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Self-Help, Self-Improvement, Self-Realization, Spirituality, Personal Development, Personal Growth...
Self-Help Articles
Are You Ready To Accept God's Help?
"Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death."
Anais Nin
Dear everyone,
It is a custom in some parts of the world to give a gift to other people on your birthday. I kind of like this custom. It supports the idea that we are not here in this world for ourselves only, but also for others as well.
Therefore, I am sending out to everyone a gift via the email. It was not a gift that I had intended to give, it just sort of unfolded that way. It actually began as a written response to a letter I received. After I wrote it, I recognized that other people might benefit from reading it as well.
So please accept my humble offering.
Wishing you the best,
Steve
In the morning, when we awaken from a night of sleep, we do so very slowly. It’s a gradual, step-by-step process. We never go from a state of deep sleep to one of wakefulness in a split second. It’s something that takes awhile. First we open our eyes for a moment or two, then we readjust and straighten our body, and then we change our breathing pattern and stretch our muscles. We may repeat these actions a number of times before we actually lift ourselves from off the bed. In truth, waking up is a very involved procedure. A number of things have to happen.
This is the way it is when we have a spiritual awakening as well. A number of things must happen before we are able to see ourselves as we truly are. No one ever goes from a state of ignorance to one of enlightenment without first having readjusted and straightened a great many things about themselves. There is always a certain “stretching” involved as the stiffness of our self-imposed limitations are loosened up. As long as we are curled up in a position of limitation we will never awaken. We will always remain trapped within the confines of our mind.
It is therefore true that if we wish to step beyond the dissatisfaction that we sometimes experience, we will have to allow our limitations to be stretched. We will have to allow God to put His hands inside our world and press outward against our self-created boundaries. This is the only way to be truly free of the problems we have experienced.
Are we ready for this to happen? Are we prepared for a new life? Are we prepared to wake up? Have we been doing what we need to do to be ready? What if God came to us on this very day and began pushing us beyond our self-imposed boundaries, what would we do? Would we resist Him? Would we cry out for help? Would we be afraid? What would we do?
These are very important questions. We should ask ourself these questions each and every day. If we are not ready when God comes to release us from our limitations, we will not accept His help. We will push Him away. What use is there in asking for help, if we are not ready to receive it?
So the most important thing we can do with our time is to prepare ourselves for the day that God comes to visit. He may come at any time. We’ll not be forewarned of His coming, He’ll just pop in. And when He does, we’ll want to be ready because if we’re not, He will immediately leave and begin looking for someone who is.
Are we ready? If He comes today and begins pushing us will we resist Him or will we allow Him to move us where we need to be? Which will it be? What do we want out of life? Do we want to remain curled up with our limitations or do we want to be free? There is one simple way to know. All we have to do is look at the way we have been living for the last several years and see if we have been living like a person who is willing to leave their way of life at a moment’s notice or if we are a person who has become entangled in our way of life such that we would find it hard to step away for even a second.
It is very important that if we want God’s help, we should be ready to receive it. It is of no use to say to ourselves and to others that we want to be helped if we are, in fact, unwilling to accept change. Change is the very essence of help. If we want to be helped, we should be ready for change. We should live our life in such a way that we easily accept change whenever it occurs. There should never be a moment that we allow ourself to become attached to either the surroundings of our current environment, or the people we are living with. At any moment, God may come before us and tell us that it is time for us to leave, that it is time for us to change our life and live a different way. When this happens we must be ready to move.
If we are not happy with ourself or our life we should determine what it is that needs to be changed. How will unhappiness become happiness if there is no change? How will restlessness become peace if there is no change? How will anything become something else if there is no change? Change must occur if we are to become wiser, happier, and more peaceful.
What change do we need? This is a question we should be asking ourself. We should be asking ourself this question every single day, every moment, until we get an answer. This is what we should do. What good is there in continuing our present way of life when all we have to show for it is short-term happiness and reoccurring dissatisfaction? We need to make a change. If we have been living our life as we should, this will not be a problem. We will simply allow the proper adjustments to occur.
Change is like the steps of a staircase; each one taking us higher. If we will accept change in this way we will never find it difficult to move from one place to another, from one person to another, from one circumstance to another, or from one state of mind to another. Each and every day we will feel at peace with ourselves and the world around us.
Are you ready? Are you ready to accept God’s help? Are you ready to change?
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