Miracles News

April-June, 2018

Pathways of Light Changed My Life

by Rev. Evelyn Lockett Woods, O.M.C.

Rev. Evelyn Lockett Woods There was nothing to eat in the fridge. I decided to stop at my local grocer on the way home. I drove to the store, selected a shopping cart, walked through the sliding door, dug through my bag for my shopping lists on my phone and suddenly just froze in my tracks. I realized that I had no special lists for nutritious foods or drinks. In fact, I had no grocery list at all. Richard, my husband of 30 years, had passed a week before. As a full time caregiver, I had not considered what I wanted to eat in months. I had no idea. This was the first of many poignant moments to come after my husband’s transition in 2015.

I decided to stop for pizza instead of grocery shopping that day. So I walked into the back foyer and into the kitchen with my pizza. Suddenly, I had the realization that Richard would never walk through those doors again. My emotions spiraled down from there.

I started praying for purpose and meaning in my life. What would I do with my time now? Who am I? Who could I study A Course in Miracles with?

I started reading A Course in Miracles in 2007. I went into a Borders bookstore in my Chicago neighborhood looking for a book of poems by Rumi. And I saw a copy of the Course on the shelf right next to the book I was looking for. I had read a number of books lately that referenced the Course. So even though I thought it was pricey, I decided to buy it as well.

Richard and I started reading A Course in Miracles together nearly every day. We would question each other’s interpretations and had a lot of fun with it. Those were very special bonding times for us even as he lay bedridden. In fact, in his last hour, I read one of our favorite passages from A Course in Miracles, Lesson 109: I rest in God. In my efforts to find study companions, I researched the few groups that study A Course in Miracles in Chicago. Distance from me and timing of their meetings appeared as obstacles to me at the time. But then I discovered Pathways of Light on the Internet and decided right away that it was perfect for me.

As I began the Pathways of Light studies I realized that completion of the curriculum could result in ordination. Ordination? I never really considered the ministry. But then I thought about little else for weeks. And then I said, “Why not me?” I had been praying for something to look forward to and for a reason to live. Is becoming a minister God’s response to my prayer for a reason to live? Is this why I am still here?

It was interesting how each Pathways of Light course helped me in a circumstance that I was experiencing in the present moment. In fact, half way through the ministry curriculum I was diagnosed with cancer. I began to see that my life challenges serve as opportunities to grow my faith. Sometimes God removes the things we depend on most (for me, my husband and my health) to teach us to “trust in Him.”

I found studying the Course with the Pathways ministers who had been studying many more years than I had fascinating. It occupied my time. It occupied my mind. It provided me comfort. I learned so much about God, about life, about relationships, about meditation and about myself from my homework and my weekly conference calls with the ministers of Pathways of Light. Even when there were only two of us on the phone, I felt that the Holy Spirit, my Inner Guide, was present.

The facilitators shared personal stories of healing and were gentle and nonjudgmental with their input. I have listed below three of the many life changing concepts that I studied with Pathways of Light. Although I had heard all of this before, the classes, the homework, the meditations and the facilitators made it real for me. They taught me to go to my Inner Guide for help in living these ideas. Once I understood the ideas and God’s Love for me, I was able to rediscover myself and to surrender my challenges to the Holy Spirit.

Seek peace first: Peace is a necessary condition for Inner Guidance; It is impossible to be peaceful and to be sad at the same time.

Be self aware: Recognize tension in my body as signs of lack of peace; monitor my thoughts and feelings with the help of the Holy Spirit.

Close the history book: Stay focused on the present moment.

I am thankful to be a cancer survivor and to have recovered a great deal from debilitating grief. Through my daily practice I have received very clear direction from the Holy Spirit on becoming a minister. I envision myself as a facilitator and a writer. But I am open to direction from the Spirit on this point as well.

I am joyfully committed to spending the rest of my life following the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The Still Small Voice of the Holy Spirit within me is my login to the database of Divine ideas. May I serve as a vessel for Spirit to use to help others hear the God in themselves.

Yet, I am humbled by this experience of ministry. My confidence is not in myself but in the Holy Spirit that dwells within me and within us all.

Pathways of Light has been an awesome experience! I pray that Spirit will use me in the lives of others in the way my Pathways of Light facilitators have been used to help me.

Marianne Williamson summed up my answer to why I am becoming a minister in this quote, “You’ll ask that God make of you a shining star in the darkened skies of the world, that you might represent His love and reflect His goodness for those who cry as you have cried.”

Rev. Evelyn Lockett Woods is a Pathways of Light minister living in Houston, Texas.
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