I collaborate using the breath to bring me into that space where miracles occur.

First, I use my breath to bring me back into the present moment, back into the presence of God. When I realize, as I go about my day, that I am not present, I focus on my breath and the awareness that the Holy Spirit is with me. As a result, I am filled with the attributes of God from which I have unconsciously disconnected. For instance, if I have been lost in the fear of lack, my breath connects me to abundance. If I have been consumed with guilty thoughts, my breath connects me to innocence. If feelings of sadness have obscured the joy of God, my breath brings me back into alignment with peace and contentment.

Second, I have developed a spiritual practice of consciously using my breath to bring any fears that are still in need of healing into my awareness. Yeshua discusses a process in The Way of Mastery that helps me heal these obstructions to love and make peace with the past. I use his guidance by, first, becoming aware of my breathing and allowing my breath to calm my mind. Sometimes it takes 5 minutes and sometimes 10. Then I ask the Holy Spirit to bring into my awareness what needs to be healed. As I sit in silence, focusing on my breath, I observe what arises into the field of my mind. Sometimes it is a picture, sometimes a memory, sometimes a feeling, and sometimes a thought or a sensation in the body. As the message arises, I forgive the judgment I have placed upon this object of my creation. I embrace the creation and then release it. In this way, I bless and heal the past. Usually, I can immediately feel the painful remembrance dissolve.

Third, I use my breath to remind me that I am not alone. During my early years, I felt abandoned by God and cast adrift on a sea of fear. The resulting outrage within me dominated my life, and led me down the path of addiction and self-abuse. Imagine my delighted surprise when I discovered that God was with me all along and the proof is that the Holy Spirit lives within me as my breath. I breathe in the wonder and joy of peace, inclusion, and creativity and breathe out the pain of abandonment and the fear of helplessness, unworthiness, and confusion. I realize my breath is holy, and through its wholeness, I rest in peace.

Rev. Judy Calvin is an Ordained Minister living in Thousand Oaks, California. Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) Web: http://www.innerpathbridges.org Get Judy’s fantastic new book: Living a Spiritualized Life: Transformational Bridges to Our Inner Universe, found on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com. Learn how to transcend negative habits, addictions and other discordant behaviors.

© 2016, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this copyright notice and website address are included.

Tell a Friend

Printable Page

---

Tweet

January-March, 2017

I Will Step Back and Let Him Lead the Way

by Rev. Barbara Goodman Siegel, O.M.C.

Many of us felt a great deal of emotion upon hearing the results of the presidential election. I am sure that for some it was a time of joy and celebration, but, for others, it was a time of shock and fear. For me, the results of the election brought up a deep sense of grief. (OK, now you know who I voted for.)

I was surprised at the grieving. I cried as though someone very close to me had died. I intuitively knew that the grief came from my childhood wounds. On the surface, it looked like grief over the loss of Hillary Clinton’s election as the first woman president in U.S. history and a loss of all the programs that she stood for. As I lay in bed crying at the outcome of the election, I felt abandoned, crushed, defeated, heartbroken, invalidated, lonely and lost. On realizing these deep feelings, I asked myself an important question that I suggest you ask yourself if you are willing to examine your feelings about this election. The question is: “When is the first time I felt this way?” What I realized was that I was crying for the loss of my mother who died when I was sixteen and whose death I never was fully able to grieve.

Wednesday, I found myself weeping on and off (mostly on). I tried to read the Course, but it didn’t help. (Now, I felt like a spiritual failure as well.) That afternoon, I got an e-mail from Adrienne Cobb, a spiritual teacher that I think highly of. Adrienne was offering a free “Healing from the election” conference call. I knew I had to try something and so I dialed in. Adrienne talked about the fact that both Clinton and Trump were archetypes. She talked about the importance of allowing the emotions, whatever they may be, to come up for clearing and purification. Adrienne talked about the collective consciousness that was being healed as well as our individual childhood wounds. I cried more as she guided us through a beautiful teaching meditation. When it was done, I felt a great sense of peace. Adrienne confirmed what I thought was happening; this election had brought up deep wounds that needed healing.

Sunday, I listened to another wonderful teaching on the election from James Twyman. In his teaching, James talked about ACIM lessons he felt were helpful. One of them was Lesson 155: “I will step back and let Him lead the way.”

Monday morning, I read the lesson for myself and meditated on it. In my meditation, I got how I let Him lead the way sometimes, but, often, when I feel fear or sadness, I foolishly am afraid to give up control.

As I write this, it sounds pretty stupid, but that is how the ego works, isn’t it? When all is well, it is OK to hand things over, but in times of emotional stress, the ego raises its fear-filled voice saying that to feel the emotions would be too overwhelming so you better run away from them. The ego knows that if these emotions were actually expressed, they would be dissolved and that would leave it, the ego, powerless. (Think Dorothy and the wicked witch of the west.)

As my meditation continued, I thought of the paths the lesson talked about: a path that: “Renounces the world while still believing its reality,” a second path where “Others have chosen nothing but the world” or, the third path, the path of “truth.” When we walk the path of truth, the lesson says, “We walk to God.”

In the meditation, I was with my Guide and I saw a path that came to a crossroads. At the crossroads there was a signpost pointing in two different directions. One direction said: “This way to illusion” and the other said: “This way to truth and God’s holy temple.” My Guide directed me to take the path to truth. I told Him that I had often taken the path to illusion and had, at times, passed by God’s holy temple and rested there. “Yes,” He said, “I am sure you have, but, if you take the path to truth, you will always be there and not just get a flitting moment of respite.” That sounded wonderful! I knew my Guide was right and I walked with Him as He led us to God’s holy temple. In this beautiful temple filled with light I felt all God’s Souls past and present (mine, Hillary’s opponent, and yours included, of course) and I heard it said of all the Souls: “They are equal, they are loved, they are blessed, and they are holy.”

My dear fellow travelers, this is not the time for what Jennifer Hadley calls: “a spiritual bypass.” I can attest to that. By feeling the emotions, following them to their source and then allowing them to be expressed, I feel better and more committed to my spiritual path and the Course then ever!

If you took a “Spiritual bypass” after the election, I urge you to back up and look at what feelings are asking to be expressed and healed. It will be worth your effort. You may want to find a spiritual counselor to support you. (If you don’t know one, there are many available through Pathways of Light.) Now is the time. You have waited long enough and, like me, have gone around in enough circles. Let us walk together on the path to truth where we are surrounded by Love and blessings.

Rev. Barbara Goodman Siegel, O.M.C., is a Pathways of Light minister who lives in St. Louis, Missouri. Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

© 2016, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this copyright notice and website address are included.

Tell a Friend

Printable Page

---

Tweet

January-March, 2017

My Dear Friend Had a Problem, or Was It Me with the Problem?

by Rev. Myron Jones, O.M.C.

A question often asked is what Jesus means by Atonement. I always think of Atonement as undoing, and I think that Atonement and forgiveness are the same thing. This from Chapter 13: The Cloud of Guilt, further clarifies the meaning:

Atonement brings a re-evaluation of everything you cherish, for it is the means by which the Holy Spirit can separate the false and the true…

This is why I bring my thoughts to the Holy Spirit for interpretation. I want Him to separate the false from the true because I cannot do that. As Jesus goes on to say, I have accepted everything without distinction. I have a thought and I tend to believe it, simply because it was in my mind. Actually, I have taught myself not to automatically accept every thought, but I used to do so, and still do so sometimes.

Here is an example. I awoke in the night recently, and lay there worrying about someone dear to me. He is going through a very difficult time and making some hard decisions. I started thinking about all that could go wrong and what those consequences would mean to him. I started feeling so anxious that I knew I couldn’t go to sleep like this. I wanted to be peaceful and sleep through the night. I wanted to stop being afraid for this person.

The reason I was finding it so hard to stop being afraid and to return to peace is that I had automatically accepted my thoughts about the situation as being true; he could make bad decisions and he could suffer dire consequences. What I did was listen to the Rules for Decision section of the Course. Afterwards, I realized that the only thing that happened is that I asked the ego what the situation meant and I joined with the ego in deciding what would happen based on the ego’s interpretation.

I did the steps that Jesus laid out for me to undo that decision and make way for the Holy Spirit to re-interpret for me. He helped me by sorting through the thoughts, rejecting what is not true. What I was left with were some true thoughts that restored my mind to the peace of God that I so wanted. A true thought in my mind was that I must have faith in my brother. When I worry about what he will do and what could possibly happen to him, that is not being faithful to my brother. Knowing that he has the same Holy Spirit in him that I have in me, and that he will hear that Voice when he is ready for it, that is being faithful to him. Knowing that he exists in God and is safe, that is having faith in him.

Another true thought I was left with was that nothing is happening anywhere except in my mind, which was projecting my fears onto the future. As Spirit responded to my request for healing, what was revealed was the remembrance that the only moment that exists is this one that I am living.

I let go of the fear I am experiencing now, and there is only love and peace and joy. There will be no fear to project, and I will break the cycle of fear and guilt that binds me to the world. More than ever, I want to live in the present eternal moment where I find God. And this is in my mind as well. Let me choose it.

The next morning I was guided to this passage: “Your patience with your brother is your patience with yourself. Is not a child of God worth patience?” I immediately felt more peaceful as I relaxed into the certainty that everything was happening in perfect timing and that it is only my ego mind that believes it should be different. I also see that it is the fear in my ego mind that drives this need for him to hurry and accept the truth. Fear doesn’t believe in him. Fear thinks if we don’t do something all will be lost. But Jesus says that we need do nothing. God has done everything for us.

All the other thoughts were gone except for the true thoughts that I think with God. I wasn’t thinking about all the ways his life could go wrong now, or how unlikely it was that he would succeed. I wasn’t thinking about how this would affect my life, and other lives. I was happy and at peace.

Jesus says the result of not distinguishing between thoughts and simply accepting them all is that guilt has become as true for us as innocence. To free my mind, I had to free this dear person I love. I had to let go of the thoughts that he was guilty of anything and embrace his innocence. I had to let go of the belief in guilt and embrace only the belief in innocence.

Will he make mistakes and will there be dire consequences? I don’t know. But no matter where his lessons take him, I have faith now that all will be as it should be and that he will be successful however it appears in the story. He is guilty of nothing; what happens here is meaningless of itself, and gains meaning only according to our desires. I desire to know only innocence, his and mine. I will be vigilant for thoughts about this situation and ask the Holy Spirit to sort them out for me from now on.

Rev. Myron Jones, O.M.C., is a Pathways of Light minister living in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
http://www.forgivenessisthewayhome.org

© 2016, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this copyright notice and website address are included.

Tell a Friend

Printable Page

---

Back to main page of Miracles News.

Has this page been helpful to you?
Your contribution to support this site is greatly appreciated. To make a tax deductible contribution with a credit/debit card, click here.
Click here to donate from your PayPal account.
Or send a check to Pathways of Light, 12530 Lions Chase Court, Huntley, IL 60142.