Lesson 47
God is the strength in which I trust.
W-pI.47.1. If you are trusting in your own strength, you have every reason to be apprehensive, anxious and fearful. 2 What can you predict or control? 3 What is there in you that can be counted on? 4 What would give you the ability to be aware of all the facets of any problem, and to resolve them in such a way that only good can come of it? 5 What is there in you that gives you the recognition of the right solution, and the guarantee that it will be accomplished?
I had a good example of what this paragraph is helping us to see. Tonight, and for the next few days we are having weather that is extreme for our area. We are having a hard freeze and this is going to last for a week. It starts tonight with sleet and turns to snow the next day and then the temperature dips to 12 degrees. What can happen is that we get ice and the ice can cause outages.
My younger daughter was very worried about me. She was concerned we would lose electricity and I would be left without heat. She wanted me to come to stay with her because they have a small generator and a fireplace. I didn’t really want to because I prefer to be in my own home. I also want to be able to talk to students and work on my lessons. I told her I would do that because I didn’t want her to be stressed the whole time worrying about me.
I began to run around trying to get everything done wishing it wasn’t happening like this. Then I realized what I was doing and I stopped and asked the Holy Spirit to show me another way to see this. I remembered that I would get done what I could and what I couldn’t finish I would just release. I felt so much more peace as I let the Holy Spirit give me a different vision of the circumstances. I also realized how blessed I am to be cared for and I felt loved as I continued my morning.
Then later this afternoon, my older girl called me to say that she would come to get me if I lost power. They live closer to me and there is no bridge between us that would close down in icy weather. They have a generator and a much bigger house and, in this way,, I can stay home and get things done, leaving only if I really need to do so. It also occurred to me that there never was a problem except in my mind.
I cannot control or predict what is going to happen or what I am to do about it. If I am depending on my very limited understanding and abilities, then I have every reason to be afraid. I am so happy that I used this situation to choose peace. This ability or even this desire to surrender to God did not come all at once. I have been working on this for a while now.
The ego doesn’t appreciate this new way of doing this and it was pretty excited for the short time I was letting it run amok.
But I came to my senses and chose to be at peace regardless of what was happening. I chose not to indulge my ego in its desire to predict what needed to be done and how to make it happen.
W-pI.47.2. Of yourself you can do none of these things. 2 To believe that you can is to put your trust where trust is unwarranted, and to justify fear, anxiety, depression, anger and sorrow. 3 Who can put his faith in weakness and feel safe? 4 Yet who can put his faith in strength and feel weak?
Sorry, ego. It no longer makes sense to trust you to work things out. May I never again place my faith in weakness.
W-pI.47.3. God is your safety in every circumstance. 2 His Voice speaks for Him in all situations and in every aspect of all situations, telling you exactly what to do to call upon His strength and His protection. 3 There are no exceptions because God has no exceptions. 4 And the Voice which speaks for Him thinks as He does.
The Holy Spirit will always guide me to the right-thinking if I call on Him instead of the ego, and right-thinking is my greatest need. It is possible to be at peace even in this insane world. It takes a lot of practice and a lot of vigilance but we can do this. Remember, he says that there are no exceptions because God has no exceptions.
The situation may not work out as you hoped but it will always work out in your best interests whether you can see that in the moment or not. Our only need is to let go of the desire to be the mover and shaker of the world, and let the right mind take over. Then with a clear mind, we will know what to do. I am also reminded of something that is said in the Song of Prayer.
You have been told to ask the Holy Spirit for the answer to any specific problem, and that you will receive a specific answer if such is your need. You have also been told that there is only one problem and one answer. In prayer this is not contradictory. There are decisions to make here, and they must be made whether they be illusions or not.
Mostly, I just show my wrong-minded thoughts to the Holy Spirit and accept His healing, but I also keep a running conversation going. I give all problems to Him in one way or another and He answers me in one way or another. I am either going to join with the ego in my decisions or with the Holy Spirit. Why would I choose the ego for anything?
W-pI.47.4. Today we will try to reach past your own weakness to the Source of real strength. 2 Four five-minute practice periods are necessary today, and longer and more frequent ones are urged. 3 Close your eyes and begin, as usual, by repeating the idea for the day. 4 Then spend a minute or two in searching for situations in your life which you have invested with fear, dismissing each one by telling yourself:
5 God is the strength in which I trust.
I like the way Jesus phrased this when he said situations that I have invested with fear. This describes what happened this morning. I invested the situation of leaving my house with fear as I was afraid that I was going to have to do something I didn’t want to do. In the end, I saw that there was nothing to fear. There wasn’t even a problem. It just needed time to unfold in the best way possible.
I don’t think there is ever a “need” for fear. I just decide that something is fearful. I remember one time my brother was driving across a bridge in a heavy downpour. He lost control of the car and it was headed straight for the low railing. It seemed we would go over. I was terrified. Suddenly he regained control. Was it necessary that I was afraid?
No. That was a choice. Either we would go over or we wouldn’t but how I felt about it was up to me. I could invest it with fear and dread, or I could wait to see what happened knowing that everything is in my best interest even if it is death of the body. I wonder what my choice would be in this situation now? Would I automatically choose God as the strength in which I trust?
W-pI.47.5. Now try to slip past all concerns related to your own sense of inadequacy. 2 It is obvious that any situation that causes you concern is associated with feelings of inadequacy, for otherwise you would believe that you could deal with the situation successfully. 3 It is not by trusting yourself that you will gain confidence. 4 But the strength of God in you is successful in all things.
W-pI.47.6. The recognition of your own frailty is a necessary step in the correction of your errors, but it is hardly a sufficient one in giving you the confidence which you need, and to which you are entitled. 2 You must also gain an awareness that confidence in your real strength is fully justified in every respect and in all circumstances.
My own frailty refers to trusting the ego-mind to make decisions for me. I must accept that on my own (with ego) I will never have all I need to make good decisions. My best choice is to turn to the Holy Spirit in me to direct me while I am here in a place that is not even possible. Trusting the Holy Spirit will give me the confidence I lack and it is confidence that is sure and can be depended on.
W-pI.47.7. In the latter phase of the practice period, try to reach down into your mind to a place of real safety. 2 You will recognize that you have reached it if you feel a sense of deep peace, however briefly. 3 Let go all the trivial things that churn and bubble on the surface of your mind, and reach down and below them to the Kingdom of Heaven. 4 There is a place in you where there is perfect peace.
5 There is a place in you where nothing is impossible. 6 There is a place in you where the strength of God abides.
Again, we are being encouraged to meditate on this lesson. We are not asked to do more than to seek for God in our mind but what more could we hope for? It is there that we will find what Jesus promises us; is a place in you where there is perfect peace; a place in you where nothing is impossible; a place in you where the strength of God abides.
W-pI.47.8. During the day, repeat the idea often. 2 Use it as your answer to any disturbance. 3 Remember that peace is your right, because you are giving your trust to the strength of God.
What a wonderful thought! Peace is my right because I am giving my trust to the strength of God!