Jack was in front of me coming out of church one day, and the preacher was standing at the door as he always is to shake hands.
The preacher grabbed Jack by the hand and pulled him aside. The pastor said to him, “You need to join the Army of the Lord!”Jack replied, “I’m already in the Army of the Lord, Pastor.”
Pastor questioned, “How come I almost never see you except at Christmas and Easter?”
Jack whispered back, “I’m in the secret service.”
Nine year old Joey was asked by his mother what he had learned at Sunday school.
“Well, Mom, our teacher told us how God sent Moses behind enemy lines on a rescue mission to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.
“When he got to the Red Sea, he had his engineers build a pontoon bridge and all the people walked across safely.
“Then he used his walkie-talkie to radio headquarters for reinforcements. They sent bombers to blow up the bridge and all the Israelites were saved.”
“Now, Joey, is that really what your teacher taught you?” his mother asked.
“Well, no. But if I told it the way the teacher did, you’d never believe it!”
Researchers may beg to differ, but I know I’m healthy now partly because of the praying others did for me.
By Valerie Reiss
Before I was diagnosed with cancer about a year and a half ago, prayer was only dimly on my radar.
Raised by an agnostic Jew and an ambivalent Baptist in mostly Quaker schools, I never learned how to pray. But as I entered college, the space created inside me by the silence of all those Quaker meetings began to fill with spiritual longing, a yearning to connect with all the luscious divine energy I was pretty sure was out there somewhere. As I started studying yoga and Eastern spiritualities in college, a Rumi line wound its way into me: “There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.” The idea that prayer could be as free, passionate, and expansive as falling in love was reassuring and thrilling.
I began to dip my toes into prayer when I moved to Maui right after graduating from college. I was still a little tetchy about the word God, but I eventually realized I could pray just fine as long as I was speaking to a female form of divinity (my favorites were Kali, Mary, and Sarasvati) or a gender-free source of luminous divine love. Then I could connect; I could feel the love slowly pouring through me like the fresh coconut water my friends and I drank straight from the nut. Around that time I read an Anne Lamott quote that stuck: the two best ways to pray are “help me, help me, help me” and “thank you, thank you, thank you.” I used it again and again.
But after moving back to my hometown of New York City, prayer fell away in exchange for shopping, culture, and financial survival. But when I was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma five years later at age 31, everything kind of stopped. I can’t say that I did the classic thing of getting on my knees and begging for help. I think I had been steeped in New Age thinking long enough to feel like the help was already there, that I just needed to receive it as best I could and trust that the message of this illness would eventually get to me—without doing me in.
One of my stepsisters asked if there was anything else she could do. “Pray for me,” I asked. The request and the assurance in my tone surprised me. “Get me onto any prayer circles you can think of,” I asked. I have no idea if she actually did it, but I felt empowered, like suddenly it made sense—of course this was part of my treatment regimen: Chemo every other Thursday, and prayer wherever I could get it, on constant psychic IV drip.
I immediately emailed my ex-boyfriend who had become a Franciscan monk (hermetical, but wired). I wrote that I was sick, and asked him to pray for me. He answered that he would. And from almost the very moment of his reply, I felt buoyed by a swoop of invisible support. Maybe that’s what happens when you ask a professional prayer to pray—he’s not squeezing you in between work and errands and TV, but is sitting alone all day praying.
I started asking everyone even vaguely spiritual to pray for me. It felt a little self-indulgent, but a part of me was one-pointed and intensely serious about it. I would feel these internal gusts once in a while, like I was being given energy and support that wasn’t mine–and sometimes I could almost feel who was making requests on my behalf. My friend Jaanette, a wild-haired goddess, didn’t call much while I was sick, but I could feel her praying. She’d finally get around to calling and say, “I’m so sorry, but I’ve really been praying for you,” and I’d say “I know, it’s okay,” not feeling any of the hurt I felt with other friends who dropped away during that time.
The new study that found that praying for someone doesn’t do anything for the prayed-for, like recent nutritional studies—low fat, not low fat, calcium, no calcium—will plant seeds of doubt in the minds of prayers and prayees everywhere. And it will also strengthen others’ resolve to ignore the scientists and keep on kneeling in hundreds of ways. For me, it doesn’t make a dent. I know that a big part of the reason I’m cancer-free and feeling good right now is because of all those people who closed their eyes and sent blessings, requests, and good vibes my way. All I can say is my own prayer back: Thank you, thank you, thank you.
When you or a loved one is faced with the frightening diagnosis of cancer, it’s natural to experience feelings like hopelessness, fear, and despair. In those moments, we are most in need of simple words that can bring comfort, faith, and the hope of healing. Let this gallery of prayers, mantras, and healing words bring some peace into the cancer journey.
May God heal me,
body and soul.
May my pain cease,
May my strength increase,
May my fears be released,
May blessings, love,
and joy surround me.
Amen.
O Lord, my God,
I cried out to You,
and You healed me.
–Psalm 30:3
My spirit I commit to You,
my body, too, and all I prize;
Both when I sleep
and when I wake,
You are with me;
I shall not fear.
May all beings everywhere plagued with sufferings of body and mind quickly be freed from their illnesses. May those frightened cease to be afraid, and may those bound be free. May the powerless find power, and may people think of befriending one another.
–The Buddha
Please God,
bring healing.
–Exodus 12:13
Blessed are You,
Compassionate One,
For giving me
these droplets of
(name of chemotherapy drug),
Like refreshing dew
and healing rain,
may they save my life.
–Diann L. Neu
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
–Hebrews 11:1
Dear God,
I have developed a disease which I have often feared. I am afraid. I am lonely. Questions crowd my mind: Will I be cured? Will there be pain? How long will I live? How will my family handle this? I ask with all my heart that I be healed. But, if my healing is not in Your great plan, I trust You to be with me through it all. I trust You to give me peace, to let me live with hope, to relieve any pain, and to let me know Your presence. Amen.
O God, Your ways are holiness;
what god is as great as God?
You are the God who works wonders.
–Psalm 77:14
May all be loved.
May all be healed.
May all be sheltered.
May all be free from fear.
May I be loved.
May I be healed.
May I be sheltered.
May I be free from fear.
–Diann L. Neu
For more, visit: www.inspiredlifeonline.com or www.inspiredlife.wordpress.com
Look to this day, for it is Life, the very life of Life;
In its brief course lie all the verities and realities of your existence…
the bliss of Growth, the glory of Action, the splendour of Beauty.
For Yesterday is but a dream,
and Tomorrow only a vision;
But Today well lived makes Yesterday a dream of Happiness
and Tomorrow a vision of Hope.
Look well, therefore, to this day.
Such is the salutation to the Dawn.
- Kálidása
Hi everyone,
I’m putting together a “Mastermind Group” because I believe that I can have anything I want in life, if I help enough people get what they want.
A Mastermind Group can focus special energy on your effort in the form of knowledge, resources and spiritual energy. While you must always do the work of becoming a great success, this group can harness and maximize the spiritual focus behind your success. In short, “mastermind” is both that power coming to us from above, from the God force, but also that power which comes to us from each other. Together, we know more and can focus more energy than any one of us alone.
My intent is to create a space/group where people can focus on similar goals and work together to achieve them, such as financial success, emotional fitness, overall physical wellness, time freedom, spiritual and personal development.
In the area of emotional fitness, spiritual and personal development, we will discuss all matters that relate to this area, and gain knowledge, understanding, and most of all, tolerance of each other through the wisdom we will acquire thanks to these discussions. I am a Motivational Speaker and Life Coach, and I intend to use my knowledge and experience to help anyone who joins this group reach their highest potential and achieve all their dreams by learning the principles of Law of Attraction, Goal Setting and achievement, and Affirmative Self-Talk.
In the area of time freedom, we will explore the various ways of managing time and using it well. Everyone has the same 24 hours everyday, and we will learn how to use every bit of this time and do something smart with it.
In the area of physical wellness, we will review our lifestyles and the choices we make everyday that pertain to our health. I strongly believe that if we don’t take time right now for living healthy and exercising, we will have to take time later for illness.
In the area of financial success, I will teach you the principles that are used by the richest people in the world and show you how to bring more into your life. Financial success is there already, we just have to open to it. If it’s raining and you have your bucket facing down, don’t complain if you don’t get any water in it. Instead, I will teach you how to turn it facing up to get water in it. I will even go further by showing you how to get a bigger bucket so that you can receive more water. I will also introduce you to five (5) business opportunities that will allow you to use the principles that you will learn in this group and apply them in real life.
I chose these five business opportunities so that everyone can find what they want, and do something they’re good at. You might be good at personal selling, you might be good at recruiting people, you might have a lot of time, you might have money for businesses with high starting costs, you might be internet savvy, or you might not have any of these qualities. In any case, one of these opportunities will suit you.
You might be asking yourself why I am doing this. First of all, that’s what I love to do: Help people achieve what they want in life. The greatest reward I can get is to see someone achieve their full potential, knowing that I helped in the process. “I don’t think you will understand what I feel when such a thing happens. I can just feel it, not explain it. It’s a feeling of achievement for myself”. You must also understand that in the Multi-Level Marketing industry, the more people you help make money, the more money you make. I prefer to help 100 people achieve success and make 1% on the efforts of these 100 people than to make 100% on my own efforts. You will also learn, in this group, that we all come from one source, and that what benefits one, benefits all mankind.
If you wish to join, send an email to vaness@vaness.ws with “Mastermind Group” in the subject and include “your full name, email address, phone number and the reason why you wish to join the group” in the body of the message.
There are a minimum of three groups: one meets online, one meets via telephone conference, and the others meet at different locations across the United States.
With all my love, Vaness Saint-Louis
Inspired Life, Inc.
www.vaness.ws / www.inspiredlifeonline.com
vaness@vaness.ws / vaness@inspiredlifeonline.com
516-233-7377.
A Briton, a Frenchman and a Russian are viewing a painting of Adam and Eve frolicking in the Garden of Eden.
“Look at their reserve, their calm,” muses the Brit. “They must be British.”
“Nonsense,” the Frenchman disagrees. “They’re naked, and so beautiful. Clearly, they are French.”
“No clothes, no shelter,” the Russian points out, “they have only an apple to eat, and they’re being told this is paradise. They are Russian.”
An atheist was spending a quiet day fishing when suddenly his boat was attacked by the Loch Ness monster. In one easy flip, the beast tossed him and his boat high into the air. Then it opened its mouth to swallow both.
As the man sailed head over heels, he cried out, “Oh, my God! Help me!”
At once, the ferocious attack scene froze in place, and as the atheist hung in mid-air, a booming voice came down from the clouds, “I thought you didn’t believe in Me!”
“Come on God, give me a break!!” the man pleaded. “Two minutes ago I didn’t believe in the Loch Ness monster either!”
| “The scientific truth may be put quite briefly; eat moderately, having an ordinary mixed diet, and don’t worry.“ | ||
|
- Robert Hutchison |
I pray that we may at all times keep our minds open to new ideas and shun dogma; that we may grow in our understanding of the nature of all living beings and our connectedness with the natural world; that we may become ever more filled with generosity of spirit and true compassion and love for all life…
I pray that we may learn the peace that comes with forgiving and the strength we gain in loving; that we may learn to take nothing for granted in this life; that we may learn to see and understand with our hearts; that we may learn to join in our being.
- Jane Goodall
Because I feel that in the heavens above
The angels, whispering one to another,
Can find among their burning tears of love,
None so devotional as that of “Mother,”
Therefore, by that dear name I have long called you,
You who are more than mother unto me.
-Edgar Allan Poe
A Sunday school teacher asked her students to draw a picture of Jesus’ family. After collecting the drawings, she noticed that one little boy’s drawing depicted an airplane with four heads sticking out of the windows. “I see you drew three heads to show Joseph, Mary and Jesus,” she said to the boy. “But who does the fourth head belong to?”
The boy replied, “That’s Pontius the pilot.”
Source of all good! Day by day are thy blessings renewed to us; and again we come with thankful hearts to seek the sense of thy presence. O that we could be reborn like the morning, and our love rise as fresh as the dawn, and our obedience be as sure as the path of the sun.
For even as we seek to commune with thee, shadows from our past dim the joy of our aspiration. We remember our thoughtless lives, our impatient tempers, our selfish aims; and yet we know that thou has neither made us blind like the creatures that have no sin, nor left us without holy guidance–thy still, small voice speaking in our inmost conscience and thine open word, having dwelt among us full of grace and truth, appealing to us to choose the better part.
Take us now to serve thee in newness of spirit, and sweep away with a holy breath every dust of care, every trace of fear, every taint of an uncharitable mind.
- James Martineau
Never mind what-is. Imagine it the way you want it to be so that your vibration is a match to your desire. When your vibration is a match to your desire, all things in your experience will gravitate to meet that match every time.
“Whenever suffering happens, don’t collect it. Allow it to happen, but don’t nourish it. Why go on talking about it? Everyone talks about his suffering. Why is there so much emphasis on it? Why give so much attention to it? Remember one of the laws: that whatsoever you pay much attention to grows. Attention is a growth helping element. If you pay attention to something, it grows more.”
Osho
