Miracles News

Miracles News,

April-June, 2009

Prayer to God

by Rev. Vicki Rostant

imageThe following prayer formed itself over time as I, once again, guided by Holy Spirit, studied the opening sections of ACIM, specifically chapters 1 and 2, over several weeks. While reflecting on the content of these chapters, the (traditional) Lord’s Prayer kept coming up in my mind. I was doing a lot of walking during this time and every time it came up, the words kept changing and re-arranging themselves. After a couple of weeks, it felt whole and complete.

My Father in Heaven, Holy is Your Name. Thy Kingdom is come. Thy Will is done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Thank you for your daily Blessings. Forgive me my misperceptions of myself, as I forgive others theirs. Guide us out of separation, through one-mindedness, to your garden of Peace.  Amen.

Rev. Vicki Rostant is a Pathways of Light minister living in Toronto, Canada.

© 2009, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Miracles News,

April-June, 2009

ACIM at Work

by Rev. Carrie Drought

imageSo, I am at the ACIM conference in San Francisco, listening to speakers talk about the power of trust and the power of God in our lives. One speaker in particular stands out to me who kept saying over and over in song format, “I am sustained by the love of God, I am sustained by the love of God, I am sustained by the love of God.”  Well, I was feeling the peace and the joy until the morning I was supposed to leave. I check my e-mail quickly as I’m leaving with my packed bags and I read a message from Continental Airlines that says my flight is canceled.
 
A sense of panic comes over me. My peace is gone. I try to calm myself down and realize that all must be in perfect order. This can’t possibly happen unless it’s in my highest and best interest for reasons maybe I don’t know at this time. I try to hold to this thought.

I tell my friend Donna, who is traveling with me, that I still want to go with her to the airport. I feel that Spirit is telling me to just go to the airport and the person at the Continental desk will help and make this all perfect. I just feel this need to get to the airport. Donna seems to have more logical thinking and is kind of surprised that I want to still go to the airport even though my flight is canceled. She has her own flight an hour after mine and she seems to be taking her time now. I tell her to hurry and that I still want to go to the airport as if my flight was still on.

As I’m waiting for her in the lobby of the hotel, I start to panic again. My peace from the beautiful presenters is gone and I’m in a state of absolute panic about how I’m going to get home.  I see people passing me who seemed to have kept their peace and I’m jealous that they are all happy. I sit there thinking they have no idea what I’m going through and how “stuck” and “out of control” I feel that I have no idea where I’m going to sleep tonight or how I’m going to get home.

I start to pray. I ask Holy Spirit to give me a sign if I’m supposed to stay in the hotel. Donna had suggested I stay with another Pathways of Light minister who was going to stay overnight another night anyway. The thought of that makes me panic but I try and surrender and allow Holy Spirit to guide me and tell me what I’m supposed to do.

I sit there and pray and try to calm myself down and realize that a sign will be given if I’m supposed to stay in the hotel for some reason I’m not aware of. Maybe this is what all this is for? Maybe I’m supposed to stay overnight with someone and we’re going to have a conversation and it’s going to be all meant to be that this was the path. So, I wait.

I see people passing me and I casually mention my dilemma and one person says he’s off to Seattle and another passes me by after I say that I know Holy Spirit is in charge. And then I overhear another person who I thought I could stay with say to someone else that her room is full.  I’m not sure if the person she was talking to was asking her if she could stay in her room but I think that’s what I heard in that conversation. So, I decide that I’m not meant to stay in the hotel and I keep with the guidance of just going to the airport as planned.

As I’m sitting there praying, I do have a sense of calm come over me. I had a strange experience of knowing this is a perfect opportunity to put everything I’ve heard over the past few days to the test.  This is what the training is for! In times of difficulty, this is where the mind training comes into play of flipping a switch and deciding that all is well instead of panicking and not believing and trusting that all is in divine order and not my own personal plan.

As I sit there, I notice feelings of extreme helplessness come up for healing and then I let them go. I refuse to believe I’m helpless and that airlines and weather are really in control of my life. I believe that there is a higher power at work with it all and I surrender to what is.

We go to the airport. I tell Donna that I know all will be as it should and that when we get there I will tell her all about the experience I had in the lobby.

When we get to the airport, Donna learns that her flight is also canceled. So, we wait in a long line with other passengers whose flights were canceled and everyone seems to be frustrated more about the long line than about the flight being canceled. But we all agree that there’s nothing we can do about it and it doesn’t do any good to fight it. So, we’re all in the same frame of mind. Even though these people may not study ACIM, they are still in the “know” that they would rather have peace than not have peace. So, they surrender to what is as we all wait in line together to find out what can be done for us.

Donna and I get to the counter and a woman named Rosaria G. begins to tell us our options. I was already booked on a flight out tomorrow for the same time and the same connecting flight to Portland just a day later. We decide that I would be smart to keep that arrangement.

Then she looks for flights for Donna and comes up with a 3:45 flight. Donna doesn’t seem too happy about that late flight because she has to make it back to Newark so she can go to work in New York as soon as possible. So, we just sit and as we’re sitting there, I continue to pray that Holy Spirit is in charge of the computers, the customer service people and the flights and the whole entire situation.

Rosaria G. begins to type on her computer and says, “Wait a minute,” and starts to look something up. She said she has no idea how this thought came to her but she said sometimes things come and she just goes with it. She looks up to see what flights are on other airlines to Philadelphia.  Donna agrees that maybe it will be better for me to fly into Philadelphia so that I have a better chance of getting there since it is south of Newark.

Rosaria G. says that there is a flight to Philadelphia with a connecting flight to Portland, Maine that will actually get me in an hour earlier than my other flights.  So, I say, okay, I’ll do it.
 
She books me on the flight and actually calls the US Airways representative to be absolutely sure I’m booked. I cannot believe as I sit there how much she is going the extra mile to help (well, actually, I’m not surprised at all because stuff like this happens all the time when we put Holy Spirit in charge).
 
She says that the representative from US Airways is actually upset with her because she can’t believe she was able to get me a seat with all the people who have had flight cancellations and is reluctantly accepting and agreeing to the flight booking.

Rosaria G. actually says, “I hope I don’t get in trouble for this.” And I said that I would certainly write in and tell Continental how grateful I am at her stellar customer service and how she was willing to be so creative to get me home.

So, since I am booked on a different airline, Rosaria G. suggests that Donna take my seat on the Continental flight to Newark so she can leave around the same time as me and we can stay together tonight in a hotel at a discount rate. Donna and I look at each other in disbelief at how smoothly things are working out and agree that she will take my seat.

Rosaria G. even calls the Westin Hotel to assure us a discounted rate and we later realize this hotel wasn’t even on the list of discounted rated hotels when we called the voucher number she gave us!’

When Donna and I get to the Westin Hotel we are in bliss. We cannot believe how beautiful it is overlooking the water with palm trees all the way around it!

We enjoy a beautiful room in a beautiful hotel and have a fabulous Jacuzzi and unwind from the conference. It couldn’t have worked out more perfectly. Donna and I enjoy a workout and a nice dinner together and we’re actually grateful for the extra night together to talk about the conference and our book and just unwind a little.

But it does get even better! The next day on my way to the airport, there is a beautiful rainbow going completely from one side of the sky to the other as an arch as I drive off into the sunset so to speak.  Talk about Spirit being in charge.

Things can happen that you wouldn’t have ever even imagined when we let go and allow Spirit to do the work. And THAT is ACIM in action my friends!

(lol…..)  Sorry, I couldn’t help adding that last sentence for the drama of writing!

Rev. Carrie Drought is a Pathways of Light minister living in Cape Elizabeth, ME.

© 2009, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Miracles News,

April-June, 2009

From Darkness Into Light

by Rev. Annie Arbona

imageI took a trip to a metaphysical book store in my area. I was hoping to find a specific book I was quite excited about. As I drove there, I was enjoying my sense of expectation and the fact that it was a very beautiful day. When I arrived at the store, I perceived it to be very noisy, and immediately made a judgement about the fact. From that moment on and for the whole time I was there I kept choosing to judge over and over again. I judged the people who worked there, those who were buying, and all that was going on. My mind became inundated with ego opinions and I started feeling very uncomfortable.

I didn’t find the book, and by the time I got home the uncomfortable feelings had escalated to pure misery and strong physical symptoms. Also a sense of dense sadness came over me. I felt so bad and so separated that all I could do was to be with the experience and ask for help. I was experiencing the hell that I had miscreated when I chose my ego judgmental thoughts. I could not get over how much darkness and pain I had dipped into. It was very frightening, but with Spirit I was able to look at this direct experience of separation for what it really was, a fabricated illusion.

My call for help was answered immediately. The Great Counselor made Himself felt ever so gently in my heart. It brought tears to my eyes to feel His Love, Peace, and Understanding. I felt softly and ever so gently brought back to my sanity. I knew I had been saved. A great window of pure Awareness opened for me that day. I became so very awake to the fact that we are always making a choice between Heaven and hell, and that the fall into dark judgmental thoughts can be a hard one.

The gifts from Spirit didn’t end there. That night after I retired, I experienced the deepest sense of Oneness I had ever felt. Spirit showed me in a vision of pure light how everyone I had ever known or come in contact with in my entire lifetime, lived in my heart and were one with me. I felt perfect oneness with everyone and everything. Spirit took me by the hand into Heaven and offered me the maximum lesson I could have received. The tremendous contrast between the hell I had chosen and the Heaven I was experiencing with the help of Spirit, was the culmination of a great lesson. My heart was overflowing with Joy, deep Peace, and a huge sense of Gratitude.

Rev. Annie Arbona is a Pathways of Light minister living in Charleston, SC.
She is on the Pathways of Light staff and is in charge of the Spanish translation project.

© 2009, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Miracles News,

April-June, 2009

I’ll Keep Practicing to See This

by Rev. Larry Glenz

imageYou know, I wasn’t comfortable all the time, even at the ACIM conference in San Francisco this winter.  Much of the time the ego was focused on the differences I perceived, like old or young, physically beautiful or not, vibrant or passive, large or small, interesting or boring. Those differences among us entertained the ego for me all weekend. The speakers all had the same overall topic — Blessings, Abundance, and Grandeur — but the presentations seemed very different indeed.

The personalities, nationalities, styles, accents, appearances — all very different and the ego had me focused on that much of the time. I had opinions. I had judgments.

But Holy Spirit was in attendance as well. As always, I just needed to reach for His hand.  When focused there, I saw the Oneness of brotherhood; the unity of the Sonship; a feeling of connection that announced we all wanted the exact same thing. At those times, I smiled, laughed, sang, danced, and loved with an ease and grace that warmed my heart and those around me.

Why didn’t I have this feeling of grace 100% of the time — I mean, after all, we were all ACIM students?  Why was I ever judging anyone’s attitude, appearance or personality? Weren’t we all here to get a closer connection to Holy Spirit? This should have been easy, right? If I can’t feel love all the time in this setting, I must have more hang ups than I even realize.

Funny thing, though; if I’m interpreting ACIM correctly, it would be the same if it was a convention of divorce lawyers, Wall Street stockbrokers, Las Vegas gamblers, Miss America beauty pageant contestants, or Taliban militants! No matter, when I’m not feeling loving I just need to ask, “Whose hand am I holding right now; ego or Holy Spirit?” It wouldn’t matter what group is there; it’s the same question: “Holy Spirit, how do you see this?  I quiet my mind and open to your healing perception.”

Does that really work every time? Will that work in every situation or circumstance?  Is there never anything to be afraid of ever? Is it true the differences really don’t matter? Is it really just a matter of practicing turning to Holy Spirit for a change of perception? No difference between an ACIM convention and an Al Queda meeting — just my perception, is that right?

It’s a matter of whose hand I’m holding, ego or Holy Spirit. It’s often a tough one for me to get, but I know it’s true AND I’m going to keep practicing to see this correctly, I promise.

Rev. Larry Glenz is a Pathways of Light minister living in Long Island, NY.

© 2009, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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How to Read References for
Quotes from A Course in Miracles

Below are example references to specific sentences using the notation of the Second & Third Editions of A Course in Miracles published by the Foundation for Inner Peace:

T-26.IV.4:7 = Text, Chapt. 26, Section IV, paragraph 4, sentence 7.

W-169.5:2 = Workbook, Lesson 169, paragraph 5, sentence 2.

W-pII.1.1:1 = Workbook, Part II, Question 1, paragraph 1, sentence 1.

M-13.3:2 = Manual for Teachers, Question 13, paragraph 3, sentence 2.

C-6.4:6 = Clarification of Terms, Term 6, paragraph 4, sentence 6
The above numbering system of the Second & Third Editions published by The Foundation for A Course in Miracles

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