Trust in the Goodness of God and LIVE

The principles of prosperity that are now becoming more widely known are simply man's understanding through science finally catching up with what God has been telling us all along.

Thanks to books like The JackRabbit Factor, it's sequel Portal to Genius (which includes the JackRabbit Factor), Hidden Treasures, each of these written by award winning author, Leslie Householder more and more people are becoming aware of the ways that God has provided for them to provide for themselves. There are other authors, older versions, but this author is my favorite and has a way of engaging audiences and weaving profound principles into simple stories and examples that make each one comprehendable to the simplest of minds.

About 18 months ago, while my husband and I were separated by military deployment, my friend Christina introduced me to "The JackRabbit Factor" and "Hidden Treasures". I read them, and began changing the way I thought and the way I perceived my role in my life and in my future. I stopped talking about things that I wished, or things that "would be" and started talking about things I desired as if they already were. Those things began to change in my life, either through unseen power or by experiences showing up for me to act on.

I'd had a rough few years, financial stress had tainted many of my memories. However, I began to see my own part in the stress, my own power to change it and through those Leslie Householder books I read as well as profound books by C.S. Lewis (Including :Mere Christianity, Screwtape Letters, Surprised By Joy, and the Great Divorce), a book called "To Draw Closer to God", by Henry B. Eyering, "The Peacegiver" by James L. Ferrell, "Bonds That Make Us Free", by C. Terry Warner, and "A Woman After God's Own Heart", by Elizabeth George God created a change in me that I could never have conceived of at the time. Looking back at it, I'm amazed at what God has done in me...sometimes inspite of me (notwithstanding my clumsy wanderings).

I learned from the Peacegiver book how to turn my heart and soul to THE Peacegiver to find healing and release from the bondage of resentment. I learned from C.S. Lewis to see myself, my motives, and my temptations clearly. In "To Draw Closer to God" I relearned how to recognize and receive divine guidance for my life. In "Bonds That Make Us Free" I embarked on the lifelong journey of growth facilitated by the realization that whatever and whomever I resent the most is the person I have harmed the most and the thing that I fear most or have neglected in my life.

In "A Woman After God's Own Heart" I realized that the pattern of families with a husband in the lead was not an archaic societal misunderstanding or chauvinistic tool for enslavement, but an endowment from God, a gift divinely appointed for my best good. Through implementing this more in my life I learned to stop trusting in my husband and start trusting in God. Oddly, following my husband's leadership led me to greater faith in God, because at the time I had so little faith in my husband's abilities to lead and provide I had to have faith that God would have respect for my humble offering of obedience and humility. But, I digress....back to the subject.

As I read the Leslie Householder books my mind drew instant correlations between the law of attraction and Faith, between positive thinking and God's repeated encouragement to have hope, in learning the power of gratitude to raise our"vibrations" (to facilitate faith) I thought of how the bible admonished over and over to be grateful in all things. There are not commandments like a checklist that God wants us to check off before he wants to bless us, they are the keys to utilizing the system he put in place for our support and succor while on the earth.

The blessings are already in place, yet we are required by the agency He gave us to place ourselves in a position to receive. Even in this there is grace, the bridge over the gap of our imperfect application to the things we want and need for our best good, but this requires our utmost for His highmost. Through the atonement we are blessed even without perfect application of these principles as we continue with earnest effort in the right direction.

I read somewhere in scripture that when we face God we will have a complete understanding that we have no excuses because we will see the truth about the support we have always had, how God has truly given us everything to succeed.

One day as I pumped gas and was a little irritated at the fast rate the total was growing in comparison to the rate the tank was filling I turned my thoughts to "I always have enough gas, I never run out." As I thought this a profound knowledge came into my mind, as if I was looking at the tiniest particle in a cellular structure of the gas I was pumping I saw a particle that glowed and reminded me of a seed. The words that came into my mind were "Everything has the capacity for self-perpetuation because it was created by an eternal God, and when it was created it was eternal, it lies dormant waiting to be ignited by faith." The miracle of the loaves and fishes comes to mind, and the woman with the cruse of oil and a handful of meal that never ran out when she had the FAITH to feed the Lord's servant first.

Is the miracle of abundance only denied us because we are too intellectually and emotionally married to the idea of scarcity and the laws we have created ourselves to explain what we don't fully understand?
Truly we are expected at times to toil, but when our utmost falls short and we trust in God, isn't there an abundance created for us?

When God told us we are his children, the body of Christ, and that our bodies are the temples to house the spirit of the Lord perhaps he was doing more than just reassuring us of His love and care. Perhaps he was telling us, "You have the power, by trusting in me, to create as I have created according to that which is for your best good." When we do our utmost and trust in God and things "don't work out", sometimes we make the assumption that God is not there, and our trust has been misplaced. How about in those moments of hitting the proverbial brick wall, we turn and say, "God, I know you want my best good, what would you have me learn, and am I to tear down this wall, or go another way?"

When I remember to hold up my experiences to the measuring stick of faith, I can have joy even IN the pain. When I exercise the faith that God is in my life, providing experience for my BEST good, there is no situation I cannot conquer, no sadness that cannot be comforted because in trusting Him I keep the windows of my soul and heart open to receive His love, His guidance, and His support.
What is it that keeps me from trusting in this support at times?

It is knowledge of my own weakness, or failure to listen to divine intuition. It is the judgements I place on myself. The feeling that I am not worthy. This brings me back to basics.
Can I change God, He being unchangeable and all powerful, and His feelings for me by my action or inaction?
Have I separated myself from Him by not listening, and further yet by fearing his rejection, and further yet by trying at times to excuse it?..yeah.

The Good news is that no matter how far I have travelled, Christ, through the atonement has garunteed me a way back.

Where is there space for fear if we truly believe in the love of God and the atonement of Christ?

Where is there space for low self-worth seeing that that we are Children of God with infinite power and potential?

Fear, anger, resentment, depression, grief, pity, and hatred are all consumed and vanish in the light of pure love and pure truth that is in Christ. The fastest way to recover from any darkness is to remind ourselves of what is light, and to strengthen the sputtering flame of our testimony of Christ. When faced with extreme depression or anxiety completing this sentence: "I believe in God's love for me and Christ's power to heal, therefore ________________________." can be an effective way to turn your thoughts and feelings to what will support and lift you up. Feelings of doubt are valuable opportunities to dig deeper and strengthen our testimonies in God's love for us, the true power of the atonement, and what it truly means to be God's children.

That is the Gospel of Christ in a nutshell: God loves you, You are His Child, You are loved, You are Forgiven, Repent (Which means to turn to God, in thought, word, action, and heart). Many who may read this post may think, "Well, I'm living the commandments, I go to church, I serve others, and I'm still depressed, what has this got to do with me?" Our feelings are a great gift, a signal or indicator to help us see the corrections we can make to bring us closer to God. Finding ourselves in misery is the opportunity to turn ourselves even more directly to face God.

As I struggled with hormonal imbalance following my hysterectamy I trained myself to be grateful for the magnifying glass my hormones became to my feelings and thoughts. The little things became glaringly obvious under that microscope and many pains, resentments, and fears were released through dealing with them as they came up. Our chemical and hormone imbalances can be huge catalysts to change as we utilize them as a gift given to us to see what may be in the way of our SEEING God in our lives and in ourselves. As our children have parts of us in them, so part of God is in us, our privilege is to uncover it by eliminating the blinding baggage that we pick up and sometimes carry for a lifetime, until something brings it to our attention and we have the chance to face it with the tools God gave us in Faith, Hope, Gratitude, Love, Knowledge of our Divine Nature, and Forgiveness.

These are the tools of healing for eternal change, these are the tools God has made available to all. These are the tools the scriptures, as our manuals, show us how to use. The rest is scaffolding and bandaging to support us while we learn to use the divine tools of healing as the Master Healer, Jesus Christ. He taught us to love one another, promised he would help us and died to provide the power and vehicle for forgiveness.

As we learn to return thanks to God in all things, trust in his plan, and apply the atonement we will forgive because we have no right to hold a grudge (the price has been paid), our wounds will be healed because the God who creates us can surely heal us, our sorrows made into joys because Christ has suffered all and conquered , and our hatred turned to love because we will learn to see each other as we are- brothers and sisters, children of the same God. I pray for you the peace, joy and love that comes in learning to trust in God, and the healing that comes from understanding and applying the power and purpose of the atonement of Christ in every area of your life where you need healing.

By eliminating these blinding motes and beams we can begin to recognize the divine support that has always been there and begin to dream with intention and believe the BEST is always YET to come and what is happening now is for my BESt Good. And by a true miracle in our day we can be happy in the journey to what we desire and desire and be joyful in what we see in front of us now. The Secret to Getting What we Want and Being Happy in the Process is learning to Trust in God while taking inspired and committed action.


With Love,

Liz King Bradley