Sometimes it feels like all the worry in the world comes from people feeling that they deserve to be punished and that it’s related to what A Course in Miracles calls the “unconscious guilt.”
We’re constantly being made to feel like we’re sinners and that leaves us expecting to be punished.
We’re expecting to be punished for hiding from God in our mind. For thinking unloving thoughts. For not choosing our awakening. For holding a false idea about ourselves and about our brothers and sisters instead of seeing the Christ in them and in ourselves.
Nobody says that out loud. We just carry a low hum of dread and call it stress.
And here’s the strange mercy in it.
If we’re bracing for a punishment, then some part of us already knows we’ve been choosing against Love.
The dread isn’t proof that we’re guilty. It’s evidence that we know we’ve been asleep.
Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists.
That’s the crux of A Course in Miracles in two lines, and it means the punishment we’re bracing for isn’t coming. Not late, not eventually, not softened. It isn’t there at all.
Which leaves us with a different question than the one we’ve been asking.
ACIM tells us, “The correction of fear is your responsibility.”
That sounds severe until we see what it’s actually offering us. Since the fear isn’t being laid on us from the world, from outside, then we don’t have to wait for anyone to lift it off us. We’re not at the mercy of the world. We can actually release the root causes of fear because they’re in our mind. Yay!
I used to feel unworthy. I felt guilty and ashamed and not spiritual enough, and I made the decision to go
“all in” for God anyway.
I said, “here I am, come and take me. I’m yours.”
And I knew I wouldn’t hear, “oh, you’re not good enough, Jennifer Hadley, you’re not loving enough. You’ve got anger issues, girl. Go solve those and come back when you’re presentable.”
With Spirit, there’s no waiting room. There’s no probation period. There’s no line to stand in while our behavior improves enough to qualify.
We’re part of God right now, in the middle of the mess, with the anger issues still ongoing.
It’s always a good time to stop hiding, to say yes, to turn to Spirit.
STARTS TODAY, THURSDAY: How about some free classes with great ACIM teachers? Living A Course in Miracles: Release the Worry, Rest in Trust is open for registration now! Worry isn’t natural. It’s a habit, and habits can be dissolved when we’re truly willing. That’s what we’re doing together September 10 through 13 in my FREE series. 5 teachers, 8 classes, 4 days, and every one of us has walked through the worry ourselves and come out the other side. We’ll look at what worry actually is in the mind, why willpower has never once dissolved it, and how to hand the future over so we can rest even while life is still unresolved. Not denial. Not pretending we’re fine. A real change of mind. It’s FREE, and I’d love to have you with us. Register now so you don’t forget at powerofloveministry.net/Release
SEPTEMBER: My Finding Freedom From Fear Bootcamp is 90 days of moving out of coping and into real trust, faith and listening to the higher wisdom, together. This is my longest running program – popular because it is such a game changer. Are you up for truly moving past fear? I only offer this once per year – We start in September! Click here now to learn more now.
LATEST PODCAST EPISODE: You Don’t Know What Will Make You Happy In this episode, I explore ACIM teachings on happiness, certainty, and trust. I’m just home from an A Course in Miracles gathering in Stony Point, New York, and I opened Lessons 361 to 365 and the Workbook Epilogue and found the one assumption that quietly kept my own answered prayer out of reach for years. I share the surprising truth about what we’re afraid surrender will cost us, the hidden key to certainty, and why worry never runs out of material. If your faith feels shaken, come sit with me.
