Inspiring Stories of Love, Healing, & Empowerment
Inspirations
December 2002
Issue Number 13
Welcome to Inspirations! Global Community For All sends out this e-zine filled with short, inspiring stories of love, healing, and empowerment once every three months. We share these wonderfully inspiring stories to encourage and inspire each other to be the best we can be each day of our lives. Thanks for joining us, and may these words inspire us to ever deepen our commitment to love, heal, and empower; to open to divine guidance; and to choose what's best for all.
Growth of a Pearl–Nancy Smeltzer
I was reading recently of how spirituality is like a pearl. "What a great comparison!," I thought. As for myself, starting my personal path was indeed like the grain of sand that starts the gem stone in the oyster. First, there was that gnawing sensation in the psyche. Perhaps I could best describe it as a vague sense of knowing that there was just more to life than what the world at large presents. Then, with the help of many friends, there were experiences that led me to a growing self-awareness. I discovered that as layers of self-knowledge are laid around each other, they form the core of my being.
Then, there arrived the epiphanies. These transforming events helped to shape and define where my path would go. At first glance, some seemed to be of a world shaking nature. "Of course", I thought. "How obvious!" I would exclaim, as I reveled in my new enlightenment. But then all too soon, I would often find that the idea that had seemed to be of a life shaping nature eventually no longer wore well on my skin. What had for a time been so precious had to be modified or even discarded.
I have found that the most important experiences for me that are retained often have started as glimmers of awareness. Ever so slowly the idea adds depth. Then, there's the big "A Ha!" of connection, as the new layer of knowledge merges with the concepts that I've kept, making my spirit richer.
Just as a pearl gains size by the addition of layers, so does my inner self develop. Part of what gives a pearl its luminous quality is that there are many thin sheets that allow light to bounce around within them. Finally, there grows a gem of enough size to warrant notice. I've found that when the spirit shines forth from me, occasionally I can even pass along the light to another. Yet, like the pearl, my own being continues to grow, as long as I keep an open heart that's willing to add new experiences.
The Trouble Tree - Author unknown
I hired a plumber to help me restore an old farmhouse. After he had just finished a rough first day on the job–a flat tire made him lose an hour of work and his electric drill quit–his ancient one-ton truck refused to start. While I drove him home, he sat in stony silence.
On arriving, he invited me in to meet his family. As we walked toward the front door, he paused briefly at a small tree, touching the tips of the branches with both hands. Upon opening the door he underwent an amazing transformation. His tanned face was wreathed in smiles and he warmly hugged his two small children and gave his wife a kiss.
Afterward he walked me to the car. We passed the tree and my curiosity got the better of me. I asked him about what I had seen him do earlier. Oh, that's my trouble tree," he replied. "I know I can't help having troubles on the job, but one thing's for sure, those troubles don't belong in the house with my wife and the children. So I just hang them up on the tree every night when I come home and ask God to take care of them. Then in the morning I pick them up again. Funny thing is," he smiled, "when I come out in the morning to pick 'em up, there aren't nearly as many as I remember hanging up the night before."
When your children are small, talk to them about God.
When your children are big, talk to God about them.
An Unusual Answer to Prayer–Fred Burks
About a year ago I sent out a sincere prayer which led to a most unusual, yet very empowering answer. I had made a lot of progress in loving both myself and all around me more. Even so, I saw that there were hidden places inside of me, hidden parts of me that kept me from loving more. So I sent out a sincere prayer, asking to be shown any and all hidden parts of myself which kept me from loving more. I trusted that no matter how scary this might be, I would eventually be guided to greater love.
The answer to this prayer came in a very unusual and unexpected form. Not long after the prayer, a wonderful, spiritual friend sent me a video which he said I absolutely had to watch. As I have a lot of admiration and respect for this friend, I sat down to watch the video, not knowing what to expect. What I saw was 22 government and military witnesses testifying at the prestigious National Press Club in Washington, DC to the fact that they had directly witnessed undeniable UFO activity which had been completely covered up by both the press and rogue elements within government. All 22 of the witnesses had strong credentials. It clearly did not serve their own interests to be talking about this. These powerful testimonies proved to me that something serious was going on about which I had not known or even suspected before seeing this video.
So what does this have to do with my prayer? First, I have to acknowledge my belief that on some deep level we are all one–we are all spiritually interconnected. We are all sons and daughters of God. Another way of putting it is that there is that of the divine in each one of us. So when I prayed to learn about any hidden parts of myself, what I was shown was a huge hidden part of my greater Self, which includes all of us. I clearly continue to have hidden parts within my individual self, yet these hidden parts outside of myself were apparently the next step in my coming to love all beings more. Truly a strange answer to my prayer.
Before this video, I had never once heard what I considered to be a reliable UFO experience. I knew logically that UFOs likely existed, but suspected that, if they did exist, they had little interest in our planet. After seeing the video, I felt clearly called to investigate much further. Since then, relying largely on very credible resources, I have continued to investigate intensively this and other topics I've run into. I've discovered huge cover-ups in a variety of areas which have been successfully kept out of the public eye thanks to clear complicity of the ownership of the mass media.
Previous to this experience, I had always laughed off any ideas of the so-called conspiracy theorists. As a teenager I rebelled against my father's conspiracy theories and his prediction that the world as we knew it would be destroyed within 15 years. As a language interpreter for presidents and top generals, I had worked in closed door meetings attended only by these top figures and their interpreters, yet I had seen no evidence of any kind of grand conspiracy. I felt that the government was much too caught up in its own complex bureaucracy to be able to pull off any kind of huge cover-up.
Yet all of this changed for me as the result of one prayer and one video. Now, after a year of intensive research on the subject, I am completely convinced that the huge majority of people in the world have little idea of what is really happening in the world. I have summarized my findings in a two-page document which I invite you to read at www.WantToKnow.info.
My prayer which set all this in motion was to understand hidden parts of myself so that I could love myself and all people more. So how has all this information helped me to love more? What I have seen very clearly is that all of these cover-ups somehow represent repressed or hidden parts of all of us. The world outside of us somehow represents what is going on inside of us. So by learning to accept all that's going on and doing my best to love even those who would harm and disempower others, I am somehow accepting and loving parts of myself I had denied in the past. Though those involved with the cover-ups seem to want to spread fear, I choose to spread love, even to them. This is how I am learning to love more.
As a result of this prayer and the realizations I've had from all this new information, I am choosing to do my best to see the divine spark even in those who are most intent on drowning that spark. I am choosing to do my best to love even those who desire to spread fear and hatred in the world. And to my own amazement, the more I do this, the richer my own life becomes. I am developing an even deeper and fuller love for all. Though it feels like I'm traveling in uncharted territory, as my trust in All That Is grows, and as my love reaches ever further, my life becomes even more blessed and filled with miracles. Thank you so much, God, and thank you so much to all of you for being the beautiful part of my life that you are.
Let
me recognize and connect with the divine essence in all beings.
Thanks for sharing in these inspiring stories with us. We wish you lots of love, inspiration, and all the very best in the coming months.
www.momentoflove.org - Every person in the world has a heart
www.personalgrowthcourses.net - Dynamic online courses powerfully expand your horizons
www.WantToKnow.info - Reliable, verifiable information on major cover-ups
www.weboflove.org - Strengthening the Web of Love that interconnects us all
