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April-June, 2009

ACIM at Work

by Rev. Carrie Drought

So, 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!

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