Our Desire to Help You Love
There is one thing that governs the Universe that we live in, the workings of our soul, spirit body and physical body. It is the basis of all Law that God has created.
The absence or presence of this one thing within our soul either limits or expands or our ability to learn and understand ALL subjects; to change; to heal; and to become compassionate and creative humans.
This one thing forms the basis of any real relationship and yet it is the very thing that – really – we know almost nothing about.
That ‘one thing’ is Love.
We receive no formal education in what love is or how truly to love ourselves or others. And the environment which we live and grow up in is just as un-educated about love as the adults we have become.
If we were to quantify and analyse the products of our lives we would see that the majority of us have pursued and even succeeded in a wealth of activities.
Yet when we measure the intentions behind our activities and the harvest they yield it is clear that we have spent very little time seeking to understand love.
Our lack of attention towards love makes no sense since the very key to our eternal happiness, creativity and growth lies in our ability to recognise love, to give love and to receive it. When we know love, give love and welcome it into our lives then all of our other pursuits are enriched in terms of pleasure, success and quality.
Because we’re pretty clueless about love, most of us have no idea what a loving relationship with God entails. Instead we project our demands and expectations of what we think love ‘should be’ onto God and when God doesn’t respond in the way that we want Her to, we feel that God doesn’t care about us, or we decide that He doesn’t exist at all. We end up further and further away from the One Being – God – who can teach us infinitely and rapidly about love.
Unless we begin to develop a humble attitude towards learning about ourselves and to change our understanding of love then we will never connect to God.
We all badly need an education in love.
Jesus and I know this and we want to change it!
We have been busy working on a project that I am so excited to share with you all. We have created a new series of Assistance Groups entitled “An Education in Love”.
If you felt completely overwhelmed by the scope of everything that we offered in a single week at the 2014 groups, I think that you will find the format for the new series really beneficial.
This series of 8 individual groups is designed to give participants the chance to study in more detail the basic issues that block their understanding of, and desire to love. They provide practical teaching about how to work through these issues and begin to receive Love from God.
The basic idea of these groups is to take the topics we introduced in the 2014 Assistance Group, and spend an entire 6 days focusing on deepening your understanding and education in love on these subjects.
I believe that the biggest service that Jesus and I can offer at this time is to not only assist people to grow their soul based understanding of what is required in order to establish a true and lasting relationship with God, but also to assist people to understand their soul condition as it is right now.
Understanding one’s own soul condition enables a person to quickly and practically work upon their impediments to growth. I can’t overstate how important and valuable receiving direct, loving personal feedback has been for my growth in love.
While all 8 of these unique groups in this series will be recorded for listening or viewing after the fact, attending a group in person will give you the unique opportunity to receive direct feedback that will assist you in your relationship with God. So my feeling is, if you can manage to attend at least one group in person it will be a milestone in your progress towards God.
Introducing the Series
The series of Assistance Groups is called “An Education in Love”. It will run over two years.
Each group will focus on a particular theme and is designed to assist participants to obtain a soul based understanding of the basic principles of developing their soul in love.
You could think of this series like ‘Learning Love 101’. Or perhaps we could have called it ‘Love for Dummies’. (smile)
Each group will give participants the opportunity to:
– Attend presentations of new material relating to the theme of the group
– Complete reflection activities and ask questions relating to presentations
– Receive personal feedback to better understand their current soul condition
The material in each group will build upon the material that was presented in the 2014 Assistance Groups. Each subsequent group in this series will also build upon material presented in the earlier groups in the same series, and so, each prior group is intended to be fully engaged before your attendance to the next group.
Pre requisites for participants will be to have watched or attended at least one of the 2014 Assistance Groups, along with all of the groups in the ‘Education in Love’ series prior to the one they are attending.
Those who have been previously asked to not attend our groups due to their unloving behaviour towards ourselves or others, are invited to attend these groups but we will continue to have the policy that people who are unloving in our events to ourselves or others will be removed after receiving a warning about their unloving behaviour.
Logistical Issues
In order to be able to offer these groups we need to be able to cover our expenses involved in running them. For any groups held here in Queensland, Australia the costs are reasonable.
The details for how much funds we need to cover our running costs at the venue we have selected can be found in an Assistance Group Expenses document that Jesus has created for you.
With the exception of the first group, which we have already borrowed funds for and booked, we cannot proceed with formal venue booking until we receive enough donations to cover the basic expenses and outlays involved in any of the other groups.
If we find that we don’t have enough funds to run a group we will cancel that group and cover the material in our home studio.
Overview of the Group Series
04-13 Mar, 2016
03-12 Jun, 2016
*18-27 Nov, 2016
*03-12 Mar, 2017
*02-11 Jun, 2017
*24 Nov-03 Dec, 2017
*02-11 Mar, 2018
*The additional dates listed for each group are potential second groups that we may hold after the first if we receive enough registrations and donations to support a second group.
Formal programme for each group will begin on a Friday evening and finish on the last Saturday afternoon. Sunday morning will be for farewell, check out and travel home.
What To Do Now
Register for the event you wish to attend using EventBrite by clicking on the above Registration link for each group. You must register in order for us to count you as attending.
If you have registered, but are now not attending, please IMMEDIATELY cancel your registration so that another person can take your place. If you do not do this, we will not allow you to a future registered event. It is very unloving to take the place of someone else and then not attend.
Donate using any method you wish from our “Donate” page on the http://www.divinetruth.com website.
If possible please label your donation AssGrp. This assists us to sort out donations.
After you have donated using any method listed on the donate page of the website, make sure you send an email to donation@divinetruth.com with the following details:
- Amount of the donation in your currency
- Date/time you made the donation
- The method you used for donation e.g. Paypal, Transferwise, Direct Bank transfer etc.
- The date and name of the Assistance Group you wish to donate towards e.g. Removing the Causes of Sin 17-26 Feb, 2017
For the first group, Jesus and I have already paid for our expenses from funds we have borrowed. However, to continue offering subsequent groups, we need to be able to raise around $8,200 to repay the loan, and do so before venue hiring date cutoff periods offered by the venue. Our first hiring cutoff date is 15th November 2015. So, we need to know before this date how many people are attending the first group, and the potential 2nd group on the same subject.
For these reasons please consider how much you wish to donate towards us repaying our loan or towards our expenses generally for these groups. Our costs for each group in Australia average out to a contribution of less than $200 per person in attendance. For overseas groups, our costs are much higher (see the section below about overseas groups).
Once you have registered, and we have received enough bookings and donations to proceed with the group, this allows us to complete a firm booking with the venue. Once we have a firm booking with the venue, we will confirm your place in the group, and give you details about how to book your accommodation with the venue if you wish to do so.
Once we have confirmed the venue, and your own place in the group has been confirmed, then you can safely proceed with your booking of accommodation and travel.
If you book with the venue where we are holding the event, you will loose a maximum of $100 if you cancel any time up to 7 days before the event. If you book elsewhere, you will need to make your own arrangements.
Venue & Accommodation
We have found a great venue for the groups in Noosaville, Queensland.
Food and accommodation arrangements and costs for each group will be the responsibility of each participant. It is not necessary to stay at the venue where the group is being held (although participants may find this most convenient). There are many accommodation options in the area that suit a range of budget constraints.
The Queensland venue does offer accommodation in various configurations including studio apartments with limited kitchen, two and three bedroom apartments and villas with full kitchen. All apartments have a single car park. We have stayed there previously and found it to be clean and comfortable. There are three pools, and other facilities.
Participants will receive a discount rate of 15% if they quote ‘Divine Truth’ when making a booking with the Queensland venue. Participants will be required to pay a $100.00 deposit. If for some reason participants do need to cancel the venue will not charge a fee if the cancellation period is outside 14 days prior to arrival. If it is within 14 days the cancellation fee would be the $100.00 deposit or no charge if participants reschedule the dates of stay. These are very generous terms.
Once the first group is confirmed with the venue on 15th November 2015 we will release the name and booking details for this venue so that participants can make accommodation arrangements. You can then also go ahead with any travel arrangements.
A Possible Overseas Assistance Group
Jesus and I would really love to be able to offer the gift of one of these groups in an overseas location. In recent months, while planning these groups, we have done extensive investigation into various overseas venues.
In the Assistance Group Expenses document you will see that we have itemized the costs involved running the event, including for the travel and accommodation for us and two support people (who handle filming for the groups) to the various locations in North America and Europe.
Aside from Australia, you can see from the comparisons in the Assistance Group Expenses document that the cheapest overseas venue that everyone can get to reasonably (usually via a single international flight + some ground travel) is in the USA. However this cost is still four times the amount needed to run the same event in Australia.
Considering the exchange rate and cost requirements for us to get to another country, it is much more economical for us to hold events in Australia.
It may also be more economical for people who live in Europe to attend the Australian venue for the same reasons. Costs of travel, food, and accommodation are much cheaper in Australia than other western countries.
However we want to offer the opportunity for one overseas event to happen if enough people desire for that to occur. So, we have decided to hold an Assistance Group in North America and/or Europe if we receive the amount of donations required to cover the costs of such events (these are outlined in the cost comparison document). But we must receive these donations BEFORE April 2016 because we need at least 6 months organisation time for these events.
If these conditions for an overseas event are not met, we will still hold the third Assistance Group here in Australia with the same arrangements as outlined above for the other groups in the series, and we will use the donations for the proposed overseas events towards bookings in Australia.
Please note that we have not yet opened registrations for an overseas event via eventbrite as we cannot commence planning until we receive enough funds to cover our expenses.
Hi Mary,
Thank you for your writings.
It appears that the links in this post are broken.
Hi Stewart,
Thanks for alerting me to this issue. It is fixed now.
Best wishes,
Mary
Thank you!
Hi Mary, It sounds wonderful. Thank you so very much. I would like to register for all – the Eventbrite link only worked for the first four. Much love.
Hi Joy, Those links are created now. Lovely to feel your enthusiasm for the groups!
Mary xo
Hi Mary, thank you for this, your blog is the perfect topic and timing, about an hour before I read this I was praying and struggling with “how to give love to God” I have been working to grow my desire for a closer relationship with God, learning as much as I can about God. I felt this morning a lack of why we “love” anyone. Is it just because are grateful for what they do or what they represent. Do we love people because they do what we desire or are what we desire. Or is love eventually to become something we give to everyone all the time. I listened to my daughter a moment ago and felt love for her, at least what I have always thought love is. I have desire to love but agree I really need to learn about what love is. I am very looking forward to the new series. I really enjoy your blog, thank you for all you do.
O, think you are missing a “we” in paragraph 10 🙂
Hi Stephen,
Thanks for the editing feedback.
Yes, many of us confuse love with lots of other addictive emotions and exchanges. This series is all about helping people really understand what love is and how to determine where we are ‘at’ in terms of development in love, along with providing loads of practical help to grow our soul in actual love! I can’t wait to begin!
Mary
Sooo exciting!
Hi Mary. I hope these presentations will be on youtube as I live on Long Island, New York. As a side note, there is an error in paragraph 8 beginning with “Because”. It should be Because we are or we’re. I’m a former Executive Secretary and proofreading is like second nature to me. I look forward to learning new truths.
Hi Brenda,
Thanks for the editors tip. I’ve had a few from people this post!
We are certainly going to do everything we can to have these groups videoed for youtube. At the very least there will be audio recordings for each one.
Best wishes and nice to hear from you,
Mary
Hi Mary, I am interested in coming to the second assistance group, however it will be a few weeks until I will be able to make a donation. Is it ok to register on event bright now? Or is it best to wait a few weeks and register when I can donate?
Arvarna
No problem at all to register now Arvarna.
I’m so excited for all these groups but because we have been working on the material for the second group already I’m really looking forward to it. Not only will be be looking at the facade and hurt selves (favourite topics of mine at the moment) but we have TWO WHOLE days on the real self. So awesome. I think that you will get a lot from it.
Thanks so much Mary.
That sounds really cool Mary 🙂 I would love to go to all of them! But will start with that one for the moment 🙂
Reblogged this on Opening to Love.
Hi Mary,
This is so exciting and wonderful. The facade self is something I’m pretty much solely focusing on right now, including how sin has affected my life, so seeing all of this is super great.
I am not certain if there has been a representative from the US to organize a future event over here, as per the document prepared, including the collective individual’s desires, but I would be interested in offering to help organize something in this area if it is a desire that comes to fruition on our end.
Thank you and Jesus for this.
Hi Mary 🙂
Thanks sssoooo much for putting this on. I am really exited to hear about it. I feel at the last one I didn’t really want to challenge my addictions enough because they didn’t seem that bad.
I also prefered not to go in the same one as my mother. But I think I remember Jesus saying it’s a bit better to go with partner or family (either?) as the dynamics of relationships can be exposed more, etc or something like that. Is that right?
I would prefer not to go to same group as my mother, & to go in a later group so as to prepare more, but, well if it will benefit me more I’d do that, so that’s why I ask.
Thanks again,
Felix 🙂
Hey Felix,
You should do what you would like to do. There is no need to attend with your Mum if you don’t want to.
We have opened registrations for two sessions of each group and if we receive enough registrations and donations for both we will run each group twice. If this happens you should have the flexibility to attend whichever group you like – with or without your Mum.
Cheers,
Mary
Hi Mary!
My first reaction to hear about these new assistance groups was joy and excitement, I would like to come to all of them! But then I felt rather downhearted as it is impossible for me to travel to Australia 8 times during the coming 2 years.
But after one nights sleep the possibilities looked different. I can choose to come to the group in USA/Europe during 2016 and perhaps one group in Australia during 2017. And the other groups I will have the possibility to work through in our study group thanks to the work you are doing with filming them. It is a wonderful gift to have that possibility. But it is such a precious experience to get personal feedback, and to get that, you have to be there of course.
I would like to register for the third group Understanding Sin & Its Causes. You write that if that group will be in USA/Europe, it will be in October. But the dates on the overview is in November. Shall I register for the group in November, and send you a mail that I am register myself for the group in USA/Europe?
In our study group we have come to the presentations of Forgiveness and Repentance. I am praying to God to show me what I need to repent and forgive, and now I feel terrible, gray, pain and unhappy for days, and puzzled, confused and unsure who I am, and then (after being overwhelmed with tears) calmer, lighter, freer and happier. And then everything starts all over again!!! I feel as if I am cracking apart inside. But I do trust that this is the way through to becoming more loving and closer to God.
I am so grateful for the gift you are giving us teaching us how to learn to love.
Anna xo
Hi Anna,
As we haven’t received enough donations for an overseas event to go ahead yet, I haven’t opened registration for such an event.
Since we don’t have any solid dates for a potential overseas event (this depends upon a venue being booked) and also that we don’t know where in North America such an event may be held, it seems difficult for people to indicate with any certainty if they would be able to attend.
I will definitely let everyone know if and when we get close to receiving enough donations to hold an overseas group. And I’ll definitely open registrations for that group if and when we start to plan it.
As yet, our donations towards a North American group have been less than those towards a European one. But both totals are far from what we would need in order to cover our expenses for travel and during the group.
Something for you to consider is that given your very favourable exchange rate when coming to Australia and that expenses for food and accommodation tend to be less expensive than in the USA, you may find that even though a flight to the USA may cost slightly less one to Australia, your expenses during the group may be much less if you attended in Australia.
Love
Mary
Thank you Mary for clarifying that! I realize I was not thinking logical about the order things need to happen.
With love
Anna S
Hi Mary,
I would really love to attend as many of these workshops as I am able, and I currently live in USA. Are there any locations in Australia where a learning center is yet set up,where perhaps I could contribute to helping at the center and have a place to live & grow towards God over the upcoming workshops?
SOOO excited about the possibility of learning with yourself, Jesus, and Cornelius!
With love,
Lisa
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