Fear Has Left the Building!
I have been reading Everyday Grace by Marianne Williamson. What a great book!! I bought it for my Dad a couple of years ago and I never read it. I got it out today on my way into Richmond for Caitlin’s funeral. I needed to feel strong for Bridget and her family and right now this book is giving me a great connection to my Father and to love.
In the book Everyday Grace, Marianne Williamson talks about us being mystical and how we need to look at each other as one. We are a part of each other. Once we let go of the fear and acknowledge that God loves us all equally the peace becomes stronger and that peace helps us understand better the cruelty in others. They are living in fear.
It is my understanding that some people actually believe that "bad things" are happening to people like me and my family because we don’t go to Church. LOL…I don’t look at my Father’s death as a bad thing. I look at it as a natural thing. He lived a full, happy, beautiful, amazing life and he left all of that for us. I am the luckiest girl in the world!
Death is a part of life. It is a part of what we will experience. Once I let go of the fear the layers began to shed and I found my true self. I realized that God made me in his image which is of his perfection, life became simple…it became brighter…it became clear.
I will continue to be the bright light that God made me as he did all of us. I will live in love and I will live in peace because Fear has left the building!
In this day, the third day ( a day is as a thousand years) we are being awakened to the knowledge that we are spirit beings. We are of a different substance from what we have believed (i.e. that we come from our parents and are mortal.) As we turn from our beliefs to the spirit within we find a mystical change occurs in our perception of things. That line of demarcation between good/evil breaks down, or ceases to hold power, because in this RE-NEWED mind we now have spiritual discernment and understanding and live under the spirit authority. Our thoughts center more on ONENESS with those who are also being awakened to this realm rather than difference. As we become spiritually ‘aware’ we individually can ‘birth the Christ’, and as we do we begin to see the ONENESS and UNITY of all of us, vessels chosen to honour and glorify the King, and best of all become his bride.
Mindy, I have been with you all along the way though I have not openly commented, it is with great joy I read from above “we need to look at each other as one. We are a part of each other”….that you wrote above.
Life’s circumstances are the way the spirit shows us the next step. They come individually to us and open the very next step as we allow him to
reveal it to us.
It is so good to hear from you again Audrey. I find myself craving people like you these days.
This book has been great for me at this point in my life. Even though I already know that we are a part of each other and we need to look at each other as one, it can still be a great challenge, but oh how the peace fills the soul when you can look hatred in the eye and challenge it with love. Love never fails.
I agree with you that Life’s circumstances are the way the spirit shows us the next step. I believe it is the perfect process that enables us to learn to love and I am loving soo much right now.
Thank you Audrey
Nice post Mindy. I have been meaning to get Marianne’s books. This is the impetus to do just that. Thanks.
Hey Don R! Thank you. I want to get her other books as well. I have a feeling I will like them just as well. I have never been a reader, but I can see why Dad always was. Lots of great stuff out there.
One of the favorite things I have read out of this book was this:
The mystic path is a journey of personal transformation, and while the goal of the journey is to become our true selves, we can only do this by letting go of who we are not. If we wish to experience the fullness of life, we must cut through the layers of illusion that hide the truth of who we really are.
Great post Mindy!! You have now inspired me to want to read it as well!!! I like how you take the issue “bad things are happening to you because you dont go to church” straight on. I have had my share of poor church attendance and while I do believe that it is in many ways important to go to church, I have had some equally, if not more amazing times just being ALONE with God in the comfort of my own HOME. I have found peace in many times of prayer when it was just me and God and not an entire congregation. What counts is how we live our everyday lives and allow HIM to live through us in the world. THAT is what is most important….how we live and how we reach others…..
Until next time…
Munchkin
‘letting go of who we are not” and “cutting through the layers of illusion that hide the truth of who we really are” (from the above quote) are little gems of light that help identify where we are at. We are on a journey, an exciting journey that will eventually lead us to the REALITY of who we are. It’s an inner private journey, but the result will be manifested to the world, the beauty and glory of who we are will not be hidden any more,
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But the illusion takes a lot of shifting. We have an internal bias that prefers the illusion and everything outside of ourselves reinforces what we believe. That bias is our mind and the way we think. Oh, the mind is a great tool for dealing with the daily exercise of responding to whatever we have to do, but the knowledge it has is limited. It is limited to the knowledge gained by experience and what it can discover through our 5 senses and our emotions. The problem is we have taken this ’shining one’ as our authority for all things. Our mind does not understand spirit because it is not spirit and has instead an earth-bound ceiling that is unable to penetrate into the spiritual realm which is HIDDEN within us. The mind is incapable of correctly identifying God because he is spirit. The most it can do is give us a psychic set of beliefs about an imagined deity.
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Our life lived on this level is firstly a duality, filled with opposites – good/bad. up/down. in/out, male/female. We are often in conflict over good and evil, not being sure of the true line of demarcation, so there is no true peace. Secondly we suffer from a guilt complex, never being able to please that god-in-the-sky for whom we do good deeds. Thirdly our minds have given us a false sense of identity. We believe that through our natural birth we are who we are.
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So there must be a moving of our understanding out of our natural mind altogether! We find this NEW MIND is already within us and able to function as soon as we ’switch over’, or more correctly go within. The switching process is called ‘metanoio’, thinking from that pure source within. This will transform us. It is a process and I’ve found there’s a lot of clearing out that has to be done because turning over to a new authority, that of the spirit, rattles those powers of the mind we gave authority to in the first place. It is our earthly identity waging war with our REAL identity. Once we see our true selves as spirit beings, created from the beginning, then our earthly identity has to die. We cannot serve two masters. This happens bit by bit as we let our old identity go and begin to live from the spirit within, then our mind is RE-NEWED and we become transformed.
I have been reading a lot of different things on this site over the past number of weeks and before that as well. However I will only touch on the comments I have read here regarding this book mentioned. I have not read the book but I am only going by what I have read in these comments.
And my question is this…….in all these things mentioned where is Jesus in all this? Is this something that we ourselves are to come to an understanding of or does it have something…anything to do with what He accomplished at the cross?
I seldom if anytime read that any of this mentioned has anything to do with Jesus and what he accomplished at the cross. In fact I seldom see His name mentioned at all.
It seems that it is something “we do” and not something that has anything to do with what Jesus did???
It just leaves me “wondering”.
Wondering,
My understanding is that Jesus did die on the cross to save us from our sins and what he wants from us is to LOVE!! Cliff and his family get this. They understand that what is REALLY important is not that we make everyone understand exactly what Jesus did but that we do what Jesus would have us to do and that is to LOVE, Love God, Love others, Love ourselves.
I may not be representing Mindy correctly but thats how I understand it at this time and I hope she will correct me if I’m way off base. I’m really starting to understand this more and more each day and thanks so much Mindy for recommending the book. You have inspired me as well to want to be a reader, a learner if you will. I just soak up every word.
My prayers are with Bridget and her family at this very diffiult time.
May God continue to bless you all on your journey.
I believe that Jesus died on the cross for all mankind so that we could once again acknowledge and understand that we are perfect in the eyes of God. That we are all one through Jesus Christ. I believe that we are to learn to love the way God loves us. He showed us that at the cross. I believe God is within us all and he left the answers for us on our hearts so if we can live life knowing that we are all God’s children we will live in peace.
A book is a book. The bible is a book. Everyday Grace is a book. They all have great things that can help guide us through our journies. We can take what we want from them. Like my Dad use to say…”you can interchange the word Love for Christ…it means the same thing to me.” Well, I happen to agree with my Father. God is love. It is the shortest verse in the Bible and the easiest to understand. I certainly do not live and breath by any book. I live and breath by my heart and soul.
Wow Mindy, That is beautiful. Thanks so much for sharing.
Well said Mindy. That came direct from your heart. The wonderful thing is we do not have to use the name of Jesus as some sort of talisman, or holy charm as is the case with religion. As you have rightly pointed out, Jesus died, but they could not kill the Christ. He is eternal. As we live from our heart we are IN HIM and manifesting his nature as REAL LIFE and LOVE. That is the living Christ being revealed. This is the mystery that is being seen in this the third day – the revealing of who we are in CHRIST.
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So what happened on the cross? Jesus died, not instead of you and me but AS you and me. He took our humanity, our false ’self’, our human identity the very thing that causes us to miss the mark AS HIMself, and knew separation from the Father for the first time. That is what died, our human identity. Then it was buried to be seen no more. There was no body that came out of that tomb. From the tomb rose the Christ who lives WITHIN us and will teach us all things as we listen to him. There are only 2 things we are to do, and the first is to deny our ’self’. turn our back on who we thought we were, and take up our cross a spiritual experience that brings us into that peace that passes understanding.
I’ve thought so much about the letter that was passed out at Cliff’s celebration explaining that Christ and Love are one and the same and until I understood that I had the same wonderings as wondering but I don’t anymore. When I hear comments like wonderings now it seems to me that it some how seperates love and Jesus and that, imo, just can’t be done. It has EVERYTHING to do with what was accomplished at the cross.
Thanks very much for the explanations by all of you. It has “cleared the air” for me. I as well believe the same, “that we are all one in Jesus Christ”. I am not “wondering” any more. :–))
Iam not one who can quote bible verses but I have been loved so unconditionaly and so fully that I know this is God. If I could only gift wrap my entire family and send them to everyone, they could experience this grace, peace and unconditional love that I have. This love is God filling every void, every pain and every happy moment in my life. When you except this perfect love, you except that we are perfect in God’s eyes and that there is nothing you can do that will stop him from loving you. His arms are always around you, his footprints are always next to you. You just have to have faith and believe!!
Thank you Daddy for being God’s Angel and Thank you God for letting us borrow him for awhile!
Wondering,
You are welcome.
Audrey,
Your words are amazing. I just love to hear from you! I love what you said here: “It is a process and I’ve found there’s a lot of clearing out that has to be done because turning over to a new authority, that of the spirit, rattles those powers of the mind we gave authority to in the first place. It is our earthly identity waging war with our REAL identity. Once we see our true selves as spirit beings, created from the beginning, then our earthly identity has to die. We cannot serve two masters. This happens bit by bit as we let our old identity go and begin to live from the spirit within, then our mind is RE-NEWED and we become transformed.”
Once you let the old identity go it seems as if the eye sees the simplicity of life which had always been simple…the haze is gone…the blurred vision goes away. Things become more clearer and the need to defend with Bible verses fade away because the battle is over and the one thing I know for sure by what I saw with my Father when he was diagnosed with Glioblastoma is that once the fear is gone…it is gone. You never go back to it. All he saw in people was their light of love. I know that in myself that you never go back to fearing God aka Love
Lisa,
It was so great to see you at Dad’s celebration. I am so glad we can connect here. Love you
Tammy,
You are such an Angel. Your sweet spirit is a life support needed to sustain life. I am so thankful to you. When I am weak you carry me and when you are weak I will carry you. I love you so much. Keep writing Tammy. It feels good to write about Love.
I feel that i need to post this for all of Cliffs family to see i think i was given this gift last night to let me know that cliff is at peace. I will start by saying that Cliff was my friend and he called me mother hen because i was always asking if he was alright i felt something was wrong but didnt know what. Well, Cliff goes through my thoughts alot and i miss him greatly. Last night was like any night that my husband and i go to bed and sleep except i was taken on a journey this night by Cliff ,He came to me in my dream and showed me this great big log cabin and when i say big i mean ive never seen a house so big in my life.It had rooms after rooms that went on as far as i could see and i asked cliff why are we here and he told me to follow him ,so we went down these stairs and it opened up to what i would call a great hall.I was amazed by the size and the feeling of calmness that over took me i was at a peace that i still cant describe and i looked at Cliff and said this is beautiful here He said i know i brought you here for this reason . I asked him what reason he said look up .So i did and when i looked there was a balcony above us and on that rail all the way around us were names on plagues and i asked cliff whose names are those on there and he said this is my house Tina and all those names are my family that are here and names of family that will come in time I wanted you to know Im home now and Im at peace and happy. He turned to me and said now its time for you to go.I told him i didnt want to go i wanted to stay ive never felt such peace.Cliff told me its not your time and you have to go back i started crying and felt like i was being pulled and the next thing i knew my husband woke me up and asked what was wrong i broke down crying and told him what happened and how i didnt what to come back i felt such peace and happiness there. I know my husband thinks i had a very vivid dream but i know better. I think Cliff wanted me to know and let all of you know HES HOME NOW WITH FAMILY he still watches over us but i truely believe he is in your cabin waiting to hold you all again and bless you with his love.You are all so blessed to have had him in your lives. I still miss my friend and always will but now i think i will have more peace in my heart now that he took me on my journey THANK YOU CLIFF. I MISS YOU ,your friend Tina Smith
Wonderful post Mindy & comments too. It is good to read such truly edifying stuff. Cliff is very proud of all of you, especially his favorite!
…..(but which one?)
The seeds Cliff sowed are bearing much fruit, especially through his family & friends. He is like a branch of the Vine that has produced many branches. Boldgrace is alive and well. May it’s message help to fill the earth with love and the knowledge of a perfect God who completed His perfect plan (Christ & Him crucified) resulting in the perfection of us all.
Thank God for loaning us Cliff for a while. He certainly left in me a deposit of unconditional love and a seed of realization that in spite of all the ways I so often seem to fall short (in my own eyes) I am perfect (in Fathers eyes).
All along I knew that Cliff was special but seeing and getting to know his family has made it even more evident. Again I say with all confidence….Cliff is very proud.
Tina,
I got goose bumps reading that! I wish I could have dreams like that of my Father, but I will say that the Sunday after coming home from the Celebration I went up stairs to take a nap and I woke up suddenly because I could smell Dad’s cologne. It was a strong smell. He always wore Joop cologne and I loved it. The smell was so strong it was as if he was in the room. I smelled my hands, my shirt, my pillow and the blankets trying to figure out where the smell was coming from. I love to think that he was in the room with me that day and the best part is that Tammy and I were napping at the same time. Tammy is my oldest sister. She was having a dream like you had. Dad came to her in this dream. You can read about it here. I posted it for her.
I don’t know what it all means, but I do believe that he is still with us watching over all of us and every now and then letting us all know he is ok.
Dad and I use to talk about reincarnation and that he and I must have known each other in another life because we had such a great spiritual connection. I had asked him a few days before he passed to show me somehow that we knew each other and he said, “I will try.” A few hours before he passed he asked for the “old woman”. We thought he was talking about Mom because he always called her old woman. She went over to him and he looked around her shoulder and stared me straight in the eye and pointed his finger at me. So, I walked over to him and sat down on me knees in front of him. He wrapped his hands around my arms and said, “I am ready to go to heaven.” I told him to go. I told him we were ok and then a little while later he said to me, “I won’t let you down.”
Today as I was going through all of his posts I ran across one that he had posted called, “I will never let you down.” Talk about chills. My Father is and always will continue to guide me and everyone of you.
I sure do miss him Tina, but hearing your story gave me some peace tonight and I thank you for that.
That post was from February 1st 2008 and it was titled, “I will never let you down.” Unfortunately the video he posted with it no longer works. I sure wish I could find it, but what he wrote was this:
The following scriptures put to soft music speak the message of bold grace better than any words I could ever put together. Please listen over and over. If you are struggling or going through a difficult time know that He will never let you down.
This is Caitlin’s Mom
I appreciate all the love your family shared during this week’s horrible ordeal. Your comment about how Cliff helped Caitlin through the terror of the last moments of her life as she was being murdered gave me some comfort.
It is hard for me to make sense of all of this.
I am trying to hold on to visions of her in a happier place.
My sorrow is for myself and my family of how we only had 21 years with this precious soul.
A friend gave a book “Healing After Loss” by Martha Whitmore Hickman and it has provided some comfort so far.
I have a long road yet. But with the love of others and the power of prayer, I will survive.
I can do all things..through Christ who strengthens me– paraphrased.
Thank you all again for the great love you have exhibited and continue to help my daughter Bridget as she copes with her sister’s death.
Mindy
Your father made an impression on me. YOU are making more of one. Great spirit, I hope my daughter does the same. Thanks.
John
Tina,
I have known you for a long time and I am not suprised at all at how much my father loved you. You have the spirit of love and the smile of an angel. I have never forgot you and the feeling that comes over me to know that my father was such an inspiration to you gives me chills because you are special. Thank you for watching over my father Tina and don’t ever loose touch, you are one of us now!
I love the connection here. What a great outlet.
)
Colleen,
You are in my thoughts everyday.
Steve,
Thank you! You are so right about Dad… he is so proud of us all. (I think I was his favorite
John,
I love that we can make impressions on each other. Your daughter WILL do the same for you. Love and thank you so much
Today is Mindy’s Birthday
I have this book – havent read it yet – hopefully one day I will get to it – sounds good though
Societyvs,
I don’t have a lot of time to read, but every chance I get I am reading this book and LOVE it. It is motivating!
‘Wondering’. – Re-reading your post after your genuine note of thanks made me feel you deserved a fuller answer than what was given. Your question ‘where is Jesus?’ is not out of place, nor is it unique. Look at the response your question drew from Mindy. The shulamite woman asked the same question, and after a hard time looking everywhere, she found him where he had always been – within her, in her garden. She doesn’t call his name Jesus but she calls him her beloved and she says. “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine’.
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We have reached a time in history when the darkness (lack of understanding) is giving way to the light (truth). Mankind is waking up to find the old identity we thought we were is just an illusion, and our REAL identity is within us. We have looked everywhere externally, and tried everything, but nothing satisfies that inner craving to know the answer to our question ‘where is my beloved?’ We will never find him if we believe we come from our parents and are mortal human beings. That is the deception deeply embedded in our minds and reinforced by everything around us. When a baby is born we immediately look for signs of which parent the child resembles, looking to the outward appearance or to gestures the child makes, never seeing the child’s REAL father who is spirit and dwells within that child. But now is the day Father is revealing himself WITHIN us. This is because of the work Jesus accomplished at the cross. Here Jesus took our ’self’ as himself and put it to death in Jesus the man. That illusion is dead. We can now live from the Christ-life, his life-blood which is the REALITY LIFE within us. All we have to do is deny or turn from that ’self’ and go within our heart to meet our beloved. Beautiful, isn’t it? No need for a Jesus name as a lucky charm but we have himself, his NATURE within us and the way is open for a relationship, a ONESHIP with the I AM.
Thank you Audrey NZ. Very interesting reading.
I loved that Audrey. Your words are absolutely beautiful!
I love knowing that the source lives within us all. Once you find it within yourself you are free to fly. This can be so hard to do. The world has a way of pulling you in to what they want from you and it is all out of fear. Church is one of those things that I have to stay away from. It only caused confusion and fear for me and it made me want to hide. It is a place where I was taught that I would never be good enough for God. It was the first place I can remember being taught that I was a sinner…I was a child which apparantly was the perfect time to teach me that…Get em while their young!! It was a place I feared and was taught to fear. It was a place where I was taught to judge others. If I saw someone with a tattoo, smoking and drinking a beer I was taught they were not right with God and I needed to convince them of that. They were in need of God’s love, but they could only get it if they repent of their sins and ask God to forgive them for being who they are?? I was suppose to witness to others and get them saved so they would live a better life because after being saved they would be ok with God. Being able to say I was a church going christian was suppose to make me feel better when it only made me hide who I really was. I spent all of my time judging others rather than acknowleding who I really was. The perfection in God’s eyes.
Once I realized that we are all connected I had an urge to love more and to dig deeper within others. The surface or the outer shell of man no longer existed. The old saying, “never judge a book by it’s cover” holds so much truth now. It doesn’t matter to me what the appearances look like. I know that I am a part of that person. I am not going to lie and say that it isn’t hard sometimes to see the oneness, but I know that one day all I will see is the light and love of everyone because I witnessed my Dad do it. I know that when my family is attacked by someone my instant reaction comes from anger, but as time goes by you learn not to be get as angry anymore. You find that it isn’t worth it. I like being peaceful more than I do angry. It is like with the death of Dad. I know it is just the process in which we go through, but I will still have my days where I ask, why so soon? But, when you realize the love, the source, the light, the Jesus that lives inside of you those moments pass quicker and peace fills the soul.
Mindy, that is an excellent way to describe the church. It is a place that I as well have had to stay away from. I was discussing that very thing this morning when having breakfast with a good friend of mine. I was told over 30 years ago that I had been “saved” and now needed to begin to “measure up” to the standards they said were in place. After about 20 years of guilt and discouragement I decided it was time to go. Since that time I have found the peace and contentment in knowing I am ok in Gods eyes and have nothing to measure up to. I loved reading your comments very much.
By the way I never met your Dad in person but did talk to him a few times by telephone and read mostly everything he posted here. I think its safe to say he was a great inspiration to all of us that visit BG.
Roy,
Thank you
I really liked how you expressed yourself Mindy. Papa has been showing me the same things. It’s wonderful to hear that others are on this same journey of Love and Truth.