Inspiration for Healing Through Changing Your Mind --The articles in this newsletter are written by people from around the world who are taking their perceived problems to the Holy Spirit, and sharing their miracles stories of how their thoughts are being healed.

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Forgiving My Brother --by Rev. Therese Anne Ward

As I sit here, breathing in the Light of Love, I am guided to let go of all grievance held against anyone, for grievance against anyone is against my Self.

In the Light of Love, I see you as my very Self in the One. I see only a heart longing to love and being mistaken in its actions in search of that love. I see my grievance is a mistaken direction towards love.

Now must I drop all grievances and open fully in the one Light. You are loved as the Self you still remain, even in your forgetfulness. Love is what you are, having forgotten itself in the dream of this world with ego's false promise of peace, joy and love.

The ego cannot make good on its promises, for its purpose is to distract you from the truth of what you are -- the Light of Love of God. It is in and of this Light that all my judgement of you and all my grievance held against you and my belief in being separate from you fall away into nothingness from which they were made.

I free you in God. I see you in God. I'm one with you in God. I remember. I remember. Holy am I, in and of God, and so are you and everyone and everything created in the One. God's Love has opened the door to forgiveness and my veiled personality has said yes to forgiving you and myself for arrogance of ignorance personified.

I look again with Christ Mind and see the Reality of you and me and all is nothing but the Light of God manifest. I love you, I bless you, I set you free to Be the Light and Love of God. I love my Self, I bless my Self and I set my Self free to Be the Light and Love of God. So Be It.

Rev. Therese Anne Ward is a Pathways of Light minister living in Cold Spring, Kentucky.
Email: d.t.ward@fuse.net

What Is Your Ministry --by Rev. Robert Stoelting

A Course in Miracles tells us that everyone can be a minister of God. But how do you become one and how to you do it?

You are a minister of God whenever you extend love; when you see the innocence in others; when you let go of guilt (judgment); when you forgive someone because you fully realize that no real harm happened so there was really nothing to forgive. And you are a minister of God when you help others let go of guilt, see their own innocence and experience the love that forever lies within them.

You don't need a piece of paper that says you are a minister of God. And declaring to the world that you are a minister of God does not make you a minister of God. In fact, you may be a minister of God one moment and an ally of the ego a moment later.

When you align yourself with the Idea of unity and love and your actions are guided by this Idea, you are a minister of God. When you identify with the idea of separation, which is identifying with the ego, you are the ego's agent, spreading the 'gospel' of judgment, guilt, fear and hate.

So how does being a minister of God show up in daily life? It can come in many different forms. It may last a brief moment or extend over a long period of time. It may occur only in your thoughts or it may involve physical activity or spoken words.

Someone cuts in front of you in heavy traffic. Instead of being irritated or judging them for their "reckless driving" as the ego's agent would, you remember that both you and the other driver are safe in the Arms of Love. You extend love to the driver, and in the process, feel the blessing of the love you extend.

A co-worker seems to be constantly finding fault with everything. From a place of peace within yourself, you are able to see the innocent child of God beneath the behavior. You recognize the judgments as calls for love and they pass you by without affecting your peace of mind.

In that peaceful state, you are inspired with ways to respond to these calls for love in your thoughts and actions. As you maintain your state of peace, you demonstrate that what appeared to be attack had no effect, so guilt is not justified and there is no need to fear.

Your six year old spills his plate of eggs on the carpet. You take a deep breath, remember your center of peace and respond with patience. The experience becomes a lesson in being careful without guilt or punishment. Your child remembers to be careful because of the love he feels rather than out of fear of punishment. (See the article "Finding a Miracle in Spilled Eggs" in Fall 1998 Miracles News.)

These are just a few examples of the myriad ways we can serve as ministers of God.

Your ministry is right where you are. The courses in the Pathways of Light ministerial training program offer many tools that anyone can use to be a minister of God in their daily life, no matter what their life circumstance. These tools help you let go of guilt and judgment, and connect with your Source of wisdom and peace within. The more you apply these tools, the more miracles of healing and forgiveness, the more moments of being a minister of God you will experience.

The form of each person's ministry is unique. It may look like working in an office or factory, laying carpet, being a cashier or managing a business. Or it may look like officiating weddings, counseling, facilitating courses or being a pastor of a church. All of these forms offer equal opportunities to extend love, equal opportunities to be a minister of God. Will you be a minister of God today? You can!

Rev. Robert Stoelting is cofounder of Pathways of Light and lives at the Center in Kiel, Wisconsin
Email: office@pathwaysoflight.org

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Using All of My Skills --by Rev. Georgeann Medved

Having muscular problems has been a challenge for me for the last eighteen years since I had my first pain crisis. I have learned that I must listen to my body for clues as to how much physical activity is appropriate on a daily basis and also how much mental stress I can tolerate. When I get tired or am in too much pain, I become angry and that is not good for me spiritually.

In order to do this I must remain calm, relaxed and centered and that's not always possible. Sometimes I have to just take a deep breath and adamantly say no when someone tries to pressure me into doing something that I feel would be too physically, mentally or spiritually demanding.

However, as I try to integrate Christ Consciousness into my daily life, I remember to practice my program of stretching and strengthening exercises, aerobic exercises, work, play, rest, prayer, meditation, community service and fellowship with others. I try to be aware of whether I am relaxed, centered and peaceful or tense and stressed so that I can continue to be a physically productive individual and continue to grow emotionally and spiritually as well.

As I grow emotionally and spiritually through Christ Consciousness, I feel like I am peeling off dander layers of my old self and finding under these old, flaky layers of limited beliefs a new person that is calm and serene and can cope with the physical, mental and spiritual stresses of life much easier than before.

For instance, my friend, Ruth, called me at 8:30 one evening last week and asked me to go out for dessert with her. I was very tired as I had spent all day at the doctor's office and running errands. I really wanted to go but I knew I had to rest my muscles, meditate and do my stretching exercises so I told her no. She is a great friend and understood my dilemma.

A while later I was doing my exercises and a car came into my driveway. My friend had driven 16 miles out of her way and brought an apple pie and ice cream to enjoy. As I laid on my sofa and enjoyed the tasty repast, I was delighted at her creative solution to my problem of being tired and her problem of needing to talk. Thank God for beautiful friends like Ruth who have an understanding attitude!

By using Christ Consciousness in my daily life, I can relax and know that I will keep growing and maturing into the beautiful flower that I am. I can accept that I will make mistakes and have setbacks. However, I will learn from my mistakes and losses and move steadily forward.

When I remain relaxed, centered and calm, I am able to keep in touch with my Christ Consciousness and know what is for my own highest good. This helps me with my physical needs as well as my mental and spiritual needs. I choose to live this way and am willing to work toward this goal one day at a time.

Rev. Georgeann Medved is a Pathways of Light minister living in Lapeer, Michigan.
Email: revgeorgeann@juno.com
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Infinite Patience --by Rev. Mary Stoelting

The Course describes the Holy Spirit as having infinite patience. This means patience without end... always patient... calm and always at peace. The Holy Spirit within us always extends peace because It always remembers the truth. The Holy Spirit within us always remembers that only Love is real.

If I am not experiencing the peace and infinite patience of the Holy Spirit, then I am identifying with ego thoughts and have forgotten my true Identity. When I identify with ego thoughts, I feel impatient, disgruntled, lacking or vulnerable. When I identify with ego thoughts, I think this world of separate bodies is real. I find fault with what is 'happening' and think I need to change something outside in the world. I forget that the outside world I am seeing is coming from my mistaken mind. I make the mistaken thoughts of the ego real.

If I am really serious about waking up to reality, I will not make the world that comes from the ego real. I will be willing to be led beyond these barriers of division to the truth. If I am really serious about waking up to reality, I will be willing to look at how patient and relaxed I feel in every situation or circumstance in my 'life.' If I tense up about anything, it is a form of defending against something I am making real in my mind. If I tense up, I am joining with ego thoughts again, which generates fear and judgment.

The Course reminds me that judgment or evaluation is not my job. I am reminded that only the Holy Spirit can judge. If I am open and receptive, the Holy Spirit tells me that if it is not Love, it is not real. If I defend against something, I am judging that it is real. The Course reminds me that the Holy Spirit never fights against what It knows is not real. It extends Love or Reality in every situation because Love or Reality is the only answer to both Love and calls for Love. And in Love there is peace and infinite patience.

I am learning to pay attention to which thought system I am buying into -- the ego or Holy Spirit. I do this by asking myself, "How patient do I feel right now? Am I remembering that I am Love and nothing else?" The Course tells us in the Introduction that Love has no opposite. It says, "Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God." When I am not making the world of the ego real, I am naturally at peace and extend Love because what is not Love is not real. It does not exist. Love cannot be threatened. What is not Love does not exist. It is just false 'image making' that comes from false ideas from the ego. Love -- What we all are -- is eternally safe.

This is why the Holy Spirit has peace and infinite patience in every situation. It does not make the error real. It is not threatened by or against what It knows are illusions.

It is only through being open to the Holy Spirit that I can return to the infinite patience and eternal peace that heals the mixed up and insane thoughts in my mind. It is only the Holy Spirit that can return my mind to peace. I am willing for that time to be now.

So whenever I am not at peace, I do have a way to return to sanity. I can let my mind be quiet. I can have the willingness to ask for and receive the truth from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit reminds me that my true Identity is Love and nothing else. The Holy Spirit reminds me again that nothing real can be threatened and nothing unreal exists. All is safe. Only in a world of illusions is there turmoil. Remembering this brings me back to the feeling of infinite patience that comes from the Holy Spirit.

Rev. Mary Stoelting is cofounder of Pathways of Light and lives at the Center in Kiel, Wisconsin.
Email: office@pathwaysoflight.org
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A Promise --by Joyce Champion

It's not every Wind
that evokes
my
Soul
but
the carrier of winter
just surrendered

full fury dampened
enough
to birth the hope
of its Eternal following

Life Beheld
at the cusp of all
stirring captured
and silhouetted against time's fading
light of anticipation

Pure Joy

Joyce Champion is a Pathways of Light
student living in Ipswich, Massachusetts
Email: joymcompton@aol.com
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Experiencing Counseling through the medium of the Internet can be just as rewarding and dynamic as working together face-to-face in the same physical location. In fact, spiritual counseling in a chat room, Instant Messenger, or email lends itself well to the process of connecting mind-to-mind and getting our physical identity out of the way.

In one of the lessons of the A Course in Miracles® workbook, we are reminded that "complete abstraction is the natural condition of the mind" and when you think of it, what can be more abstract than the Internet? I am capable of having an intimate and satisfying moment sharing my mind with another person perhaps 2000 miles away. How liberating this sharing can be without the limitations of speech, body language, or geographic distance.

Online spiritual counseling is not for everyone however, as the medium itself can be daunting to some. Some people are not comfortable with computers and the technology can present a barrier to ease of use. Many people have never learned to type fast enough to carry on a two-way conversation in real time or maybe have never learned to type at all. Another barrier to online communication can be that some people are not able to articulate how they feel through the written word. They may feel stifled as they struggle to put into words how they think and feel. The added pressure of keeping up and typing fast enough may just be too much stress and may actually impede the counseling benefits.

There are those of us who feel totally comfortable with the Internet and the abstraction of chat room communication. Our computers are like second nature to us, typing what we feel is effortless as we pour our minds and hearts into the connection we are able to make with others in such a free environment. Some people may find that they can be more honest and open with a counselor in the Internet as the intensity of face-to-face communication is missing and there is more anonymity. For those who are home-bound because of mobility impairments, Internet counseling can be a vital link to humanity and alleviates isolation and loneliness.

Having said that, I'd like to go over briefly the process of online spiritual counseling itself. First, we begin with what I call the housekeeping aspect, which is explaining the process with our partner in awakening, discussing fees or love offerings and the method of payment, if applicable. We work through technical issues such as how the interaction will take place, e.g. through the Pathways of Light chat room or Instant Messenger or through back-and-forth emails.

Once this is resolved, the spiritual counselor asks the person wanting to heal their mind if they wish to continue and asks for permission and their full commitment to the process and to healing. The Holy Spirit is invited in and we start with prayer. The person is asked to discuss what is causing them to lose their peace and writes a statement of intention to focus on in the session.

The discussion of the "problem" ensues until the person has fully explored what they are feeling, thinking and hoping in relation to it. During this time, the spiritual counselor's role is to be as helpful as possible, being careful not to analyze the problem, thereby adding validity to it. When the problem is fully explored, the person can synthesize the discussion into a sentence or two to determine if we have really arrived at the crux of the matter.

A point to note here with regard to online counseling is that misunderstandings can occur between the partners in awakening as to what is truly being said because typed sentences lack the nuance of sarcasm, humor or seriousness and, of course, facial expressions. Be careful to say you are just kidding or are stating something tongue-in-cheek, otherwise a sentence can be taken quite literally!

The next step is inviting in the peace of the Holy Spirit. Here we experience some differences between in-person counseling and online counseling by the fact that we are watching a computer screen and cannot close our eyes to meditate. It is important to inform the person that they can relax and fully access the wisdom of the Holy Spirit and surrender to the moment with their eyes open.

When both of you are ready, lead your partner through the healing process as we have learned through our Self-Awakening Spiritual Counseling training with eyes wide open and a clear channel to Spirit, whether it be a 56K modem or a cable or a satellite dish! As long as your partner in awakening is open to allowing the process to work for them through the medium of the Internet, it will work for them.

Which brings up the matter of resistance. What can we do as spiritual counselors when our spiritual partner in awakening resists or has trouble with the medium itself or does not feel that they are surrendering enough to access Inner Wisdom?

Remember that you are not the counselor, the Holy Spirit is. Stay in peace yourself and continue to follow the lead of the Holy Spirit to help them move through the clouds of conflict. With the Holy Spirit leading the session, if they have the willingness, they will access their inner Light, which will bring them naturally and easily into a state of peace.

You may be led to ask questions that will facilitate openness and moving through the process of looking at the thoughts that bring the experience of division and conflict. You may be led by the Holy Spirit to use visual images that will help them to recognize the thoughts that are going on in the background of their mind.

Because the medium we are dealing with consists of hardware, technology and words, we both need to be committed to be open to and follow the lead of the Holy Spirit in our minds. As we join together with this intent, both partners participating in this joining process are healed. You can tell when the Holy Spirit has completed Its work for the session when there is a felt presence of the deep peace and calm of the Holy Spirit. There is a feeling that all is well and everyone is safe in the arms of God.

The session ends with a discussion of what was learned and gratitude to Spirit for the healing experience . It is helpful for both partners in awakening to share how the session went for them and how they want to apply what they learned in their daily life.

Online spiritual counseling is yet another useful tool for our extension of Love as ministers of God. I have found it useful to remember a quote from the Manual for Teachers that we should, "never forget that the Holy Spirit does not depend on your words. He understands the requests of your heart, and answers them." The instant healing is welcomed, through whatever medium or channel, it is there.

Rev. Joan Haber resides in Sarasota, FL. She can be reached via email at: joan1@comcast.net

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