Look at your life often. What are you choosing (what is showing up) that you did not really want? There is a gift in it. Look and try to see what it is. Usually the gift is a learning, which if recognized, empowers you to break free and let go of a hurtful or self-defeating pattern you have been repeating for years. It may be obvious, or it may be very subtle. Your soul is letting you know it’s time for you to grow some more. Look for the learning, recognize it, and you will know what you need to do to get back on center in your true path.This happens continually in our lives. We are here to learn and grow spiritually; that’s why we’re here. Your soul came here with a list of projects unknown to this personality that seems to be you. Who you are is greater than this personality or this lifetime, but this personality and this lifetime are important and sacred.

Your soul, mine, and all souls, came here on a contract with God that said: (1) You shall have experiences in the physical world and learn and grow. (2) God shall provide all the strength and help and substance and guidance you will ever need, to do this. (3) The access point from which you reach and manifest all this, is available from inside of you.

It’s not necessary to go to any particular place, belong to any particular church, or follow any particular rules in order to reach God and/or spiritual guidance. All of that is already provided for you. Seek and find, ask and receive. The door opens from the inside of you. You cannot possibly ever be where God is not. You are a small part of God, and God is a large part of you. Whether you choose to accept and receive Him/Her or not, God is still always and eternally, immediately, right where you are, right now.

Why then does anybody ever fail? Why then do some people kill? The “Catch-22” of the contract is this: God has empowered us with free choice. We can and do create the events and circumstances of our lives, either consciously or unconsciously, with our held thoughts and beliefs. We can choose to believe that the values and limitations of the physical world are all there is, or we can choose to believe that God/Spirit is real, present, available, and greater than the physical world.

Whichever you choose to believe, you will hold in your thoughts, and so express and manifest in your life. Many people have chosen greed, cruelty, insanity, murder, or self-destruction. They are free to make their choices, and receive the consequences. You are free to choose differently.
Leave the window open to your soul. Let light in, and let light out. Love and laugh as much as you can, and let your simple, honest, unadorned self show.

We are on this journey together; that is the truth. No one is alone, and if we feel we are, it’s because we have closed the doors and windows ourselves, usually in order to feel safe. We are safe. We can trust God. But so many of the world's rules have made us doubt that.
God is greater than the world, and aware of every whisp of life upon it. You matter enormously to God, and even if you think you don’t matter to anyone on earth, you could be wrong about that too. Ask for help and be willing, truly willing to accept it, in whatever form it comes. Share the love you have, and it will be returned to you multiplied.

Some people much wiser than me have made this simple but profound statement about the New Thought Movement: “Each time you have a fearful thought, an angry or resentful thought, a lonely thought, a distressed and discouraged thought – stop yourself, and choose a new thought instead.” We can’t stop problems, challenges, or harmful thoughts from coming into our minds, but we do not have to give them harbor there. We absolutely have to power and ability to change our thought. In time, every situation will change to match our held thought about it. This is the simple miracle of faith.

The only hard part is choosing and holding firm to that thought and belief in spite of the habits, opinions, and “evidence” of the physical world. In truth, the physical world is just a backdrop constantly changed by you, either knowingly or unknowingly. Try choosing knowingly, holding your thought and vision in faith, and watch what happens. The real, substantive, essential life of you is not physical. The real life of you is spiritual, made manifest in this physical world in order for you to learn and grow through the journey.

You can choose joy. Seek it, find it, give it, share it, and you will receive the consequences of that. You can start where you are right now; there’s no application form and no entrance exam. You can choose love, peace, health, prosperity, whatever you want, and if you hold those things in your heart and mind with faith, they will ultimately manifest in your life.

This does not mean you’ll never have challenges, never have sadness or feelings of loneliness, never have lessons in healing, never have physical death. It simply means: What you seek, either consciously or unconsciously, you will find - for better or for worse. Know this, act on it, and know that the God of the universe, whatever name you call Him/Her by, wants only good for you, but will not force it upon you or refuse your choices.

That is the way the universe works. God rarely interferes with the laws of the universe, for they are God’s own laws. But it should be kept in mind that at any time, God can. Sometimes we are given something more, or different, than what we thought we wanted, or dreamed we could have. When that happens, the result is the unexpected and undeserved gift gift of blessing that we call Grace.

So it becomes the challenge of every human being now at this time in the evolution of the species to move beyond the old perceived limitations of physical growth and progress, into the spiritual new frontier. First we must know and accept responsibility for this truth: God will always give us what we ask for, whether we ask consciously or carelessly. So be wise and conscious in what you are holding in your thoughts and in your heart, for these will create the events and circumstances of your life, good or bad, as you have chosen.

Keep in touch with your soul. Make this your most important line of communication. Whether you do it at church or at home, with meditation, intuition, prayer, reverent listening within, quiet time alone, walks in the forest or by the sea, or just moments of solitude wherever you are.

Keep in touch with your soul and with your Spirit Within - the still small voice of God - your Inner Counselor. You will be supported, guided, and loved through everything that comes. There is an open invitation that is immediate and eternal: To accept complete forgiveness for every “sin” and “mistake” you ever thought you made, and start here, now. You are still wanted and precious to the God that made you and gave you life. God has promised this, and God always keeps promises.