Grace—the Power of God

Waterfall

Grace is the word we give to the power of God that we recognize in our lives. We long to make this power so real that we can hold it in our hands, or feel it like heat running through our bodies. We want to know that this divine substance is real and that it protects us and heals us and flows down from heaven when we request it. Caroline Myss Entering the Castle Page 17

 I have a desire to reconnect with the divine, the Sacred One. I long to be part of this great sacred outpouring—that sacred filling of my soul’s well and its overflowing into the world and back again into the Sacred Presence.

The Sacred Power pours itself out continuously like a great waterfall onto the wheels of life, which turn and run the creative generator allowing the Sacred One to work its wonders in our lives and the lives of others.

This power we call grace; this power is available to us all at all times. However, as we go through our daily lives we may find ourselves getting into a rut that brings us into the doldrums, a state of spiritual stagnation, where we become sluggish and lacking energy.

Muskoka River

At such times, we need to reconnect with the power of God; we need to rededicate ourselves to a life of prayer whereby our soul’s wheel of life will again be turned by the flow of the river of life. That flow is always available to us but sometimes we need to be reminded to stand in its Sacred Power and drink from the Spiritual waters of Grace.

Then the angel showed me a river with the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. It flowed down the center of the main street. On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, with a fresh crop each month. The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations. Revelation 22: 1-2 [NLT] New Living Translation

© Judith Lawrence

Inviting the Sacred into your Life

Summer Pathway

Mystics are what the word implies—people called to know the divine through its mysteries. …

[Y]ou invite the sacred into your life; you learn to pray and to wait, to ready yourself for direction. Mystics know that their instructions will come along with the tasks God sets for them. Caroline Myss Entering the Castle Page 16/17

When you invite the Sacred One into your life you ready yourself for whatever might come your way. This includes very ordinary everyday things that might seem unspectacular to you down to an invitation to answer what may seem an extraordinary call to service in the name of God.

In order to ready yourself for direction from God you have to be open to hearing and receiving God’s voice and message whenever it may come. This takes practice. A good way to start this practice is to come every morning into God’s presence; there you learn to pray and wait.

God doesn’t often speak to us in a voice that we can hear through our physical ears. There may be an inner stirring deep within our soul, a desire to be with God in a quiet time and place, or a sense of awe as we walk through a garden of flowers. Our spirit is uplifted toward the divine and we give thanks and say, Surely God is in this place.

Lily

This is where the daily practice of praying and listening to God in your morning quiet time prepares you to recognize God’s call to you and to answer that call readily and without hesitation.

© Judith Lawrence

Our Longing for the Divine

Alone with God

We cannot stop our longing for the quest for a deeper spiritual experience, because the attraction to the divine is the most basic force of our lives.…Traditional mystical instruction is far too extreme for ordinary individuals, yet it is we ordinary individuals who are now seeking a deeper path of divine expression. Caroline Myss Entering the Castle, P. 16

We came to earth with a promise to fulfil a divine mission—we were given a task to do and made a promise that we would do it here on earth. However, as time went along and we grew up in our various families, homes, and countries most of us probably forgot about the promise we made.

The soul is the keeper of the promise that we made and does not forget that promise. As opportunities present themselves to fulfil that promise the soul gives us reminders so that we are drawn to act in accordance to the promise that we made before coming to earth. Because we have long forgotten that promise made we may wonder why we are drawn to a certain spiritual way of life, to perform a particular act of kindness, or to behave in a better way that may seem contrary to our nature and upbringing.

Odessa Monastery

Deep down in our innermost being we long for a deeper spiritual experience, we seek our spiritual home, and we desire to be one with the divine. The soul leads us to that special place and, if we follow, we will be satisfied with the abundance of God’s love.

© Judith Lawrence

Giving Thanks

There seems to be an unwritten spiritual law that if we want our good to increase, we must focus on appreciating and husbanding the good that we already experience. This can be done by writing gratitude lists enumerating the many things in our current life that are fruitful and rewarding.…We make the very best of what we have and we find that almost behind our back the Great Creator redoubles and reinforces our efforts and makes something even better. Julia Cameron Walking in This World Page 144

It is important to remember to give thanks and praise to God for what he has done for us. Sometimes we can be so busy going on to the next thing that we forget about what we have already received. This puts me in mind of my mother who constantly reminded me about saying “please and thank you”. It was so ingrained in me that I say the words readily whenever someone offers me something and whenever I receive a gift from someone.

Almost a year ago, I finished my manuscript with the working title, Highway of Holiness: Soul Journey. It was accepted and published by Wipf and Stock a couple of months after that. I was so excited to be published by a “real” publisher once again—somehow this gives more credence to the work that one has done than the self-publishing route, which I had taken several times.

I was ready to go that route once more but I was pleased to have my current book in 2010 and my first book, Prayer Companion: A Treasury of Personal Meditation, back in 2001, chosen and published by publishers who are in the business. I give God thanks for this and also for showing me that I could self-publish my work when it was necessary. This I did with three of my books.

At present, I do not feel drawn to write any more books but I continue writing through my weekly blog, Contemplative Without a Cloister: http://judith-lawrence.blogspot.com and my monthly podcast meditation on my website: www.judithlawrence.ca/monthly.php I give thanks for the opportunity to continue my writing to the glory of God.

© Judith Lawrence