forgiveness
A Time To Grow In God’s Grace
Growing up as a Roman Catholic, I experienced Lent as a strong discipline to better my life. “What are you giving up for Lent?” The answers from my non-believer friends were “homework” or “obey the parents” or “saving money for rainy days.” Lent is one of those practices demanded of Roman Catholics to which non-Catholic believers may say, “Another great reason to be Protestant!” It never really occurred to my friends that Lent was something interesting, or beneficial, to a better understand our connection with God.
One day, I sat thinking of the many reason and faces of this season, and upon doing some research I discovered that Lent is in fact also recognized by millions of Protestant Christians, in addition to Catholic and Orthodox believers. The Eastern Orthodox Lent is longer than the Catholic or Protestant Lent, and it begins before Ash Wednesday. Continue reading
Forgiveness As A Spiritual Life Lesson
I remember telling my friend Audrey many years ago how well she was handling an upsetting situation. The matter related to a mutual friend who had borrowed a significant amount of money, and even though swift repayment was promised, the promise was not kept, nor acknowledged by the borrower.
Audrey seemed to take a really spiritual approach towards the situation and said to me, “I don’t lend money without first considering that I may well have to write it off in the end.” This was ironic, since he wasn’t exactly well-off herself.
“Why should I choose to be a victim, and to carry that huge load of resentment around on my shoulders, when I do have a choice to simply put it down? To carry that heavy knapsack of anger and resentment would only be draining to my health and peace of mind,” she explained. Continue reading
Life After Life (Part 4 of 7) – Afterlife Language
The language of the Afterlife, and of Heaven, is much different from the languages we use on Earth. I have shared in the earlier parts of this series my own personal experiences of Heaven. One quandary that I have personally had with these experiences is that the dynamic of the “afterlife” experience was not the same for each person experiencing the transition.
In the four most profound visionary experiences I had, three of which I shared in previous posts, the experiences were profoundly different. In my near-death experience (NDE) I felt a sense of transcendence, and also had a cosmic experience. My father transitioned in what could be considered an average “Christian” transition. Jesus was there, as well as family and friends as far as the eye could see. I mentioned a third person as well, who had committed suicide. In this experience he was actually trying to get away, but angels blocked his path. Continue reading
Mediumship Is Not A Psychic Sideshow
Mediumship presented as entertainment is a double-edged sword. The media hype generated by psychic television shows, and live stage performances featuring celebrity mediums, has no doubt contributed much to an increased public awareness of mediumship. It has liberated spiritualism from the stereotype of the 19th century séance by bringing the work of the psychic medium into the public domain, and into mainstream pop culture.
But does mediumship as an entertainment genre do spiritualism and the daily work of psychics any real justice? I am certainly not a purist. Neither am I a traditionalist when it comes to spiritual matters. I tend to shy away from any form of fundamentalism or fanaticism. But having the work of talented mediums dished up as trivial amusement has certainly proven to be a mixed blessing in my own practice as psychic medium. Continue reading
The True Nature Of Forgiveness
What I have received from Spirit and my mentors about the nature of forgiveness is that it is first of all not about allowing bad behavior in others to continue. This is the most important thing to remember when we are ready to venture into our inner forgiveness journey.
If someone is continually wounding us through their actions or words, it is important to understand that the most loving thing we can do for ourselves and for the other person is to let them go. This may be a scary thing for some people, but to really release our pain we must release the source of the pain. Some situations are reconcilable through an honest reflection of the situation by both parties. However if this is not working, then lovingly releasing that person from your life will not only keep you from being hurt, it will allow you to open up space for relationships that bring value to your human journey. Continue reading
Thorns Are Only There To Protect The Rose
Each time we turn to unnecessary conflict, things turn into chaos. It stirs up the aura around each person involved. The ripples of anger and hurt affects everyone involved.
This doesn’t mean we can’t ever stand up for ourselves, or disagree. In fact, statistics prove that couples who never argue most often don’t last in their relationships. A good storm now and then can clear up things and allow us opportunity to express the things we have been suppressing.
But often we hold it in for too long, and then it blows up. When this happens, the drama is often worse than it needed to be. We say things we later regret. We are even surprised by some of the things we say when we get this upset! Where did that come from? Continue reading
Why People Cheat On Their Mates – Part 3
In the previous blog in this series I shared with you Diane’s situation with her now ex-husband. She was married to a man who stepped out on his very happy marriage, because there was some aspect to his personality that made it impossible for him to be faithful. There are many ways to explain why one may cheat. Diane felt that her husband’s wondering eye was just that – he liked to look around and flirt with other women.
Today, I am sharing *Joanne’s story. She has been married for several decades, and she has four children with her husband. They also own a business together. Although she knew her husband had cheated on her decades ago, she decided to forgive him and stay with him to this very day. Her reasoning was that she had small children, and she was also raised Catholic. Therefore, she felt divorce wouldn’t be the right thing to do. Unfortunately, it did not end there. Continue reading