When I was a child I was not brought up in a church environment (although my parents said they took me a couple times), I was not taught worship any particular God. I was not brought up to believe that any particular religion was right or wrong. My parents simply didn’t address the issue.
Through out my teen years it was brought to my attention that my father had long searched for a God that suited him. He tried on every religion there was and never seemed to settle comfortably into one belief- this piqued my curiosity as well. When I was about 14 I started going to church with friends, looking into Buddhism and developing my own ideas on what it meant to have ‘God’ in my life.
I soon settled on the thought that all religion originated from one place and it was interpreted differently throughout the entire world. I focused on many of the Buddhist principles that encouraged peace, love and generosity. Heck, I even got a tattoo of Buddha that symbolizes Peace & Enlightenment.
Some of us, perhaps most of us, were raised in a society where it was taught that God is there to watch over us, but should we step out of line, his forgiveness is not easy to come by. From time to time, some of us might even be doomed to Hell for not following his word, for being gay, for not going to church, or for not accepting him as our personal savior. I don’t know about you, but the concept of a God turning his back on me when I needed him most turned me off. It made me not want to know God at all.
I started calling my higher power ‘The Universe.’ The term was freeing for me. It did not carry any negative connotation, there was no guilt, no shame, just enlightenment, peace and inspiration. Through Mike Dooley’s speaking, I learned that the power to alter my life and way of being was in my thoughts. I have practiced ‘Thoughts Become Things’ for 3 years now, and have created a world that I never imagined existing.
It wasn’t until September of 2009 that my world started to shift far beyond what I deemed possible. My perception of God and all that he is was altered and my world opened up. I received a gift in the mail from my good friend, Leslee Horner- a book, entitled A Return to Love by Marianne Williamson. I doubt Leslee realized what a profound impact this gift would have on my life at the time she bought it for me. Every page I turned, every chapter I entered brought me to a new platform of my knowledge of God.
A Return to Love teaches that God is Love- nothing more, nothing less. God does not wish to punish us; he wants to heal us, to shift our perception of reality. Our soul purpose for existing is to be love.
Human relationships exist to produce love. When we pollute our relationships with unloving thoughts, or destroy or abort them with unloving attitudes, we are threatening our emotional survival.
In that moment it became clear to me. The solution to all my conflicts was love. Returning my thoughts to love at any moment of despair, anger, especially fear would be a miracle, a break through in how I have been living my life.
Perhaps the most important moment of realization was that I was on vacation the week of my birthday in Port Aransas, Texas. I soon found myself standing in waves of the ocean on a dark beach with nothing but the stars above me. In that moment, I Surrendered. I Surrendered my life, my thoughts, my goals, my relationships, my hopes, my dreams, my ambitions, my future; I handed all over to God. To the energy of love.
We are simply asked to shift focus and to take on a more gently perception. That’s all God needs. Just one sincere surrendered moment, when love matters more than anything, and we know that nothings else really matters at all. What He gives us in return for our openness to Him, is an outpouring of His power from deep within us. We are given His power to share with world, to heal wounds, to awaken hearts.
If my purpose here on earth is to be a vessel for God’s love- I’m down.
Who needs some lovin’?!
What about you, have you been hiding from the love of God, from the love of our Universe? I invite you to embrace your fears, hand them over to The Universe, open your heart to love and anything is truly possible.
Hi Megan–Thanks for sharing your experience. I WAS raised in the church, in a way filled with guilt and shame. I’ve since had to re-learn what God is to me, without the pretense. It was a few years ago that I had a profoundly spiritual experience that showed me not so much that God is love, but that in it’s purest form, Love is god. What a shift! I am grateful for it.
“One sincere surrendered moment, when love matters more than anything.” That is beautiful. Surrender is essential. Love is what we reap. This is a beautiful writing today. Thank you.. Terah
Beautiful. I’m going to pass the link onto my tribe!!
Three things stood out for me:
*The solution to all my conflicts was love.
*I surrendered. I handed all over to God. To the energy of love.
*Just one sincere surrendered moment, when love matters more than anything, and we know that nothings else really matters at all.
I’ve been a long time fan of both Marianne Williamson and Mike Dooley. Yet, I’ve never read A Return to Love – guess what’s going on my kindle!
xo
Thank you, Megan, for sharing your beautiful thoughts on this subject and your breathtaking tattoo!
For me, it’s been a journey into the divine feminine. It started with a visit from the two Marys–Mother of Jesus and Mary Magdalene, when I was facing a difficult health issue. I, too, had not grown up religious and had no real conception or understanding of these two Marys until I accepted them in as spiritual guides and began to get to know them and experience them on an inner soul level. That opened me to the goddess in her many forms, throughout time and through many cultures. To me, what is sorely lacking in patriarchal religions, is the feminine face of God. Now I seek her and see her in so many places. Our society and culture and my soul need this balance. To me, love is found here.
Susan,
Thank you so much for taking the time to comment on my post. God’s love is INCREDIBLE when we allow ourselves to define what it means for us on an individual level. When we do finally discover it, that is when miracles are truly able to take place.
Thank you!
Megan
Terah- Thank YOU! I so appreciate you taking the time to read and comment. It means so much to me. XO
Jen,
As I have said – THANK YOU! For sharing, for reading, for commenting. It is greatly appreciated. A Return to Love obviously continues to change my life. Please put it at the top of your to-read list – you won’t regret it!
Stephanie,
That is beautiful. I too have experienced the feminine power- perhaps not in such a profound way as you. But I believe when we allow ourselves to be open to source, the power that appears is the one that we need most in our lives at that given time.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience. LOVE to you,
Megan
I too call that powerful feeling The Universe! & I’m reading A Return to Love right now. Ahh, synchronicity.. it’s beautiful
This is a big authority issue for me, something I’m STILL situating cause, well, it just takes a good little while to pluck out things so deeply ingrained during the earliest sponge years. I’m working on it, though. Last year I sat with a friend who continued to witness to me, sharing her testimony and doing her deadlevel best to convert me in hopes of saving my soiled soul. When I could take it not a moment longer, I took a deep breath and began to articulate what had long been simmering on my back burner. I got only so far as “I believe we are all divine beings” when she – and I’m not kidding – put her fingers in her ears, this grown woman, and began to sing rather loudly la-la-la-la-la-la-la right there in the middle of the restaurant. Since that day, I haven’t tried to talk about this again – at least not on the outside.