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July-September, 2019

Receiving Holy Spirit’s Correction

by Revs. Mary & Robert Stoelting

It is helpful to reinforce what a miracle really is according to A Course in Miracles. In the ego’s thought system a miracle is getting that shiny new car, getting rich or finding that special someone who will always love us, no matter what.

In truth, a miracle is receiving Holy Spirit’s correction in our perception of everything we see in the world of separation. A Course in Miracles tells us, “A miracle is a correction. …It merely looks on devastation, and reminds the mind that what it sees is false. It undoes error, but does not attempt to go beyond perception, nor exceed the function of forgiveness. …Yet it paves the way for the return of timelessness and Love’s awakening, for fear must slip away under the gentle remedy [the miracle] brings.” (W-pII.13.1)

We recently had an experience where we needed to practice receiving Holy Spirit’s correction in our perception. Robert had intense abdominal pain that led us to the hospital emergency room. On the way to the hospital we kept practicing opening to Holy Spirit’s peace and remembering in gratitude that we are eternally safe in God. When fear thoughts came up, we kept returning to the quiet mind, which opens us to Holy Spirit’s inspiration. We (Colleen Fee and Mary) would tell each other what we received from Holy Spirit. We received thoughts like, “There is nothing to fear. Everything is going to be all right.”

In the exam room, medical attendants were moving quickly in and out. We kept taking deep breaths to relax and asking Holy Spirit for help in seeing this with clarity and love instead of fear.

Holy Spirit brought the thought, “Move into a place of gratitude instead of fear. See everyone as angels being truly helpful to Robert.” We started mentally extending Love and gratitude to all the people going in and out of the room. We even told several of them how much we appreciated their kind help. Several of them stopped and said, “Thank you! We don’t often hear that,” and left with a big smile.

Finally the doctor came and announced that Robert would be admitted and staying for several days. We left about 1:30 a.m. in the morning, reinforcing to each other that Robert was in safe hands.

The next few days we had many opportunities to practice receiving a correction in our perception from Holy Spirit when we could see that Robert was in pain.

In the Workbook, Review VI on pages 386-387 I (Mary) received the help I needed:

“When you are tempted, hasten to proclaim your freedom from temptation, as you say:

…let Him teach you what to do and say and think, each time you turn to Him. He will not fail to be available to you, each time you call to Him to help you.”  (ACIM Workbook, Review VI,6:1-4,6;7:2-3, p.386-387)

After a week of testing, surgery was recommended as the best option. The surgery was successful.

During that time, I (Robert) focused on expressing appreciation and gratitude to all the support staff from the custodians who cleaned the room to the orderlies, nurses, doctors and the surgeon. One of them commented that I was always happy. I ended up giving her Rev. Maria Felipe’s book, “Living Your Happy.”

Appreciation and gratitude are aspects of Love. Holding this focus helped me keep my attention on the reality of changeless love instead of the appearance of something happening to the body image that is not what I am.

We have learned from this experience that we are receiving blessings from Holy Spirit with every experience, every day. We are learning the importance of looking past appearances to the reality of changeless Love. Here are some thoughts I received about the importance of overlooking appearances.

A free-form work of art stimulates the viewer to try to give it meaning. If it has color, he draws upon his past experience with that color to formulate a meaning for what appears before his eyes. The shapes and patterns may remind him of other past experiences, so he draws a thread from one and an idea from another until he has given some level of meaning to something he has never seen before, all based upon his past. We call this process human profiling.

The world we experience with the body is entirely form. Forms have no meaning of their own so we feel compelled to assign labels to everything. We organize and sort these labels to help us bring a sense of order to a world of chaos, where every form is meaningless in itself. This is the ego’s world. And to make it appear real, the ego tells us labeling everything is necessary for our survival.

We spend all our time labeling and categorizing. These labels make profiles of our world that we depend on for a sense of safety and stability. We use these profiles to decide the meaning of what we see, hear and think and how we should respond to our interpretations of appearances. The ego counts on our continued participation in its profiling game. It is its means to keep us convinced that the word of form is real.

It is time to set ourselves free. It is time to turn away from the ego’s advice and choose the vision of the Holy Spirit in our mind. Each time we turn over our labels, our interpretations, to the Holy Spirit and let Him teach us what true vision shows us, we loose ourselves from the ego’s illusions.

We are not a body. Labels we give the body, such as it has some physical ailment, some pleasant or unpleasant appearance, it does or says things we like or dislike, make the world seem real. The Holy Spirit will help us see that labels have no connection or effect on the truth that we remain as God created us — Love and nothing else. When we let the Holy Spirit replace our labels with His singular vision of Love’s innocence, the labels begin to fade in their importance. This is a journey of awakening in which the dreams of labels fade away and we awaken to the Heaven that is our Home. As we practice letting go of human profiling and accepting the Holy Spirit’s single profile of the Son of God, we bring healing to the world

In closing, the main lesson that was reinforced in us is that no matter what we may think, we are receiving blessings every day with every experience. As we continue to practice taking all our separation/fear thoughts to Holy Spirit to be corrected, we receive miracles and extend the miracles we receive. Workbook Lesson 194 tells us,

“Who entrusts himself to God has also placed the world within the Hands to which he has himself appealed for comfort and security. He lays aside the sick illusions of the world along with his, and offers peace to both.

“Now are we saved indeed. For in God’s Hands we rest untroubled, sure that only good can come to us. If we forget, we will be gently reassured. If we accept an unforgiving thought, it will be soon replaced by love’s reflection. And if we are tempted to attack, we will appeal to Him Who guards our rest to make the choice for us that leaves temptation far behind. No longer is the world our enemy, for we have chosen that we be its friend.” (W-pI.194.8:4-9:6)

We have great gratitude for all the loving prayer support we received during this time.  Thank you.

© 2019, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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