I recently finished the double book set of A Return to Love and The Gift of Change by Marianne Williamson and I have to say it was an inspiring and challenging undertaking. Although I thought I would like the double book idea, in the end, it felt tedious and I am not sure I will jump at the chance to purchase 2 books in one again. However, that does not take away from the life-changing experiences I had while reading the books and I really think that reading A Return to Love and then The Gift of Change is a wonderful way to reinforce the messages in the two books because the 2nd really reinforces the first. Being that love is the most important thing we need to be relearning and fear be the thing we need to unlearn and forgiveness is key to both.
God Never Loses Enthusiasm For Life!
“Every situation comes bearing a gift: a chance to become who we really want to be and to live the lives we really want to live…God never loses His enthusiasm for life, and neither should we.” Marianne Williamson, The Gift of Change
The joy of living comes when we stop seeing ourselves as other people see us, forgive ourselves and others and remember we were born with the purpose of being loved and to love.
The ego is an embodiment of our own self-hatred. It has the power of our minds turned against us while it sabotages our hopes and dreams. It keeps us separate from others. It keeps us afraid.
As we accept that we are children of God and practice loving ourselves and others, our ego gets smaller and less important. Remembering we are all connected through our Creator frees us from fear.
We Are All Connected Through Our Creator
We forget who we are because we forget we are connected through our Creator and Source and we can’t serve wealth and our egos and serve love at the same time. When we remember we are connected we know that by harming others, we harm ourselves so we would never do that. We find ourself saying old negative messages about ourself and we need to stop and reprogram ourself:
I am amazing because God only creates perfection. I recognize my immeasurable value, regardless of my mistakes, for which I ask forgiveness for. I am God’s creation and I ask the universe to reflect back to me the greatness of God that is within me.
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“We are trained within this world, to see ourselves as the ego defines us…We are taught to identify with our guilt more than our innocence, and then we feel haunted by mistakes we feel will dominate the rest of our lives; we are taught to blame others more than to forgive them, and then we get stuck in feelings of victimization; we are taught that we are separate from others, and then we fall prey to grandiosity and insensitivity.” Marianne Williamson, The Gift of Change
Changing the World Starts With Changing Our Minds
The thoughts we think can bring us joy or fear depending on whether they are positive or negative. Choosing peace and forgiveness will bring our collective mind closer to peace and forgiveness. What we proclaim to be true will seem to be true. We must train our minds to proclaim gratitude and positive thoughts — there is always goodness. Even if you miss the warm sun and are sick of the rain, trees and vegetables needs lots of rain.
How we see ourself is how we see our life and we are responsible for how we experience our life.
“…life isn’t about not having problems, it’s about becoming someone who knows how to do well within problems in a positive way. It’s about taking full responsibility for however we might have contributed to a problem, forgiving ourselves and others, praying for all concerned, and developing faith that God’s miracle is always on the way.” Marianne Williamson, The Gift of Change
When we feel stuck it is because we are looking outside and not inside ourselves and holding onto old coping skills. We blame others when we should take responsibility for our lives. We judge others instead of bless them. We close ourselves off instead of being kind and open-minded. When we deal with our issues we are a blessing to those around us.
How can we bless people instead of judge them when they are hurting us, maybe repeatedly? Ask God to show us their perspective. This will help us have compassion. This might still mean we need to limit our time with this person but loving them instead of closing our hearts to them is a good place to start for reconciliation.
“We were born with a natural desire to extend ourselves in love, yet the thinking of the world then trains us to think unnaturally, spontaneous compassion occurs when situations happen so quickly that ego thoughts of fear and separation are bypassed. Ironically, dangerous situations often bring out the natural in people.” Marianne Williamson, The Gift of Change
If You Want Peace You Must Have Time with God
Meditation and spending time with God daily is imperative to peace. It increases our spiritual muscle and makes the challenges of life easier. It also strengthens our relationship and reliance on our Creator. 5 minutes at the beginning of the day is vital. The longer you can spend, the easier it will be to live in peace. These minutes can look like lots of things: giving Him your first thoughts before you get out of bed, bible study, meditation, worship with song and dance, random talks with Him, your last thoughts before you go to sleep. Any time you spend with your Higher Power is going to help you stay focused on your goal to forget fear and learn love.
“If you want a miracle in your life, simply pray for one. For as long as you are willing to change your mind, then God will change your life.” Marianne Williamson, The Gift of Change
Our ego is supported by our thoughts that have been trained to pull us away from love and abundance so we experience fear and lack. As we trust more and let fear dissolve, we will live the pure life we were made for. But we have to choose to trust our fears to our Maker. God honors our right to choose our fears. Our ego makes us feel strong when we are defensive but that is an illusion. When we are vulnerable before God, His love can flow through us with His spiritual strength. Childlike peace replaces childish projecting.
“To pray, ‘God please take this,’ is an act of empowerment, not weakness…When I remember that God’s power is unlimited, I stop stressing about how limited mine is.” Marianne Williamson, The Gift of Change
God Was With You Yesterday But He Is With You Now
God and miracles only happen now. The ego likes to keeps us in the past or future (otherwise known as anxiety) so we can’t enjoy our life now. Living in the past or future is painful because it leaves God out. The past is only connected to the future if we let it. When we let our thoughts and actions become based on yesterday’s circumstances we are giving up our right to change the circumstances. We are also leaving out what we have learned since then.
“Joy can be found only one place at one time: right here, right now. Regardless of where we’re going tomorrow, it’s important to bless where we are and enjoy the fruits of today.” Marianne Williamson, The Gift of Change
When we blame others the ego can remind us of our guilt too and keep our self-hatred growing. When we forgive others and ourself and accept our healing and innocence from the Holy Spirit we will find peace. Trusting the Holy Spirit to heal and care for you and others will free you to be full of joy and maybe the person that hurt you too. Maybe it will change the dynamic of your relationship in a good way or maybe it will show you how your path has moved away from this person but you are still able to love as you walk away. Either way you have peace.
“It doesn’t matter what someone said when you were a child; you know now that you’re smart and attractive. It doesn’t matter what happened before; you can rise up now and start over. It doesn’t matter what they did to you; forgiveness has washed you clean.” Marianne Williamson, The Gift of Change
To be a miracle worker we must:
- see forgiveness as our function
- give up all our invented personal goals
- avoid self-initiated plans
- know if you are afraid, you are trusting in your strength and not God’s
“It’s time to see miracles in our own lives, to be resurrected from the littleness of our former selves. Through God, these things are impossible. These miracles are available, and they are necessary now.” Marianne Williamson, The Gift of Change
There was so much to absorb from reading The Gift of Change. Believe it or not, these are not all my notes. I learned so much from both A Return to Love and The Gift of Change and many were reminders of many other times I have gone through tremendous growth. These reminders were a gift and made it easy to embrace the messages. It made it easy for me to reaffirm that I want to unlearn my fears and relearn to love and be open to love and forgiveness even when it would be natural for me to close myself off because I feel hurt or scared. I imagine the process of change will require some practice but I am thankful that I am never alone on this path because my Creator is with me always.
Be blessed.
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Feel free to leave your comments below!
My name is Summer. That is how you can call me. I hope that I am a blessing to you. I am not perfect. I will fall again. But I am forgiven.
Do you know Jesus? Do want the Holy Spirit to fill you and give you understanding and salvation? Ask Him. Want someone to pray with you? Contact me.
If you would like to know Jesus as your friend, but want to make this amazing commitment by yourself please pray something like this:
Thank you Jesus that You are the Son of God, the God that created heaven and earth. Thank you Jesus that You came to earth in the form of a man so that You would be able to empathize with my humanity. Thank You that You did this in order to fulfill the promises You made at the foundation of the world.
I realize that I am a sinner and do things that hurt myself and keep myself away from you. Thank You that You died for my sins so that You could defeat death and bring me into Your life. Please forgive me.
I ask You to be Lord of my life. I ask you to heal my hurts and show me what my new life, empowered by You looks like. Thank You for Your mercy.
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