Thanks Jnani - you are so right. (I'm still waiting to hear of some of your experiences by the way) 😉
ok the first one that pops up in my mind is
A few years back when Britain briefly went into riots and violence was spreading to more and more cities....the News channels reporting these incidents on a loop. Not much else got reported during that period.
Naturally it was very distressing time for all the victims and the same vibe was telecSt to every family watching all across the country.
I didn't sit down and watch news as such but my husband does. I am usually in and out stopping to have a look now and again. I caught this look on my son's faces...it was an anguished desire to stop this madness, if they could....that was the defining moment for me. I called them out, away from the Telly, we went upstairs and I said, if we want it to stop, we should ask God to do so. Shall we pray. "Yes please, mummy"
So the three of us sat down and prayed.
After a few moments, when we opened our eyes we felt lightness in our hearts, the burden of sorrow, sadness and anguish for the country, her people, victims, perpetrators all got lifted.
In the next hour or so, a gentleman, who had lost a son to that violence was seen urging people to go home and make a up of tea....the tide of violence turned.
I remember peace dawning after that.
My experience is that one cannot pray, unless Divine inspires them to pray.
So I tend to look at the very urge to pray as the answering of the prayer itself.
I caught this look on my son's faces...it was an anguished desire to stop this madness, if they could....that was the defining moment for me. I called them out, away from the Telly, we went upstairs and I said, if we want it to stop, we should ask God to do so. Shall we pray. "Yes please, mummy"
So the three of us sat down and prayed.
After a few moments, when we opened our eyes we felt lightness in our hearts, the burden of sorrow, sadness and anguish for the country, her people, victims, perpetrators all got lifted.
In the next hour or so, a gentleman, who had lost a son to that violence was seen urging people to go home and make a up of tea....the tide of violence turned.
I remember peace dawning after that.My experience is that one cannot pray, unless Divine inspires them to pray.
So I tend to look at the very urge to pray as the answering of the prayer itself.
That is really beautiful jnani! If only everyone did that instead of being sucked into the images of violence and feelings of hopelessness, what a different world we would live in.
Love and peace,
Judy
Wonderful and inspiring examples, Judy and Jnani! 🙂
Now that is not the right way to pass exams and I can assure everyone that before I was sent to Birmingham, I did a thorough study of that safety manual! 😳
Judy's story about the airline exam just reminded me of a somewhat similar experience I had some years ago, when I was still at university. In this case I HAD been studying what I was supposed to, but apparently to no avail...
It was almost the end of the year and my introductory statistics exam was approaching. This was a subject I knew I wasn't going to pursue further I'd had a difficult year at uni and gradually realised the course I was in was not what I truly wanted to do, so I was looking for a new pathway for my studies (which I eventually found, but that's another story). But regardless, being a studious sort of person, I still wanted to do well in my final assessments even for the subjects I wouldn't be taking again. It matters to me that I do my best in whatever I'm given to do.
For statistics class, we'd had a great teacher who explained everything well and it all made sense while we were doing the various equations in the classroom. But again and again I found that when I tried to do the same things for homework, I just couldn't get it. As the exam was approaching, I was finding it harder and harder to study. I could understand it in theory well, sort of but when I tried to work out the practical exercises, they almost never came out right. It was quite baffling, really and off-putting, too. :confused:
Finally the exam day came. I turned over the paper as the reading time began and sure enough, had just what I'd feared that dreaded moment when you look at every question on the paper and realise you have no clue how to answer any of them. :eek::eek::eek: Or that's exactly what it felt like. I was fast freezing up.
But at the same time as I'd been studying, I'd also started learning about what Judy and others here have described how to get to know a God who is all-present, all-loving, all-harmonious and who is actually the only true divine Mind, the source of all real consciousness and of all that we truly are. I'd been an agnostic (though still a seeker) for years, but this understanding of God really made sense to me, more than anything else ever had. So, with nothing else left to do, I turned to prayer in just about the only way I could think of: "Father-Mother, You're here... what do YOU know about all this??" (I'm not sure I even managed to put it that coherently in my thoughts, but it was what I meant.)
Within a few minutes I found myself looking at the exam paper again with less fear than before and realising that some things on it did look familiar. Before long, it was exactly as if God had His (or Her) arms around me gently and was leaning over my shoulder saying not quite in audible words, but this was the sense of it "Look at this question first you know how to do that part, don't you? There, that's right. Now go on to this bit..." And the way to do it would come to me.
I don't think I completed absolutely every question on the exam, nor did I do them all in order, but I certainly made a good attempt at every one in this way (we would get some marks for showing correct working-out, even if we didn't reach the final answer). What's more, by this stage I just felt so loved and looked after by God by divine Love that I really was downright enjoying the whole thing... I was tempted to laugh out loud for the sheer joy of it, but didn't want the invigilators (gosh, that term always sounds scary) to think I was up to anything suspicious. 😀
I went out of that exam just about walking on air it was the first time I had ever really, really felt God's presence and been sure it really was the Divine speaking to me, not just me trying to "think positive" for myself. I really didn't care how I'd done in the exam by then it just wasn't an issue any more but I was awed and so grateful when the results came back some weeks later and it turned out I'd got a High Distinction. 🙂
"Father-Mother, You're here... what do YOU know about all this??"
What a perfectly phrased question!
I just LOVE this true story! 🙂
This family had a tradition of making May Day baskets that they would fill with flowers and take them round to people who were house-bound or without families.
At one point, the two older children decided that they’d outgrown this tradition and it was agreed they would stop doing it, but when the youngest heard this she was very upset until her mother promised that they would continue the tradition for her.
Unfortunately, she forgot all about it and late on the night of April 30th, a sobbing child remonstrated with her about the broken promise. The mother was overwhelmed as it had been a severe winter and there were no flowers in the garden and it seemed a hopeless situation. But…
[INDENT]“I figured that at least I could put on a stiff upper lip and make the baskets. We went to the attic, found a wallpaper sample book that provided some designed paper, and with some cutting and scotch-taping had seven baskets ready—for what, I had no idea.
Our daughter kept saying, "But what about the flowers?" I thought of making some out of crepe paper or colored tissues, but I didn't have any.
So I sent her off to bed, reminding her (though feeling somewhat of a hypocrite, as I knew there was no answer) that "divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need" (Science and Health, [url]p. 494[/url]).”[/INDENT]
The mother went to bed herself, but couldn’t sleep, so got up and started praying deeply.
[INDENT]“I can't explain the peace that suddenly surrounded me. No more struggle with stubbornness, a callous outlook, self-righteousness, or spiritual laziness! Just a sense of being surrounded by love.
I truly feel that was probably the first time I had really prayed righteously. No longer did I have concern for my daughter or flowers or May baskets or self-condemnation or failure. I only had thoughts about God's love for each one of us, and of my gratitude for having a loving Father-Mother God who is always looking after each one's needs. With that peace came a calm assurance. I looked at the clock and saw it was midnight.
As I rose to turn off the light, a car pulled up out in front. Then a knock at the door. And a voice called out, "Betty, are you in there?" … It was a good friend of mine. I opened the door, and all I saw were lilacs—a bushel of them hiding my friend's face.”[/INDENT]
The flowers were a surprise from the author’s mother who lived some 500 miles away and her friend had been nearby, on her way home, and had offered to bring them, but hadn’t intended dropping them off till the next day, but had then felt impelled to drive past the author’s house to see if there was a light on… Both women cried when this answer to prayer was shared.
[INDENT]“Well, you can imagine the burst of joy when I woke my daughter up at 6:00 a.m. and showed her the generous fragrant bouquets in her baskets. I grinned as I reminded her how divine Love does indeed meet our EVERY human need (and rebuked myself for my previous doubtfulness).
From that time on, when a problem seemed to have a dead end—regardless of the nature—our family byword, erasing all doubt, was, "Remember the lilacs at midnight."[/INDENT]
You can read the whole article here: [url]Lilacs at midnight [/url]