Truth, Hope & Change {The Great Experiment Series}

Firstly, thank-you to all of you who responded to my last post, requesting some feedback on whether my idea of posting simple “Jesus Quotes” regularly appealed to you. I had no idea there were so many of you out there reading! (just kidding)

Needless to say, I now plan to make “Jesus Quotes” a regular feature. Thanks to all of you for joining in and letting me know how you feel.

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I’ve chosen this ‘Great Experiment Series’ because it’s an area that I’m personally giving focus to at present. The simple process of open-hearted longing and relating to God is at the core of everything we teach. Yet it’s something I feel needs much, much more of my personal attention.

As crucial as I know it to be, at times, to simply sit and engage with myself, in order to even begin to open up to God, can be quite a challenge. As the series goes on I plan to share more about the blocks to opening our hearts in sincere prayer that many of us encounter.

I’ve also chosen a number of Padgett Messages to inspire me in my quest. You can find the full list here. These messages relate the experiences of real people engaging the experiment of longing for God’s Love, and clearly highlight the benefits of doing so. For any of us feeling completely blocked towards God, and disheartened in our prayer life, these stories tell us exactly how and where to start.

The first message in our series was received by James Padgett, from his father John Padgett, on the 31st of December, 1914.

Below you will find:

– Some of my brief and recent written reflections on this message

– A video of Jesus and I discussing the message in its entirety

– A full transcript of the actual message

I think it’s apt that for our first message we find Mackey and Taggart in a stuck and disheartened place – a lot of us start right where they are at. Their expression in this message highlights some of the big hurdles and blocks that have prevented their growth so far, such as disillusionment with God due to teachings they learnt on earth (how many of us are still carrying these kinds of injuries in our soul, even though our intellect is now telling us different?), and their fears of hoping and trying for something that they aren’t sure will ever happen.

And yet by the end of the message we see that they are assisted, through Padgett’s sincere concern and his appeal to their logic, to develop some humility. They undertake to understand and attempt the experiment.

I was impressed by Padgett’s example in this and following messages and was very struck by the references that all of the spirits made as to the power of his individual prayers for them.

Some Specific Reflections:

As I reread this message in preparation for this post, a few things really stood out to me.

I was reminded of the power of Truth. As we see demonstrated in this and many other messages to Padgett, simply hearing a truth, or having contact with a person who demonstrates love and truth can be a crucial turning point in a person’s journey. Speaking and acting in support of truth can reach people even in the depths of their despair and hopelessness. It can begin to generate hope, curiosity, and a desire for positive change. And these qualities are all helpful in building faith.

Indeed we see that Padgett’s demonstration of love for his friends, his personal faith and prayers for them, and his delivery of Truth (even in spite of the protestations and arguments of his friends) – that these gifts planted seeds of hope and the possibility for change in the men in spirit.

In this message Mackay’s condition was described:

“he is not very hopeful of ever becoming very happy, as he sees nothing around him but darkness and depravity, and evil spirits who delight in trying to make everyone around them feel that there is no hope for any spirit; but that their lives must be spent in a condition of suffering and unhappiness,”

So not only was a lack of truth harming Mackay’s progress, but spirits were able to manipulate his ignorance and his despair for their own unloving ends. This can happen so easily to us on earth as well.

When we choose to ignore Truth and the evidence of God’s Love for us, we never challenge our hopelessness, or identify it as just a feeling (rather than Truth). This opens us to large amounts of spirit influence from spirits who are invested in us remaining the same, so that they may feed their addictions through us.

When we are without hope, and do not grieve it, dark spirits can tell us that the situation will never change, and that we are deserving of our state.

But we have the choice to challenge negative messages with Truths that we have already been made aware of. We have so many tools available to us that can remind us, and keep us taking steps towards love of ourselves and honour of God’s Truth.

When we focus on Truth, and are humble to our hopelessness (rather than becoming rigid, angry with others or punishing of ourselves – techniques which actually just distracts us from our fear and sadness), we open the door to change, and guidance from higher spirits. Faith grows. Mackay’s example demonstrates this process.

The second element to inspire me in this message was Padgett’s reassurance to Taggart regarding the true nature of loving prayer and its power for our planet:

“He says that he never thought of it in that way, but, if as you say the prayer should be that this love which you say would make men love not only God but one another, and make every man strive to make happy every other man, then if that prayer should be answered, the war would soon stop, and the nations as nations and as individuals would undoubtedly be happy and peace would reign over all the land.”

This vision of peace for the world is a dream of my own. And it inspires me to know that as we pray in sincerity to God for His Love, and receive it, the natural love we have for brothers and sisters is also refined.

So to conclude my reflections, even this simple message gifted to us from John, Mackay and Taggart, serves as an excellent tool through which to challenge our hopelessness with truth, and inspire us towards change.

It demonstrates the power of love, of sincere prayer and of the service we can give to each other, by reminding our sisters and brothers of the great truths we know, and the great hope for humanity that can be gained through each of us developing a personal relationship with God.

What stood out to you in this message?

Our Video Discussion:

The Message Transcript:

December 31, 1914

A Message from John H. Padgett to his son James Padgett

Mr. Padgett’s father tells of soulmate records.

I am here, your father:

I am very happy and am glad that you seem to be also.

Yes, because of your experience the other night in loving Helen and her loving you. You certainly were filled with love and you must be perfectly happy, to have had such a demonstration of love and the realization of the actual sensitive presence of your wife. for I tell you that she was with you and was so filled with her love for you, that we all wondered at her love. She is a spirit that seems to have no limit to her love for you, not many spirits seem to have such abundance of love as she has for you. So you must consider yourself a very blessed man to have such a wife and a soulmate.

Yes, as I told you many years ago, there is of record in the heavens a book of lives, as I might call it, which contains the names of those who are decreed by God to be one through all eternity: and when I want to know who is the soulmate of one who desires to know his or her soulmate, I consult that book, and there I find who the soulmate is. I am not permitted to give the name of the soulmate if he or she is on the earth life, for it might create discord or unhappiness to the living, but if the soulmate is not married then there is no restriction upon me, but if the soulmate is married then I must not tell the name, such is the law of God in this particular.

The reason is that I have that duty assigned to me, and as Helen has told you I have taught her to perform this duty and she is now engaged in it, and is most successful in the performance of her mission. She seems to have a wonderful ability, or you might call it, intuition for locating the soulmates in the spirit world as she never fails when she undertakes to find one. She also finds great happiness in doing this work and in seeing the happiness that comes to them who ask her to perform this task. I do not engage in it with so much enthusiasm as she does, but I do the best that I can, and I am rewarded also by seeing the happiness of those soulmates when they are brought together.

No, not if they are not assigned to do this work. It is one of the provisions of the spiritual world that each person has some work of a certain kind, or several kinds to do, and in that way are helped by the higher powers, or, as we believe, the love of God to perform. A spirit who is assigned to do a particular work, such as helping the spirit when it first enters the spirit world, will not attempt to engage in other work of a wholly different kind.

Yes, as to attempting to awaken a spirit to a conception of the love of God that is waiting for it, all spirits may do this, and when a spirit succeeds in causing a darkened or blinded spirit to feel or realize that God’s love is waiting for it, then the spirit who has caused that awakening is most happy.

Of course, it is only the spirit who has had that awakening himself, who can cause or lead another spirit to that desire for spiritual enlightenment, that will finally cause it to get this love to his full and complete happiness. I am not yet in a condition to be fully able to do this with much success, but your grandmother and mother are very powerful in this particular, and they are the cause of many spirits becoming reconciled to God and His salvation.

So you see, the one great thing to obtain, either while on earth, or after you come here, is this great awakening and love of God in your own heart. It is of all things necessary, the greatest. I know to a considerable degree what it means and the happiness that comes from it; but I am not satisfied and am striving to obtain more of this love, and to rise higher in the Kingdom of God. So you must try also, for you need not wait until you come over.

She has it to a degree that almost enables her to go with your mother, and I think that in a very short time she will leave us and rise to the higher sphere, and we will miss her very much.

Yes, he (Mr. Riddle) is becoming more in condition to receive this love and believe in what your mother tells him. She is the one that is trying to show him the way, more than anyone else. He seems to have great confidence in her and in her love.

He is also progressing very fast, and I expect that he will soon be with me in this sphere. So you see we all are doing well in the way of progressing and your prayers help us very much.

I have seen him (Taggart) very recently and he is in the same condition as when I wrote you first about him. He does not seem to realize that he needs any assistance to help him to become happier or to progress to a better condition and it is difficult to convince him. I tried several times, but he said that I was mistaken in what I told him, and that he knew that he was just where it was intended that he should be, so I have not tried lately.

No, I do not, but I can find him (Mackey) if you desire that I shall, He might want to say something to you, but only through me, as you must not get into rapport with these strangers to our band, for it will do harm, and we must not run the risk.

We are here. Mr. Mackey and Mr. Taggart. They say that they are very glad that you have given them the opportunity to say a word.

He (Mackey) says that he is much happier than when he first came over. as he has commenced to see the things that are necessary to make him happier. He says, that he wants you to tell him of your experience with some of the other spirits, with whom you have come in contact; as he says, he has recently learned from earth sources that you have had considerable experience with spirits who have been in a condition of unrest and spiritual blindness, and have helped them some.

He says that he is in the earth plane, and that when he came over it was a very dark and dreadful road that he traveled, that he was all blind and left alone after he first entered the spirit world, and that only recently has he commenced to see a ray of light, that his condition now is not one in which he receives much happiness, and he is not very hopeful of ever becoming very happy, as he sees nothing around him but darkness and depravity, and evil spirits who delight in trying to make everyone around them feel that there is no hope for any spirit; but that their lives must be spent in a condition of suffering and unhappiness, in other words, that they are in hell and have no hope of getting away from it.

He says that he has gotten some little light from a spirit who has been telling him, that there is hope and a better place if he will only believe it to be so, and let his soul open up to the better influences; but that he cannot believe that there is any God or any Saviour or any better place for him. He says that if there is a better place or any reason to believe that there is a God or Saviour he wants to know it, and if you can help him any, to please do so.

He says that he has not seen Mr. Riddle and did not know that he is in the Spirit World. He says that he will try to find him, and may be he can get some help.

He says that I am much more beautiful than Mr. Taggart, and more happy looking. He further says, that I am not so very different, as he sees it, to cause him to ask that question, but as you request it, he will do so. He has asked me and I told him that my appearance and happiness was caused by my having gotten the love of God in my soul, and the realization that God is my Father, and loves me so very much that he wants me to be his child and become one in thought with Him.

He says that that may be true, but he does not understand it, and that if it is the cause, he would like to know the Way, for he certainly wants to be rid of the awful darkness and despair that is with him almost continuously. Because, as he says, that you are his friend and that he will try to do as you suggested; but he says that he cannot yet believe that there is a God who can help him to get out of his awful condition. He says that he will try to pray and try to believe and that if there is anything in what you say, and you really believe what you say, that you must pray for him also.

He says that for the sake of what you say, that if any of these spirits that you speak of, should come to him, he will listen to them, even though he may not believe – that he cannot promise to believe.

He says that he will come to you tonight and try to pray as you say, but he doubts that it will do any good, but he does not think that it can do any harm. He is willing to pray and will try to believe, you must not feel bad, if when he does so, he tells you that he don’t believe in prayer or God.

He says that he is not willing to run the risk of having his conscience lash him or of his suffering any more than he is now. He does not believe that he can do so and live.

He says, that what you say sounds as if there might be some truth in it, and he will think about it, that is, if his happiness or future state depends upon his will, he will very soon determine that question, for if what you say is true, then he will be a big fool to remain where he is, when by the mere exercise of his will he can get into places of happiness and light. So he says, he will think of what you say.

He says that what you say may be all true, but the difficulty is that he can’t understand, and, therefore, can’t believe.

He says that he can say what you have just said and mean it, and he is ready to do so now. “If there be a God, and if that God has a love for me, and is ready to fill my soul with that love and make me happy and full of light, and whether I receive that love or not depends upon my will, then if this is all true, I will that God give me this love with all my strength and desire.”

He says that he is feeling some strong sensation now, and that he will repeat this and pray to God and ask for faith; and will continue to repeat it, as you have taught him, and he hopes that he may receive this love and light. He says that you have shown him that there may be some such thing as this love of God, and that he is willing to pray, and if his receiving it depends upon his will, he is willing it with all his heart. He says that as you seem to have such faith in this love and in prayer, that you do not forget to pray for him.

Yes, Mr. Taggart has heard it all and he says, that you certainly did put it up to Mackey to try the experiment, but that he is very doubtful if you will see any good results flow from it. He says that he will wait and see what effect it has on Mackey, and then he may be willing to consider the matter. He does not believe that prayer is anything more than a mere wish that emanates in and goes no higher than mind; and that, consequently, there is no God to answer, for if there was the prayers of all the people of the warring nations, would bring about such conflicting answers that confusion would be worse confused.

He says that he never thought of it in that way, but, if as you say the prayer should be that this love which you say would make men love not only God but one another, and make every man strive to make happy every other man, then if that prayer should be answered, the war would soon stop, and the nations as nations and as individuals would undoubtedly be happy and peace would reign over all the land. And if this is the love that you are trying to tell us about, then I am not so certain that it is worth striving for.

You are a very ingenious reasoner, and I commence to see that there may be some logic in what you say, but how am I to attempt to do that in which I have no faith? I know that I ordinarily, when on earth required everything to be proved, and unless things were proved I was not willing to accept conclusions, and I have not changed in that particular since I have come to the spirit world and I find it hard to change; but, as you say, I should be reasonable enough to let my mind be open to a conviction, if such conviction can possibly be brought about by any means, whether they arise from the knowledge that I gained when on earth, or whether they arise from things connected with this spiritual world of which I have very little knowledge.

So after all I guess Mackey is not such a big fool to try the experiment; and having confidence in you as a friend that has at heart my welfare, I will do the same as Mackey has promised to do. So you can pray for me too, and I will pray also – but of course I will not be able to have any belief that my prayers will be answered. So you see I am not only hard headed, but hard hearted also.

Yes I am, if it depends on my will I am more than willing, not only that, but if there be a God and the love that you speak of, I will forever thank that God for taking me away from this condition of blindness and unhappiness.

Yes, I am willing to pray to God to help me to believe, and if that will bring relief, then there will be no difficulty, for I will make such a prayer with all my heart.

You are the most persistent man that I have ever met in these spiritual matters and if what you say happens, I will certainly thank you with all my heart and soul, for I can conceive of nothing more desirable than to have the great blessings and possessions that you tell me about. So I will keep faith with you as I said when nest you give me the opportunity to write, I will frankly tell you what the result of my experiment is.

Yes, and I appreciate what you have done and I say to you that this violation of your law, which the band you speak of has prescribed, has caused me to think more deeply of your interest in me and what you said, than I can express.

So good bye for the present, the next time I come I will try to observe your law, and write through your father, if he will permit me to.

Yes, you certainly did give the gentleman a struggle to get away from what you said to them, and I believe that you have impressed them to such a degree that they will be lead to learn the truth. You are tired and must stop.

Your father,

JOHN H. PADGETT

Love Words {Jesus Quotes}

I live with a guy who says great stuff… like all the time…

But then you probably already know that? I’d say I’m preaching to the converted.

Anyway, he saves me from deep pot-holes of doubt and self-deception often… again you’re not really surprised are you?

He inspires me daily. He lifts me up with his faith, and his down-to-earth expression of the most glorious Truths there are.

Quite honestly, I question how we all don’t just sit down and listen.. really listen.. to him more.

I see people get thrown off by his laid back nature, or the lack of polish or fancy prose in his delivery. He’s fun, he doesn’t put on airs and graces, and he doesn’t demand anything from his listener.. but boy does he say great things.

He also lets us all have our doubts and objections, and our general thrashing it out internally while he speaks. He feels it all, and knows that in our preoccupation with maintaining emotional equilibrium, we often miss half the wisdom in his sentence.

That’s why I write stuff down. Because I sense there’s gold in them there words, and sometimes I need to catch my breath, and revisit, to fully soak them in.

I think he looks so adorable in this shot – but I’m not sure he likes it.

Even at home, I scribble incredible things he says in the margin of my journals.

While I make the dinner, or he does the laundry, he tells me soul truths, God Truths. They flow easily and unassumingly from him – products, not of doctrine or dogma, but of lived experience.

I swear, on my darkest days, he literally saves my soul. He guides me to the light, he makes poetry out of this existence (and if he read this now he’d probably tell me I’m being too fancy and pomp.. to him he’s just a guy who loves God).

One thing he’s taught me is this (my somewhat awkward paraphrase here):

God’s Truth doesn’t need embellishment or fanfare or dressing-up – its power speaks for itself. When we try to make it fancier, or more palatable to others, we, in arrogance, believe we know better than God about how to reach a person, about how to deliver a gift.

In effect we are saying that the Truth, as simply as it exists, needs modifying, for human consumption.

We are denying that the fabric of God’s Universe is built in Truth, and, as His Children, our souls are designed to respond to pure, unadulterated Truth. If we believe that God’s Truth is said thing, why would we feel it could be shared in a way that seems ‘softer’, ‘prettier’ or ‘kinder’?

Isn’t God the most Caring, Loving character there is?

So wouldn’t sharing His Truth, just as it exists about any given matter, be the most caring and loving thing to do?

I try to remember when I write, that simple and direct is kind and loving (I’m a bit prone to flowery prose and apt to try to over-explain to get people ‘on side’).

Jesus taught me that if I say it how it is with love, and without pressure for people to agree, or any desire for them to change, then I give a gift.

I give the gift of truth, and I also give the listener the gift of allowing them whatever feelings they have in response. It doesn’t mean that I’ll stand there and absorb abuse from the listener, but neither would I try to stop them from feeling any emotion that might be triggered through our exchange.

God Himself knows, that sometimes its taken me.. eh hem… a long time… to make peace with some of His Truths, and for some He’s still waiting on a call back from me. I haven’t quite given Him the nod on everything He’s trying to teach me – much as logic would compel me otherwise, I’ve got un-felt emotions that make me resist.

So letting others take their time to work through whatever emotions the Truth triggers in them, well that’s love. We’ve all got error that’s going to shake loose at some stage or another. Sometimes a big Truth (or a little one) delivered by you, by me, or by Jesus, might be the very thing that starts that soul-quake in another.

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So, reeling myself back in from that tangent, lets get back to the actual ‘Jesus Quotes’ part of this post.

The other night, we were talking, and Jesus casually mentioned a few things to me.

(Did I mention that this man takes my breath away?)

I thought that they were worth a share.

“Love is knowing that you can leave at any time – but wanting to stay anyway.”
Jesus, February 2013

“If you don’t want to have anything to do with love – then the “love” that you’ve had wasn’t any good. (i.e. it wasn’t love in the first place)”
Jesus, February 2013.

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A brief postscript:

I’m not sure if my idea to regularly share my ‘Jesus Quotes’ will work here. Are you now reading them now, saying, “Yes so? I knew that?”

At the time he says these things – they are very significant to me. My soul is open and they become a very loving, yet shocking, suckerpunch to my reality.

My intellect (the one usually in control) would smugly say, (despite extreme evidence to the contrary), ‘sure I know that!’

But in the precise moment, these truths strike my soul and suddenly I’m dissolving.

“what, really? Love isn’t about obligation? duty? sacrifice? All that ‘love’ that made me feel guilty, and came conditionally – that wasn’t love?”

Sure I might say I get it with my head – but do I live that, connect to that, really know that?

No.

(And if you are someone who read the quotes above and said ‘so what, not so profound’ – does your life really offer you evidence that your know and live these things?)

Quite simply, when my man says stuff sometimes, its like my heart hears it for the first time.

I cry.

I write it down because I want to revisit these Truths time and again. I know that if they entered my soul (not just my tenacious intellect) that they would change my life forever.

What do you think – does it work to tell you too? Or should I just keep scribbling this stuff in my margins, saving it up for some other purpose?

Forgiveness, Me & The Midnight Hours

“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is an attribute of the strong.”

Mahatma Gandhi

You should know this – I love the principles of forgiveness. I believe in them.

In fact I believe, that the use of our will in the experience of true repentance and true forgiveness, forms the very basis of our relationship with God.

Soul-based forgiveness and repentance create the conditions under which the holy spirit may connect to us in a spirit of truth – and in those moments God may Love Us.

In addition to that, the forgiveness I have received and given in this life, are among most precious gifts and moments I can recall.

Yet here I am at 2am, filling a page with notes on forgiveness. I’m writing to you, but mainly for me, because my heart needs to hear me state the truth of such good and Godly things.

To be quite honest, forgiving the pain in my past, well, I’m not finding it altogether easy.

Forgiveness requires humility. And not just your off-hand ‘oh, yes, I can acknowledge that that event hurt’, brush away a few sly tears, kind of recognition of pain. Its got to be sincere. Its got to involve a wide open heart, and a willingness to scan the deep recesses of one’s soul.

All in a day’s work for people like you and me, right? Well, maybe not quite.

Truthfully, I’m a bit knotted up in the tummy over the next phase in this journey, yet I’m determined to do it right this time.

My quest to get real on this topic is revealing to me that, despite my tendency get all misty eyed and passionate over the concepts of forgiveness, there are many (many, many) ways that, instead of embracing a process of forgiveness, I have in fact avoided myself and the truth. And I’ve incurred quite a bit of damage to others in the process.

I’m not falling into a deep pot-hole of self-hate about it, but here, tonight, I’m calling myself to account.

What code do I truly want to live by: One that honours fear, and cursorily acknowledges truth? Or a practice that honours truth, and simply allows my fears to be released in this process?

When I honour fear, I live by fear’s dictate. I might pay lip service to God’s Wonderful Truths, but when push comes to shove, fear gets the final say.

When I honour Truth, I let fear be present and felt, but I live by God’s Laws.

If I truly want to forgive, I’m going to honour through word, feeling and deed, that this process of forgiveness is powerful, healing and truly works. I’m going to face my fear, and hurt, without complaint, restraint and with definite intention to heal.

So What Is Forgiveness?

Forgiveness can only be born once we have a deep desire to know and feel our own selves, including our pain. In this, we relinquish any desires for commiseration, retribution or short-cuts.

Forgiveness means facing the past. It means connecting to whatever pain is there – be that pain as a result of someone’s direct actions, their inaction, or our perception of their actions[*]

Forgiveness involves allowing and feeling the pain of unloving actions done to you, and releasing it forever.

Magically, letting go of pain enables truth to flow to us – the whole truth of what really happened and the Truth that we are lovable and worthy.

It can’t happen in reverse, truth always follows humility, which is why our desire to embrace our pain is so essential.

The entire process is actually so simple that, as children, we naturally knew how to do it, without thought or teaching. God created us to forgive, She built our capacity for it into the very fabric of our soul. It is through forgiveness that can stay connected to our true selves. It grants us freedom to let go of the past, and to dream anew for our future.

But somewhere along the way, we were taught to fear emotion or to fear the punishment we received when expressing it. Or we were continually placed in harmful situations, so we learnt that there was no point to releasing the pain. We shut down as a coping mechanism.

Then we went out into a world saturated with demands for ‘rights’, for justice. We see movies that glorify those who seek violent revenge to protect the weak and innocent. Often we are taught that forgiveness is weak and that if we do it we will allow ourselves to be hurt again and again.

Does Forgiveness Make us Weak?

The truth is that when we truly, authentically forgive, we are far less likely to allow ourselves to be harmed in the same way again. Why? Because in the process of forgiveness we must come face-to-face with the wrong that has been done to us. We grieve this hurt and release it from us.

These two actions – grieving the hurt and facing the truth – protect us from future harm in the following ways:

We no longer live in denial

When we face the hurt and the truth of what has been done, we are no longer in denial. Often we enter states of denial in an attempt to create a kind of ‘buffer’ between ourselves and our own pain. This can work for a while, but it also means we are less sensitive to what is actually happening right now. In this state, of using our will to be less sensitive to what is going on around us, we often allow ourselves to be hurt again and again, by numerous people.

In engaging the beginnings of forgiveness, we face our pain, meaning that we no longer have the buffer. We are again sensitive to what hurts and more likely to withdraw or stand up to harm directed towards us – not less.

Forgiveness is not compliance

True forgiveness never means denying the truth or responsibility of anyone’s actions. So even though we forgive, we may still choose to remove a violent or harmful person from our lives, until a time when we feel that they have repented.

In fact, having gone through this process, we are more in touch with our own self-care and respect, since in order to forgive, we have had to face that the harm done to us was not deserved.

Forgiveness generates discernment

Before we forgive, we carry our wounds from the past with us. Like a huge set of mismatched luggage, we cart all our baggage with us into every encounter. This baggage is a conglomeration of trapped emotions relating to (sometimes hundreds) of painful events in the past. Emotions are trapped when, as children, we were denied the opportunity to experience the full extend of our fear, pain, shame or powerlessness.

But here’s the thing, because its trapped, because we are afraid to feel it, because we live in a state of always trying to look forward to the next destination, trying desperately to ignore the heavy burden of carting all those cumbersome suitcases, we aren’t very sure about what bit of the hurt fits where, and with whom.

We might know that we are afraid of being hurt, but we haven’t released the pain of exactly who betrayed us – so we cast that fear out like a huge blanket over everyone in our emotional vicinity. We may feel the deep, and persistent, tug of fear and unworthiness around the edges of our day but we are afraid to discover its exact roots. So we end up seeking relationships and situations based solely on avoiding these feelings – rather ones driven by our true desires and personality.

In all of this – we get lost. We loose the ability to discern who truly loves and cares for us from those who might be there to meet an addiction, or even from those who are still hurting us but we just don’t want to see it.

Engaging the process of forgiveness means that we place the hurt where it belongs. For the first time we can clearly see who has hurt us. And we can now discern and seek out those who have our best interests at heart.

Engaging forgiveness softens us to our pain, but it also makes us strong to our own desires and empowers us in reliable self-care practices.

photo source – with thanks

Here are some inspiring stories about people seeking to live forgiveness in the real world:

Truth & Reconciliation Trials

“…the cycle of reprisal and counter reprisal that had characterized their national history had to be broken and that the only way to do this was to go beyond retributive justice to restorative justice, to move on to forgiveness, because without it there was no future.”

Desmond Tutu

Forgiveness & Criminal Justice?

Amish Grace

[*] which may or may not be correct – the point is that we must feel what we carry as hurtful feelings towards us, clarity will come as we go.

And Then The Ants Told Us….

For those of you who don’t live in our hemisphere, we live in a sub-tropical zone. This means that our summers are usually wet and our winters dry. This summer things have been particularly dry and hot.

That is, until Thursday, when it started to drizzle softly. The quiet rain kept up for about 48 hours.

So on Saturday morning, despite the high spirits of everyone involved, and an exuberant human chain of smiling volunteers carting stuff to fix up the boggy ground, ‘Biofest’ in Cushnie was officially postponed.

Throughout the day the rain got a little louder on our tin roof. By mid-afternoon the rain gauge told us that we had had 72mm over the past three days.

We knew that ex-tropical cyclone Oswald had turned into a low and was headed down the coast (I’m a little bit of a weather nerd). I had checked in with my favourite weather forecast source** but I wasn’t sure how wet it would get for us here. We were on the edge of the forecasted area to be hit (which was getting a lot of focus due to the extremity of the weather involved) so we thought it may taper off or peter out once it reached us.

Just before dusk, we went for a walk to look at the property. We encountered some already very sodden ground, a 3metre carpet python draped out over a pile of mulch trying to get warm, and our experimental swale/holes looking very wet and fertile!

That’s when we noticed the ants. Everywhere the tiny black critters were climbing. With larvae on their back and in their nippers, the ants were heading higher – not just for higher ground, but as high as they could get. Some were making tracks for the ceiling our tent.

That’s when we knew it was going to be really wet. When ants move house en mass it’s a sure sign that the rains are a’comin!

Sure enough, on Saturday night they began in earnest.

This isn’t our exact python, but in case you’ve never seen one I googled this fella so you would know what ours looked like.

As the cracks of sunshine break through this afternoon, cumulatively we’ve had 400mm since Thursday (over half of our average annual rainfall). 250mm of these fell in 6- 8 hours between Saturday night and Sunday morning.

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On Sunday morning we went to see how things were at the Learning Centre.

The roads looked like this.

Definitely wet.

But these are the beautiful contours that everyone was working on and around during the short-lived Bio-fest. Full of water and working well.

(Stay tuned for updates of when ‘Biofest’ activities will resume).

The local river was still rising at 10 am. The actual bridge is somewhere far below the sign you can see peeking out of the water just above the car’s windscreen in this picture.

Luli’s driveway is somewhere under water on the right of the picture below.

At around midday, we had a call from Lena and Igor to say that the Stuart River had suddenly risen and was lapping at their back steps.

These two have such good hearts. Their only concern was about rescuing the editing hardware and equipment they have stored in their home. Faced with full-blown flood waters, they were prepared to leave all of their other stuff to drown.

Instead, we waded in along the long submerged driveway, and helped them lift everything to higher positions, and watched and waited as the water rose.

We rescued a bandicoot who was franticly looking for dry land. And AJ (my hero) waded out deep to rescue a wallaby that was caught on a barbed wire fence.

The insects continued to amaze me – clinging to anything not submerged in water, including massing themselves on single blades of grass.

In the end, the water came close but didn’t quite reach the floor of Lena and Igor’s house.

As I snuggle up in my dry bed tonight, my thoughts are with those who aren’t as comfy. The devastation is pretty widespread across Queensland and New South Wales. At least three people have passed and my prayers are for their smooth transition and a swift end to grief for their family and friends.

I do love this sunburnt country but as Lena put it “It is a land of extremes”.

If you are as fascinated by ants as I, you may enjoy this cool documentary about them.

** I scout my weather info at Higgins Storm Chasing for two reasons. One, because it’s usually very accurate and descriptive. Two, because the guy who runs it does it for free, and for his sheer love of weather. He receives donations to support his work.

Kenya Update {Meet Brother Javan}

Hi Mary and Jesus,

Greetings. Here we are doing fine. My family sent greetings to you and many members whom I was able to meet or communicated via mobile phone. I concluded my recent meeting with a group belonging to three families who have not been members to any organisation but have made their mind to join us for they have been touched with the Divine Truth. They were touched on hearing the Divine Truth teachings and showed a willing to be taught the absolute Divine Truth. It is my wish that more new material teachings will be made available for the many people who are thirsty in receiving the message of Divine Truth. Attached is a few pictures although not all because camera batteries went off and we shall recharge them to continue enjoying the service.

Mary and Jesus, may i bring it to your notice that here in Kenya the Divine Truth message is well received! I will not denial the fact that some may be against us but we are well equiped to teach our people, answer questions and attend all so long as there is that willing interest from the concerned people. I remember there is a remark you made that Divine Truth is not after reaching out to people to win them with the teachings but rather we reach those who are willing; here i will comment something, consider our situation in Kenya where computer services are not readily available like countries like Australia where computers are available to an extent of every citizen owning computer equipment. Here we have to approach our people and tell them in the language they understand. You can bear with me that Divine Truth teachings are available in English and in the website which is scarce here and our people are not able to read in English. With this note i would like to request you that because of the prevailing circumstances our people to be approached and told about the Divine Truth, for those who accepts the Divine Truth we shall continue to attend them and those who will neglect we shall not be attending them any more. This is the reason why a vehicle is very important in travelling around and attending the willing people.

Brother Javan sharing Divine Truth at funeral

However, over the last few days i have been very busy attending programs. I congratulate you very much from the donation you sent which has enabled us to set the temporary building for the orphans and soon the house will be completed and the orphans will be provided with accommodation. I cannot forget to thank you since the orphans have food to eat now. Through you and your office we thank everybody who was involved to provide the money which has really assisted the orphans.

Commencing building of orphan’s new accommodation

Orphan Accommodation destroyed by storm

Regarding the power issue especially connecting power to my centre to the main electricity supply i bring to your notice that we are approximately 700 Meters from the Transformer of the power lines. Ussually power connections is counted from the nearest Transformer. I will visit the electricity office once more and give the office the far our centre is in terms of distance and request the office to provide us with the accurate amount of money needed to connect the power to our centre. As we said earlier we have to install power in my centre first and if our needs are met then we extend to other centres. It is our wish that quick ressolutions will be obtained to the power issue and you visit us to equip us with the relevant needed teachings in order for us to obtain the required teaching capacity to attend others. It is my wish if you can be sending me more teachings through email.

Last but not least i will also comment again on government registration. It is not a waste of resources my dear. Our government needs this registration requirement to be met. By doing so others including those who are against us will be respecting our properties. I understand the projectors, Video players and our members including the well wishers requires their legal security which is ONLY achieved once we will register. We have done depth investigations and we are very willing to register with the government of Kenya. Incase an institution develops the interest to know about Divine Truth, we shall not be able to attend that institution if we are not registered. Please REVIEW the issue of registration and if the funds will be available to do the registration, let us do it and more precisely before the visitors from Australia arrives. This will compound our freedom to move round in Kenya with the visitors. With us Kenyans we can move without much concern from the government but once you arrive i believe much work will be done which demands moving frequently and meeting groups hence registration very important.

Tomorrow i will be attending a funeral and i will travel about 43KM to reach the funeral. Here Saturday and Sunday offices are closed, hence on Monday i will visit the Translation firm to see where the translation exercise has reached. Then i will visit electricity office for more information and may be later in the day travel to Nairobi to check the price of a vehicle and let you know for considerations. We are wishing you success in the bible filming exercise of exposing some errors in it. Thank you for the work you are doing right away now. We hope to hear and once more i will send more pictures once the camera batteries are recharged. With regards,

Brother Javan.

Through The Mists {A Continuation}

I thought I’d let those of you who were following Book Group know that Jesus and I will be recording discussions for each of the remaining chapters in the book. You’ll see these added to the Book Group Playlist on the youtube channel. Its a change in format but I am hopeful that the discussions can help add meaning and interest to your reading of Fred’s autobiography of his spirit life.

During these discussions Jesus or I might mention some ideas for personal reflection or some possible homework activities for people following along to try. Its completely up to you if you would like to give them a go. I will no longer be receiving ‘homework’ from anyone via email for inclusion into the discussions.

I do invite you however, if you have any questions pertaining to a particular chapter, to email them to me prior to the filming date for that chapter and we will attempt to cover the answers in our discussion.

So far we have filmed discussions for Chapters 13 part 2 (below), and Chapter 14. If you have questions pertaining to Chapter 15 please send them to me before 8am (AEST), Sunday 27th (a few days away). The first two recordings were very laid back and casual.. and honestly that probably isn’t likely to change (smile – its kind of who we are).. but in future I will be injecting a bit more preparation and order into the way I guide the discussion.

Chapter 14, 15 & 16 deal with issues relating to the sleep state. This is usually a big topic for everyone! And indeed Fred, our narrator, feels its pretty significant as well.

In Chapter 15 he states upon recollection of his sleep state life:

“My earth life was not real; that was sleep – sleep in which I restlessly dreamed of this – now I am awake.”

In our discussion of Chapter 14, Jesus and I covered some interesting points about why we avoid sleep, and why we don’t want to remember our sleep time experiences. I hope you find it useful when it comes along!

Below is the first of our private discussions of ‘Through The Mists’ (Chapter 13 part 2)

The Great Experiment {An Introduction To A Series}

* This post has been updated to include more messages.

On December 31^st, 1914 James Padgett encouraged his old friend Mackey to pray:

“If there be a God, and if that God has a love for me, and is ready to fill my soul with that love and make me happy and full of light, and whether I receive that love or not depends upon my will, then if this is all true, I will that God give me this love with all my strength and desire.”

It is in essence a simple and powerful prayer – made somewhat convoluted by Mackey’s state of doubt and lack of faith in God at the time.

The prayer could perhaps be summarised as:

“If there is a God who loves me, I ask then for that Love.”

But isn’t the truth that most of us start out with hearts just like Mackey’s?

And today, if we still aren’t receiving God’s Love often, then wouldn’t it be fair to deduce that, even if our thoughts about God may have changed, maybe our hearts are still that same way?

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As part of the new blog and my new focus I’ll soon be kicking off the first set of posts in the section ‘Relating to God’.

The series will be entitled ‘Reflections on the Great Experiment’.

I’ll be sharing some personal reflections, pointing you to some resources and inviting you to share with me your experiences of this grand experiment that Mackay and many others have undertaken over the past 2000 years.

Throughout the series I’ll be placing special focus on individual Padgett messages that discuss or share experiences of spirits’ experimentation with receiving God’s Love.

Here are the messages I will be referring to throughout the series:

December 31^st, 1914 – A message from John Padgett

January 12^th, 1915 – A message from Helen Padgett

January 20^th, 1915 – A message from Albert Riddle

April 20^th, 1916 – A message from Solomon

June 27^th, 1916 – A message from Jesus

September 16^th, 1915 – A message from Caesar

December 13^th, 1916 – A message from Caesar

December 20^th, 1916 – A message from Caesar

May 1^st, 1917 – A message from Caesar

NB: You can view each of these individual messages now by clicking on the text outlining who the message is from. You can now also view all of the individual messages in date order easily from our site here.

I will spend at least one post focussed on each of these messages.

If you plan to launch in and read or re-read these messages now please shoot me an email if you have any questions about any of them. I’ll try to address these in the individual post referring to the message.

Otherwise there will be the chance to discuss or ask questions in the comments section at the time each post goes up. In fact I hope that you will take the opportunity to discuss your thoughts and feelings about each message here at those times.

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My online dictionary tells me that an experiment is: A scientific procedure undertaken to make a discovery, test a hypothesis, or demonstrate a known fact.

To me an experiment is something full of possibility, it means trying something new, hopeful for change. By very nature, it’s a launch into the unknown and that can mean adventure and unexpected beauty.

But lets face it – Trying something new can also bring up a feeling of risk and fear of failure.

Change can feel uncomfortable. And in my experience significant and lasting change almost always feels a little scary, risky and raw. But I’ve learnt to view this as a good thing, as a part of growing.

As my wise soulmate once said “Everytime you feel overwhelmed – that’s your soul expanding”.

So friends, in the coming months as I write about this ‘Great Experiment’ I’ll be keeping all that in mind. I’m setting myself the task of revisiting this ‘experiment’ with new eyes and heart. I’ll be praying for growth, relishing my innate desire for adventure, and reminding myself that all significant change comes not without a little stretching of my comfort zones.

I’m also reminding myself that I was born a great experimenter. To learn how to walk and talk and eat, I had to take leaps of faith, I had to test what I believed would be possible but wasn’t yet sure of.

This relationship with God is yet another step in faith, and I can take it with the enthusiasm of a child or the reluctance of a cynic.

I’ll leave you with some words from one of the world’s most recognised experimenters!

“I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.” – Albert Einstein

“The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives.” – Albert Einstein

And to further put you in the mood here is a talk by my gorgeous man called ‘The Experiment’.

All great and successful experimenters have had to be humble and I can assure you that my man displayed extreme humility in a somewhat hostile environment during this talk.

Biodiversity in Cushnie, QLD

As promised following are some of the details about Biodiversity Fest to be held here in Cushnie next weekend. I’m looking forward to this first public event at the Cushnie Learning Centre.

Meet Ang & Rob, Cushnie Learning Centre managers.

These two blow me away with their dedication and desire to restore God’s Creation to what it once was, and to demonstrate the potential of us lot working together in humble harmony towards a higher ideal.

Click on the link to see the lovely cover flyer the guys created.

BioFest Stage 1-Flyer

You will find full details about the weekend listed on the Divine Truth website here and here.

I can’t wait to see what the guys have in store for us next weekend.. OK, I have a few ideas – and based on what I already know I feel its going to be a lot of fun.

If you are thinking of coming check out the details on the website for accommodation/ camping/ billeting options.

All with a desire to learn and love over the weekend are welcome.

Hope to see you there!

A New Space, A New Focus

Welcome to ‘Notes Along The Way’. I hope you enjoy my new approach here in ‘blogland’!

I trust the layout is fairly self-explanatory and hints to the fresh writing projects I have in mind. (We’ll see how it all pans out – seems like I can dream big but writing does take time. Jesus and I have tried to quarantine January for ‘personal time’. So far its (sort of) working).

If you’d previously subscribed to ‘My Story’ and would like to receive posts from ‘Notes Along The Way’ to your inbox you’ll need to click on the Subscribe button in the top right on this screen.

Here’s a sneak preview of posts and series I plan to start in February (or late January if inspiration hits early).

Whats Worked For Me:

Notes on Becoming More Present (and therefore more connected to self and God) – A Series

Growing Great Soul Qualities:

Integrity {and its relationship to fear}

Relating To God:

Reflections on ‘The Great Experiment’ – A Series

Lifestyle:

Notes on Being/ Becoming A Vegan – A Series

(this includes recipes and posts from guest authors – yum!)

It also includes food photography – hopefully a skill I’ll develop!

I also need to let you know ‘What We’ve Been Up To’ regarding the Kenyan project (very exciting with four people from Australia now planning to travel over to deliver the equipment we are gathering for the parishes).

And stay tuned in the next few days for more information on the ‘Biodiversity Fest’ happening very shortly at the Cushnie Learning Centre.

Welcome friends, please make yourself at home.

Mary

Kenya Update

I know that many of you were stirred by our new project in Kenya so I thought I would give you a little update.

Last week we sent a donation to Brother Javan to assist him to visit the five different parishes he cares for in Kenya as well as one in Tanzania. This assisted him to hire a car and a translator for the trip (there are 69 native languages in Kenya – holy big vocab required Batman!)

Below is a picture of one of his recent meetings snapped on a mobile phone (yes, there isn’t much electricity, food or water, but there are mobile phones – another of the upside-down, crazy features of the world we live in). At this meeting they discussed the Prayer For Divine Love.

Jarvan has informed us that there are 208 orphans cared for over the 5 parishes, many of them are living without daily food. Today I transferred another donation to provide food for these children for the next few months until the crops are harvested. At harvest time farmers often donate a percentage of their yield to orphanages.

Meanwhile we are discussing with Brother Javan ways that we can support these children and adults to learn about Permaculture techniques, or to support them with resources to begin their own gardens if they already have some skills.

We are also still working on ideas for creating the solar systems to run low powered TVs on which play the Divine Truth material. We have already provided funds to have the E-books, that Barb and her team have been working on for so long, to be translated into the five languages mainly used throughout the parishes. Translations are already in progress.

From the bottom of my heart I want to thank all of those who have donated money to us recently as your donations have enabled us today to give a gift that brought me so much joy.

Some of you have also donated funds directly for Kenya and I wanted to share with you how our plans for this money are progressing. We really appreciate your generosity and Brother Javan has expressed again and again his gratitude and excitement for all that is happening.

Javan also wrote to ask us for our ideas on celebrating Christmas. This is what I told him:

Regarding Christmas, there are many things that we would like say about this (and there is not time at the moment in this short email) but the main thing we feel is that it is best for people to honour and love each other every day, not just at Christmas. Often here and in many ‘western’ countries there is a large focus on being loving and giving to others at this time of year, and this message of caring is forgotten for the rest of the year. We believe that a truly loving person is conscious of giving and respect of others at all times.

There is no special significance for the birth of Jesus since he is a man, just like you or anyone else. His only gift has been to show others what they are capable of achieving if they develop a relationship with God for themselves, just as he (Jesus) has done. So if there is any celebration for Christmas it would be to celebrate that God has offered the gift of His Divine Love to the Earth since the time of Jesus. We believe that that is the best possible thing that anyone could ever celebrate!