On my decision all salvation rests.
This is a great lesson. It reminds me of my worthiness, my holiness, and my perfection.
“Father, Your trust in me has been so great, I must be worthy. I must be beloved of You indeed. And I must be steadfast in holiness as well, that You would give Your Son to me in certainty that he is safe Who still is part of You, and yet is mine, because He is my Self.”
There came a time when I realized the magnitude of the RESPONSIBILITY of this blog and my writing. I also realized the magnitude of the responsibility of every word that came out of my mouth and every thought that I held in my mind.
When I first started this blog in November 2004, I didn’t tell anyone about Gorgeous for God and I wrote entirely for myself because I wanted to learn. I wrote all sorts of crap. I wrote whatever came to mind. I bared my soul. I emptied my thoughts out like garbage that needed to be taken to the dump. I didn’t think anyone could possibly be interested in what I had to say, so I wrote whatever I wanted.
I went in all directions like the wind.
But then one day, after a few months of blogging, I found a thing called Blog Stats (something I had been unaware of) and to my horror I realized that 100 people were quietly reading my blog every day. I nearly collapsed to the floor. My writing changed in that instant and on that day. Suddenly there was a responsibility that hadn’t been there before: 100 people were coming to me. Suddenly I had to be more aware of my words because they could have consequences on someone else’s life.
“In the beginning was the word, and the word was God.”
On that day I thought: okay, well, what’s this blog for? Why am I writing? What’s it for? And ultimately, I don’t know what it’s for, I don’t really know why I write except that I love it and it gives me immense joy, but on that day I thought: I’m here to be helpful.
I thought “If I can change one person’s misery and make them happy, then this blog is a complete success.”
My mission became:
1. to make happy
2. to be helpful
3. to inspire individuals to be as God created them … perfect.
And an interesting thing happened … my writing changed. Practically overnight. It happened like a magician waving a wand. When I got clear in my mind about the goal and mission about what I was doing in life, everything changed instantly for me.
It was like someone taking Windex and cleaning off the foggy mirror that was in front of me.
And now it’s almost four years later, and there’s a lot of people reading this blog. God has entrusted many to my care. The more my blog numbers increased, the more freaked out I became. I would think “Who am I to instruct anyone? How can I possibly help anyone? Why are these people coming to me? I have nothing to offer. What if I say the wrong thing? What if someone gets hurt?”
But then there is today’s lesson reminding me “Father, I must be worthy. You created me, and know me as I am. And yet you placed Your Son’s salvation in my hands, and let it rest on my decision.”
And so it is with me.
My decision to be helpful opened the flood gates.
“On my decision all salvation rests.”
And so it is with you. God is sending people to you know because you have made a decision to let the light shine through you and to let Christ work through you. I’m sure some people have already started coming to you, asking for your help. Sometimes it starts slowly, sometimes it explodes immediately. Whatever the case, you begin to recognize the immense responsibility to not confuse anyone further than they already are.
You learn the simplicity of loving and giving like a child. This is the best kind of teacher – the one that is like a child.
Children naturally know how to share.
How simple is salvation! Share like an innocent child.
“And so, again today, we pause to think how much our Father loves us. And how dear His Son, created by His Love, remains to Him Whose Love is made complete in him.”
It is my privilege to extend the Love of God every day. Thank you for showing up.
If you are interested/curious about the first 3 years of Gorgeous for God, it is available in book form. It contains my personal favorite blog entries from the first 3 years. You can click the cover to read an excerpt or to buy a copy for yourself:
Now would I be as God created me.
Perfect.
Bulls-eye.
Today I will accept the truth about myself. I will arise in glory, and allow the light in me to shine upon the world throughout the day. I bring the world the tidings of salvation which I hear as God my Father speaks to me.
Amazing.
I love the constant reminders of these lessons, and the simple instructions that are given to me to practice.
“Christ is my eyes today, and He the ears that listen to the Voice for God today. Father, I come to You through Him Who is Your Son, and my true Self as well. Amen.”
I’m reading the most beautiful book right now called Brida, by Paulo Coelho.
“Before our first lesson, I want to remind you of one thing,” he said. “When you find your path, you must not be afraid. You need to have sufficient courage to make mistakes. Disappointment, defeat, and despair are the tools God uses to show us the way.”
“Strange tools,” said Brida. “They often dissuade people from carrying on.”
The Magus knew the reason for these tools, he had already experienced both in body and soul.
“Teach me the Tradition of the Sun,” she insisted.
The Magus asked Brida to lean back against the rock and relax.
“There’s no need to close your eyes. Look at the world around you and try to see and understand as much as you can. The Tradition of the Sun is constantly revealing eternal knowledge to each individual.”
Brida is about Soul mates, magic, the bridge between the visible and the invisible, the journey to know yourself, and God.
“I learned about the Dark Night,” she said to the now silent forest. “I learned that the search for God is a Dark Night, that Faith is a Dark Night. And that’s hardly a surprise really, because for us each day is a dark night. None of us knows what might happen even the next minute, and yet we still go forward. Because we trust. Because we have faith.
“Or who knows, perhaps because we just don’t see the mystery contained in the next second. Not that it mattered. What mattered was knowing that she had understood.
That every moment in life is an act of faith.
That you could choose to fill it with snakes and scorpions or with a strong protecting force.
That Faith cannot be explained. It was simply a Dark Night. And all she had to do was accept it or not.
It’s a beautiful book.
Since reading The Alchemist many years, I’ve read every book Paulo Coelho has ever written. The man is brilliant, remarkable, humble, insightful and a master at storytelling.
If you’ve never read his work, I highly recommend him. Pick a time when you are not going to be interrupted for hours (like taking a flight to Europe) because once you get started on one of his books, you will not want to put it down. Plus time flies and you will disappear into his stories, which is a great way to go if you’ve traveling on a crowded flight.
Here is a letter from Paulo Coelho about Brida:
Dear Reader,
In Brida, my third novel which I wrote just after The Alchemist, I tell the story of a young woman that dives into sorcery and experiences with different magical traditions. I explore many themes that are dear to me, such as The Great Mother, pagan religions and the perceptions of love.
When I wrote this book and published it in Brazil more than 18 years ago, themes such as the feminine face of God were still very foreign to most people. Nevertheless, I noticed, with the passing of time, a shift in perception – people being more open to the intuitive perception of the world and being less seduced by the fixed rules of society. As written on the book, “the noblest thing a human being can experience is acceptance of the mystery.”
I have the feeling that the world is accepting more and more the mystery and so, dear readers, I present you the story of this young woman today.
Paulo Coelho
Click the cover to Search Inside the book, read an excerpt, and buy a copy from Amazon:
I rule my mind, which I alone must rule.
I watched a great movie last night called The Hurricane, with Denzel Washington.
It goes along perfectly with today’s lesson – I rule my mind, which I alone must rule – and it also reminded me of the great necessity to not just accept your lot in life and think that something by way of a miracle is just going to drop out of the sky and save you. Your release is not going to be handed to you on a silver platter while you drone out in front of the television, eating chips out of the bag. You are going to have to FIGHT for your freedom. You’re going to have to fight for justice. You’re going to have to stand up for your innocence, and for all the things you believe in. You’re imprisoned for life and if you want to be released, then you are going to have to fight for it
You’re going to have to put your whole life, mind and body into it.
IF THAT’S WHAT YOU WANT. Some people are perfectly content to let the hours roll into days into weeks into years. That’s fine.
But if you’re looking for release from time & space, you can’t just sit around in your prison cell, praying for a miracle, hoping your circumstances will change. They won’t.
You are going to have to stand up and fight for what you know is true: your innocence, truth and your release.
Denzel Washington plays Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, a man who in the prime of his boxing career is falsely accused and convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. In prison, he refused to conform to the rules. He rose above the hell that was his physical world of his jail cell and he ruled his mind, which he alone must rule. While in prison he wrote a memoir The Sixteenth Round, and a young teenager who was inspired by the book along with 3 Canadian activists who dedicated their lives to standing up for truth, decided to prove Carter’s innocence.
It’s an extraordinary story. Carter spent 20 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, and when he is finally released he says “Hate got me into this place, love got me out.”
Here’s from today’s lesson:
I have a kingdom I must rule. At times it does not seem I am its king at all. It seems to triumph over me, and tell me what to think, and what to do and feel.
See that? You think your life is ruling you. You think circumstances are ruling you. You think someone else determines the outcome of your life. But it’s not true. You rule your mind. You have the ability to rise above all circumstances. You have the power to fight the good fight.
Not all fighting is bad. Sometimes you gotta stand up for what you believe in, even when no one else believes in you, even when the whole system is fighting against you.
You may think to yourself: “I can’t fight against the system. It’s too huge, it’s too corrupt, and I’m too small. I can’t possibly make a difference. I’m no one.”
And then you give up before you even begin! This the main difficulty every encounters! The think of the magnitude of a project or task before they even begin, and then they see themselves as a failure without even trying, and then they give up.
And the corruption continues.
But usually when you’ve got nothing else to lose and when your whole life depends on it, you will find an energy source capable of going the distance and not wavering … until you are free.
If you are still in prison, bound by rules and limitation, please don’t give up. Please don’t ever accept your circumstances as “just the way it is”. THAT’S NOT THE WAY IT IS.
Until you walk out of those prison doors into the sunlight, do not give up. Do not let yourself become defeated. Keep in mind that the system is designed to beat you down.
I’ve gone years where I thought “this is not working.” I’ve given up on many occasions. I’ve thought “this is a waste of time.”
But if Carter Rubin can sit in a jail cell for 20 years, then I can keep going.
I can tell you from personal experience the journey is humbling … and at times: exhausting. You think you’re alone. You think you’ve been abandoned. You believe there is no God. Years go by and nothing happens. I’ve had moments when I think “this has all been a waste of time. Nothing is happening”
And then comes the most terrifying thought of all: “What is nothing ever happens? What if I’ve been wrong and this is all a huge waste of time? What if this is as good as it gets? What if I die in this cell?”
Then I die in this cell, fighting till the end.
I don’t have a choice in the matter. I’ve been set upon a path and there’s no turning back. I’ve got nowhere else to go. There’s nothing else for me. I’ve got nothing else to do.
This path has been magnificent and I cannot imagine any greater privilege than to stand up for Jesus and glorify my Father.
My mind can only serve. Today I give its service to the Holy Spirit to employ as He sees fit. I thus direct my mind, which I alone can rule. And thus I set it free to do the Will of God.
God in His mercy wills that I be saved.
I need but look upon all things that seem to hurt me, and with perfect certainty assure myself, “God wills that I be saved from this” and merely watch them disappear.
Another practical lesson! Look at that! You can easily practice this one in your life, with whatever issue is going on in your life right now with whatever seems to be hurting you. The tendency is always to think you’ll feel better when circumstances change, when outside conditions (people, places, events) change. You think you’ll be happier if you had more money, or if someone else was acting differently, or if someone would give you the thing you think you need – more money, more love, more space, more attention, more appreciation, more recognition.
It’s good to recognize that these thoughts are hurting you. They don’t feel good. It doesn’t feel good to think you are in limitation. It doesn’t feel good to think how miserable your life is. It doesn’t feel good to think you are unworthy. It downright hurts.
But God, in His mercy, will you be saved from all things that seem to hurt you.
God’s Will for you is perfect happiness. Right now. Right this minute.
And how is this accomplished? How is it possible to go from feeling like crap to feeling wonderful in an instant?
By changing your mind. By changing the vibrational frequency of the thoughts you are holding in your mind. By remembering that God’s Love surrounds you. To remember your gratitude.
You are the Son God loves.
I am continually amazed by how most people only look to what is lacking in their life (and what they think they need and want) and they are blind to the gifts and splendor that surround them.
Wake up!
Look what is right in front of you.
To be awake means to have your eyes wide-open to see what is directly in front of you in this moment.
Forget about future goals. Take a look at the gifts that you surround you from the place that you are sitting in this very minute. Count your blessings. You’ll be amazed.
You’ll go from poverty to abundance in a nanosecond. You’ll go from boredom to wonder faster than you can snap your fingers.
To be awake means to be conscious of your true Identity, which is pure light, pure Spirit.
God’s Will for you is perfect happiness – today.
God in His mercy wills that you be saved.
I love you.
I posted this link in the comments area, but it’s so brilliant that I want to post it here in the main area.
An interpretation of the Lord’s Prayer, by Emmet Fox. The late, great, brilliant Emmet Fox. The man is a genius.
Do yourself a favor and buy his books. My favorite is Sermon on the Mount, but they are all fantastic.
Here he describes the Lord’s Prayer, sentence by sentence.
This just got emailed to me. The first paragraph is from me, apparently something I’d written on my blog. Then there is a question about money. Then my response. Of course, I could be totally wrong … but it’s still fun to bear my guts to the world and put my heart out on my sleeve for all to see.
I’d like to hear from you about your experiences with these lessons, because if you still believe you have problems, we need to clean that up. I don’t want you to carry your confusion into these next lessons, because we are moving into new territory and there is no need to carry old baggage, problems or grievances into the next phase.
“Your problems have been solved.”
I want to hear from ALL OF YOU
Lisa, I hope I am not writing to you too much. I just wanted to ask you to talk about money. Byron Katie says: “Money is everywhere — it’s hard not to have it.” Or something like that.
I want enough money to meet my needs and to relax.
So I bet you are going to say: Well relax first and the money will come.
Is that what you are going to say???
I am feeling so STUCK about money.
The path of the savior is not about relaxing is what I say!
Stay alert and everything you need to accomplish the Holy Spirit’s Purposes will be given to you.
I’m honestly not the best person to write about money – there’s tons of abundance books that can answer that question – but I can tell you about my own personal experience … I said Yes! to God (I declared absolutely “my life is Yours! have all of me! My life belongs to you!”) and by doing that I set myself on a path that literally had to move beyond all the abundance/money teaching. There is larger Plan at work here and there can be no mistakes. Jesus is guiding us in a plan to save the world. That’s no small thing. He’s the leader, and we are the followers, and we are literally taking a journey that is being revealed step by step. This is unknown territory and you’re gonna see there will be a whole new batch of teachers, new ways of communication, expressing/demonstrating a message that has not yet been taught yet but will be a whole new language, embraced by all.
What we do know is that it has been accomplished – there is a happy ending (we just don’t know the exact specifics from where we currently stand – the course says not even the angels know how it ends), but we do know that it ends in benediction and blessing. So we don’t have to be afraid or worried.
We’re trail blazers, in this sense, we’re pioneers. And the 1st characteristic of a Teacher of God??? TRUST.
That’s what’s needed now in you. Trust.
This has all been part of a very specific curriculum and each of us gets the curriculum that we need to learn based on what our role is in the universe.
For me, I asked God to take all of me, to use me for His Purposes, and I’ve been put through some very intense experiences to see that I can stand on my own, with no money … and this is important … to not compromise. There have been many times on this path that temptation has called me, but i don’t waver. I belong to Jesus.
There have been times when i have wanted fame, fortune and luxury … but that’s not my path. My path is to bring as many people home to God as possible.
Remember what A Course in miracles says: “Salvation of the world depends on me.”
This goes beyond all self-help, abundance and attraction. This is the way of mastery. This is the way of Jesus.
And all I know really is that I have never been comfortless, and all my needs have been taken care of, and I’ve been shown great mysteries and great gifts that were laying dormant in me … that I might have been blind to if say, my book took off as a best-seller a year ago.
but instead it’s been a humbling fantastic magnificent perfect plan that i never have any money, and I’m certain that will all change in a moment, but I don’t have to be concerned about it at all.
You’re with me. We’re with Jesus.
And the scenery will all change in an instant (as you change your mind) and you’ll be laughing your head off that you ever worried about something as small as money.
You’ll see the gifts and splendor that surround you now.
Love, lisa
Father, today I am Your Son again.
What does this mean? Religious connotations aside. What does this mean? Father, today I am Your Son again. What does this mean without all the cultural/emotional coloration of past associations you learned here in the world?
What if you didn’t have a past reference for this? What would this mean?
Father, today I am Your Son again.
I’m not going to answer this question. I want you to think about it.
I can tell you this: I cried like a baby when I saw the magnitude of what this lesson was saying to me.
Let the past go. Let all your ideas go, and let today’s lesson sink into your mind. Just think about it until you know what it means.
Father, today I am Your Son again.
We thank You, Father, that we cannot lose the memory of Your and of Your Love. We recognize our safety, and give thanks for all the gifts You have bestowed on us, for all the loving help we have received, for Your eternal patience, and the Word which You have given us that we are saved.
This is a blog post from last winter, but yesterday one of my readers found it in the Past Blogs section (where every post I’ve written since January 1st can be found) and she had a tremendously great experience with it, so she sent it to me, thanking me profusely for helping her get active and bringing her out of a coma, and I read it this morning and it’s classic & timeless & simple & beautiful so I am posting it here again for you and for me:
So last night at 11pm, I came out of a coma. It felt like coming out of winter hibernation. I started cleaning out my fridge and cupboards and starting chucking all sorts of junk into garbage bags. Then I decided to take it out to the garbage, right then and there, which required me to get dressed, and once I was outside I decided: I might as well take my neighbor’s dog (who I am taking care of for a week) for a walk. The dog was thrilled. We started running.
That’s right. Running!
Me!
At 11pm in the dark. I live out on a quiet country road. No paparazzi. We just kept running and running. I had my winter coat on because it’s still freezing cold here in Wisconsin but it was one of those moments where you think: I’m going to remember this forever.
Then I came home and scrubbed my bathroom like it’s never been scrubbed before. What the heck??? I had out the Clorox, the mops, and the sponges. I was down on my hands and knees scrubbing like my life depended on it. haha. Resurrection. Thank you God. Then I slept like a baby.
Maybe coma is not the best word for it. Or maybe it is the perfect word. I feel like I just woke up from a long nap. I don’t know if words can describe it, but I’m gonna try. It’s like you live within a certain energy frequency, and it feels comfortable & safe: you have your routine, you do what you do, but suddenly it’s not comfortable anymore. You start to feel like you want things to be different. I have the experience that before the energy shifts, everything feels stale and old, like life is just a routine and you are simply going through the motions.
Suddenly what was once comfortable and safe becomes uncomfortable and intolerable.
You suddenly realize you need to make some changes.
So for example, I used to drink and smoke. That was a particular frequency of energy that I lived in. But then it started to get uncomfortable and I wanted to move into a new frequency – to have a new life – and then the energy shifts, and that world of drinking and smoking was left behind.
Here’s the cool part: you keep moving higher and higher and higher.
It never ends!
This is the reason I never say that I know something definitely as if it is written in stone, because then I would be stuck in that particular frame of time & space, when really I always want to be going into brand new territory, to keep releasing the past, releasing my habits, releasing my ideas, keeping an open mind, and letting myself be brand new every moment.
So, today’s review lessons:
My grievances hide the light of the world in me
Exciting news!
I’ve been invited to be a guest on The Leading Edge with Mindy Audlin this coming Monday, August 25th from 3-4PM EST.
You can listen live.
Monday, August 25th from 3-4pm EST
I’ll be talking about my book Gorgeous for God
You can click the banner to go to the Unity FM site and to listen to Mindy’s show. She is amazing. You will absolutely love this site. Bookmark it and check back often. It truly IS the Leading Edge, and I’m thrilled to be a part of it.
Unity FM: The Voice of an Awakening World.
I give my life to God to guide today.
Okay, here is a great practice. For one day – today! – give your life to God to guide. Give him all your thoughts today. Give him all your acts as well … that you may do His Will instead of seeking goals which cannot be obtained, and wasting time in vain imaginings.
What have you got to lose? It’s only for one day. See what God does through you. See where God takes you. Just for one day. For fun. For practice. Even if you think nothing happens, that’s still a good starting point because at least then you’ll be asking yourself the question “How can something invisible guide me?”
Another emotion that often comes up is doubt – you will think you cannot hear God’s Voice guiding you, or you will question whether it is God or the ego.
This is good!
At a minimum, there will have been A MOVEMENT in your mind from observer to participant. The first step is the most important … where you shift your focus from the world to focus on listening to yourself, which is what God is.
Then you just follow instruction. You go where God would have you go. You do what God would have you do.
It is super important that you start to know how your mind works, and to watch the thoughts that it contains. Move away from outside voices and start listening to God who is in you.
I encourage you to start testing these ideas out in your daily life because that’s the only way you will know they are true.
God is in you. He is you. He will guide you if you let Him.
Most people – sincere honest people – never step into the actual practice, preferring instead to keep reading A Course in Miracles every day as if they were nice ideas on a page, in a pretty blue book.
Most people keep thinking a miracle or transformation will happen in the future … but here’s the thing … there is no future! There is only now. Today’s the day.
It’s time to get off the bench and get into the game.
Today, God comes to you. Step back and merely follow. He’s the Guide. You’re the follower.
Just as a baby learns to walk on his own two feet, you must learn as a beginner how to walk with God.
Today, we have one Guide to lead us on. And as we walk together, we will give this day to Him with no reserve at all. This is His day.
THIS IS HIS DAY!
And so it is a day of countless gifts and mercies unto us.
And when the day is done, I would love a report from you. Please write to me at lisanatoli2@gmail to let me know what it was like having God guide your life, your thoughts and your acts.
Even if you think nothing happened, please still write to me. I want you to be aware all day long that you are allowing God to guide your life.
I want you to witness this new way of living. You will be astonished.
Okay. Fun story.
I received an email tonight from one of my readers – Wendy – and she sent me a Word document from a book called The Way of Mastery which she said she felt guided to send me.
I read the document and lightbulbs were popping in my head, like, Whoa, What is this??? So I did a search to see if i could read more of this book online – and I found 3 excerpts – and I’m reading the material (in total absolute amazement) and suddenly I had the most massive deja vu moment from months ago. I already read this website in a dream, sitting in exactly this room I am in now, in this very chair. Wild. I remember the words against the brown, and then in my dream I turned a corner (?) and my mind just now went WHOA!!! I did this already. I dreamed this in my dream at night months ago. I already did this. I saw this already. I remember this paragraph in a dream. I remember this moment.
Deja vu doesn’t happen very often to me – the whole stepping into your past dreams in physical reality – so when it does happen, it trips me out a little. I’m still continually amazed.
So, I’m thinking, I HAVE TO BUY THIS BOOK. So I log back onto my email to tell Wendy that I dreamed all this months ago and that I am going to buy the book … and in my inbox is a message from her already and she’s telling me she wants to buy me the book as a gift and send me a copy and that she’s been thinking about doing this for me for months!!!! Which is when I dreamed it in a dream! Months ago.
And I was sitting in this very room, in this very chair. Far Out.
I’ve done everything already.
Here’s the link to one of the excerpts if you are interested:
