WOODS CROSS GROUP

MEETING WITH ABRAHAM

THE GRACE OF GOD

APRIL 2, 2001

I am ABRAHAM. Greetings. Every day I exist I find myself closer to our Father. The more I release the more I receive. Even my words cannot begin until I am really listened for. In other words, expectations and desires must be released for my words to come through. I find this giving and receiving fascinating.

Father has bestowed upon us spiritual liberty, which gives us the freedom to do as we will, and in that we find the grace of God. As a child we all remember being rescued from some sort of distress or another. We remember the relief we feel as we are picked up and pulled from our discomfort. Even now with our free will we do not always choose the way of Spirit, and in recognizing the law of spiritual liberty, we can receive experience on the gentleness, kindness, the grace of our divine Liberator.

We have seen firsthand Father's all-pervasive power. At this point in your spiritual education you know Father can move mountains. Even in some religions members fear this all-powerfulness and Father is seen as a harsh judge. In the mortal life where tension is rampant in every aspect of our experience we forget how to be gentle, kind and graceful.

Father does teach with ultimate Fatherly abilities, but we fail to see His gentle kindness' that act as a light in the dark. He is not an abrupt Father who would rush in to spank an erring child. He is not a spy who watches your every move for mistakes. Father is not looking to bestow your lessons upon you with crushing blows. His patience calculates the best method in which to educate, comfort or guide you.

When you think back upon your lives in your darkest hours when you believed you could not take one more of life's harsh blows, something would present itself and bring you relief, comfort and hope; something would bring you the faith that hard times will not always be upon you. "Change is ahead and I can rise above my inner turmoil, self-pity and hopelessness." What is that gentle relief that came as a helping hand in the darkness to pull you from your despair, your troubled mind? The grace of God, my friends, the love of a Father for a child who gently teaches and guides, a Father who revels in every moment of just being with the child.

Our Father enjoys watching the growth, watching the child begin to comprehend and take steps on their own. This is spiritual freedom--our all-powerful Provider assisting His children to grow with kindness, love, logic and liberty. He rushes us not. He bestows no time limits upon us.

Many say where was the Father's gentle kindness at the end of John, the Baptist, life? Where was his relief? Were you there you would have known John's relief, the ministering angels that filled him with peace and the knowledge that he had a hand in the world's destiny. John knew a comfort that many do not know when facing uncertainty or death. John had the peace of knowing that he was only at the beginning of his work, and cessation of the mortal body freed him to go on to work other positions. Even in death there was relief. Even in prison his soul was free.

Did John lose hope and despair? Yes, of course at first, but with prayer and his eyes ever turned Heavenward he found answers to his questions that no man could answer. He had surrendered all to gain more. He had not the question of "why me" but the confidence that "it is me for a reason and I am honored to serve."

How do everyday people endure some of the worst occurrence's life has to offer? Do they ache with despair and lose hope? Most likely at first, but everyone is free to make choices and choose the way of self or the way of the Spirit. We will all learn to reconcile the self with the ways of Spirit. Reconciling takes time and patience. It takes emotions and some mindal turmoil, no doubt. This is part of the mortal adventure, but as we learn to view the mosaic of spiritual liberty we see it is patterned with divine grace.

This week I ask you to study on grace and ponder on how you handle everyday occurrences. Do you force your will and way to solve difficulties? Is explosive emotion the only way to settle differences? How will handling even the most difficult occurrence's with gentleness and grace alter destiny? This week journal your accounts in which you see the grace of God in action. How do you feel when you have been picked up by your Father and made to feel relief and comfort? Know that as each week passes by I am with more love for you each. Until next time, shalom.

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