mental health – Page 4 – Spirituality & Healing

You are mine

Published on April 20, 2017April 20, 2017 by lindseybiggsLeave a comment

“You are mine” and “You are special”. Sweet books by Max Lucado that we read to our little one. They are sweet because they remind us that what the world says of us can’t really stick if we don’t believe it. We can daily listen to our Maker, the Creator of the universe, that tells us how perfect, special and good He made us.

There is a lot of noise in the world. Clanging cymbals of doubt, lack, remorse, uncertainty. But we can counteract this by dwelling in the “secret place of the Most High”, listening to the thoughts that God gives us.

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.*

God has only good for you and that goodness exists right now within you. Good is the truth about you now and forever.

The Bible tells about the disciples hearts that burning within them while they talked with Jesus (as he illuminated the Scriptures to them).

Don’t we all want out hearts to burn within us through an inspiration and spiritual understanding? God says “before you were in the womb, I knew you” and “the very hairs on your head are all numbered.”

Each of us is infinitely valued, needed and special to God. Each us has an individuality that is safe and pure. Each of us is spiritual, made in the image and likeness of Life and Love itself.

*Jeremiah 29:11

What is controlling our thinking?

Published on January 18, 2016January 17, 2016 by lindseybiggs2 Comments

One night, while laying in bed trying to go to sleep, I found myself ruminating about an upcoming project that didn’t require me to be organizing every detail that moment. What I did need was a feeling of peace, rest and trust in God’s all-power.

What do we do when we feel like our thinking is being hijacked from our naturally happy, healthy, restful selves?

The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.¹

Mary Baker Eddy, a spiritual teacher and healer, called this influence “error” — it is simply an error to believe that God is not in control; it is simply an error to believe that God’s reality is not harmonious, perfect and that you are not included in it right now.

You are valuable! You are special!

Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid^2;

To be at one with divine consciousness is to know that God is controlling and working out every detail of your experience.

You are an active component of one “stupendous whole”.

As an active portion of one stupendous whole, goodness identifies man with universal good.³

Sometimes I wonder: “Really, me? My tiny, insignificant problem in the grand scheme of things? Is God really working that out?” Well the answer that comes is YES —not because my problem is of huge significance but because my being is at one with the whole being— the whole of creation, God’s perfect universe. If I claim and accept that he isn’t governing me than I am claiming and accepting that I am separate from God and the rest of His creation. Impossible!

As I lay in bed that night, I saw clear that it was error (subtly or aggressively) influencing me to over-analyze without relying on God, good, to guide each step of the way through divine inspiration. The moment I realized the error that was influencing my consciousness, I turned my thought to Christ; I thought about the Bible story of Christ Jesus walking over the waves to his disciples who were in the boat.

Jesus taught us to walk over, not into or with, the currents of matter, or mortal mind.⁴

It was clear to me that I had a choice to make: I could believe that God is all and is the only true law caring for every want and detail I could possibly imagine or I could stay in the boat of believing that there is lack, limitation, rush, stress, and fear that God has no ability to reject.

Thinking about the Master’s nonjudgmental compassion for Peter in reaching out his hand to help Peter when he started to sink helped me see the divine Love that I really wanted to take a stand for. I could see that I was being urged to “walk over the waves” – the downward pull of material thinking — to trust in God’s love.

The unnecessary ruminating stopped in those moments. I slept peacefully and awoke feeling a greater sense of freedom and refreshment. (In the following weeks, the project even evolved in such a way that the details I would have planned that evening would been obsolete, so I was saved from wasted time.) Divine inspiration, trust, and not human will, was needed to take the lead.

. . . let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.⁵

So, if you find yourself fretting about something, know that Christ is present to help you break the cycles of negative/limited thinking; Christ enables you to see who you really are, your perfect relationship with God who is unfolding every perfect detail to bless everyone.

___

^{1 Romans 8:6 NIV}^{2 Luke 12:7 NIV}^{3 Mary Baker Eddy, The First Church of Christ, Scientist and Miscellany, p. 165:16-18}^{4 Mary Baker Eddy, Unity of Good, p. 11:3-4}^{5 James 1:4 NKJV}

Divine love can dissolve past hurt

Published on December 18, 2015December 18, 2015 by lindseybiggs4 Comments

Family gatherings can be difficult times for many. How do you feel a sense of God’s presence and love during the holidays? God is the Source of each one’s individuality, so we can all know — spiritually discern — that we are each loved equally despite what may have gone on before.

Pure humanity, friendship, home, the interchange of love, bring to earth a foretaste of heaven.¹

Our identity, feeling worthy and loved doesn’t actually come from other people, although sometimes friends and family can beautifully reflect how worthy, lovely and lovable we all are. These expressions of joy and appreciation are natural and normal and are signs of God, divine Love’s, kingdom on earth.

Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.²

Relationships are a good opportunity to dissolve what Mary Baker Eddy calls the “adamant of error”: self-will, self-justification and self-love³ ; the old adage “my way or the highway” mentality; self-righteousness, which wreaks havoc on all of us; then of course there’s just plain old judgement.

Christ Jesus was the perfect example of living and expressing spiritual love.

After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, “Do you understand what I was doing? You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am. And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you…Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.⁴

God will bless you for doing them! God will bless you for putting off old resentments. God will bless you for being humble enough to be made new — in the likeness of God!

You deserve to express divine Love — not hold on to the past or limited views of others (that God is not knowing about them). Self-hatred is what makes us feel we are not worthy or loved enough to let go of hatred towards others! We are worth it! Let it go.

Spiritual living and blessedness are the only evidences, by which we can recognize true existence and feel the unspeakable peace which comes from an all-absorbing spiritual love. ⁵

^________

^{1 Mary Baker Eddy, Miscellaneous Writings 1883-1896, p. 100

2 Matthew 6:10 The Holy Bible New Revised Standard Version}
^{3 Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 242}
^{4 John 13 The Holy Bible New Living Translation

^{5 Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 264}}