I used to be deluded.  So often, I’d be completely deluded by my misperceptions.  I didn’t know it, but it was my misperceptions that were the cause of many of my challenges.

Have you ever felt a lingering despair or dread?  I have.

It felt like being squeezed in a box I couldn’t find a way out of.  The feelings of despair and dread are so pervasive precisely BECAUSE we are so utterly convinced there’s no way out.  

Depression is a lot like that.  

So many things can seem to cause us depression and despair. 

They’re delusional.   Illness, divorce, financial devastation, addiction, loss of a job or a loved one – there are a long list of things big and small that can set us marching down a long winding staircase to darkness.

I’m glad for my experiences now and I’ve learned so much about the way the mind works and WHY we fall into despair, WHY it’s so darn STICKY, and HOW we can get out of it that I’m compelled to share, and that’s why my classes are designed the way they are – so that we’re actually doing work and making tangible progress, not just studying information.

Information isn’t healing, but a faith rightly placed works miracles.

A Course in Miracles tells us we’re entitled to miracles, and that we can be miracle minded.  It’s our choice.

BUT, I’ve got to tell you, that for most of my life, I did not see the choice for miracles.  I felt like it was hidden from me.  

Now, I know that it was hiding behind my beliefs that I wasn’t good enough for that kind of insight and healing.  I didn’t feel worthy.  I felt like there was something permanently wrong with me.  

I had no faith in Spirit.  It was all lip-service.  And I’m so glad for that time.

I’m so glad because feeling so faithless, I had the opportunity to discover what faith really is.

In the Bible, which I studied, when I was in Ministerial School, it says, 

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen … Through faith we understand that the world was framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.”  Hebrews 11 KJV

I pondered this one for a long time because the deep desire of my heart was to have a powerful faith.

I wanted to have a know how I could get to having such a strong faith that I could Love like Shakespeare talked about in my favorite sonnet of his:  

Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove;
O, no! It is an ever-fixed mark,
that looks on tempests and is never shaken
Sonnet 116

I knew I could Love like that without having faith.
And, at the time, I was being tortured by my doubt.

Here’s what I didn’t know, that the learning of it changed EVERYTHING for me:

In every moment, every millisecond, each and every one of us is always placing our faith in either the ego or Spirit.

It’s where we place our faith that makes the difference.

When my faith is in my perception, I’m deluded, I’m lost, I’m dysfunctional.

When my faith is in Spirit, I am rising in spirit, I am living from Love, I am standing on the rock.

If we choose to keep placing our faith in one then the other without consistency:  ego then Spirit, ego then Spirit, ego then Spirit, what happens is we’re always off balance, always unsure, always unsteady, and therefore, never at Peace.

And we may not understand why.

I watched myself do it.  

I would bounce back and forth.

One minute I would be All-in for God, and have my trust completely in Spirit about one thing and then completely up in my head with my judgments about another thing.

Back and forth, back and forth, oscillating like a wind vane on a roof in New England (where I grew up and the weather changes every few minutes.)

And I’m so, so, so glad for it!  

This is part of why many people don’t have the ability to find true forgiveness – but they can!

That’s the incredibly good news!  We can find our way to the solid rock of faith and live there.  

It’s very nice there and I am enjoying it all the more for having made the journey!

This week, I’m offering my Forgive & Be Free 4 part class.  When we hold onto resentments, we block our ability to access trust and faith, and all the benefits that come from trust and faith.  As we’re coming to the holidays, all of our old unforgiveness, resentments and regrets, come up for healing – particularly related to our relationships.  

We can have profound healing.  We can develop deep trust when, and ONLY when we forgive.

I felt so reassured when I read in the ACIM Manual for Teachers, the 10 Characteristics of God’s Teachers in Chapter IV, it tells us so clearly:

The #1 Characteristic of God’s Teachers is trust.
The #2 Characteristic is Honesty.

Trust is the mechanism of exercising our faith.  When we have faith in something, we place our trust in it.  It doesn’t matter if it’s ego or Spirit.  Separation or Unity.

When we’re honest, we’re consistent and unwavering.  

The more we practice these two, the more that we discover what faith really is.

When it felt like my faith was lost and I felt hopeless and helpless, my faith was actually in my own judgments, and opinions.  My faith was placed in my beliefs.

Beliefs are always false.
They are our interpretations, our perceptions and projections.

Now, here’s the kicker:
When we practice placing our trust in Love, in God, in Spirit,
(and there’s a lot to learn about this)
Then we start to learn from Joy,
because we’re remembering the truth that sets us free,
rather than trying to understand it and learn through experience.

Get it?

We all already know the truth.
The truth is our very beingness.
Truth is what we are, because we’re part of God.
It’s just that we have hidden the truth from our awareness,
because we prefer our judgments, opinions, and perceptions.
Hence, we see only our projections.

We can forgive ourselves for having preferred our stories to the truth.
We can forgive ourselves and others for having projected our stories onto our relationships, our bodies, our life.

And when we do, then we can freely place our trust and faith in Love.
And then we can look upon tempests (like the election, like tragedy, and illness) and not be shaken.

We can have an unshakable faith.
We can prove that all of this is real and true and works.
We can prove what ACIM tells us – we are entitled to miracles.
We can be miracle minded.

Forgiveness is the way.

I’ve been learning and teaching forgiveness for 22 years.

It is my joy to help others prove it too.
So, we can stand on the rock of an unshakable faith together.
There is NOTHING more valuable.

ACIM is a self-study course that shows us the way.

And, it’s my joy to create community and to walk with others doing this together so we don’t miss a step.  If you’d like to do this with a solid support system of folks who are also interested in moving from darkness to light – check out what I’m sharing!

Every week, people tell me that they studied ACIM for years, but never really lived it till they did this work with community the way we do it.  If you’ve been studying without living it, maybe now’s your time to rise and shine.  Let’s do it together!

The ego does everything it can to keep us thinking separation is good, working alone is good, but when two or more are gathered the Spirit prevails!

And this walk of going from faith in ego to trust in Spirit is just the beginning.

It’s just the foundation of what I share in my year-long Masterful Living Program, it’s the baseline upon which we build, which is why people have such extraordinary results.  

Real people.
Real miracles.
Real relief from the pain of playing small.

Masterful Living 2023 – Bonuses start in a few days!  If you’d like to break up the painful thought in your own mind – my year-long class, and most successful program is Masterful Living.  Don’t miss out!  I’d like you to get all my LIVE Bonuses THIS YEAR and they’re starting this week!  That’s right, LIVE classes with me this week, this month, and in December too – for those who register now.  It’s really true:  Act Now and you can have it all ~ all the bonuses that is!  Click here now to get on the waitlist

P.S.  If you’re interested in Masterful Living, but you’re not sure if it’s right for you, you can book a FREE Exploratory Call with one of the spiritual counselors who can answer all of your questions!  Book now, so you can get your bonuses!

MY LATEST ACIM PODCAST EPISODE:  My topic is The Best Defense. The best defense is to value the truth more than being right or getting revenge. Looking at one of the most basic teachings of A Course in Miracles to help us rise above the battlefield of fear and hopelessness.