1. Believe in the presence of the Divine
2. Understand that there are many types of angels ready to assist you
3. Understand the power of prayer and love
4. Be knowledgeable in how to co-create miracles
5. Believe in a spiritual life beyond the death of the physical body

A key to experiencing a variety of miracles in your life is to adopt the belief – NEVER GIVE UP HOPE.  One of two things could happen.  There could be a new surge of life in this world for the person in danger – a miracle! Life continues for this person and they go on living a purpose-filled life.  Or the person moves to death, and with their trust in the Divine, there will be another type of life for them in heaven.

If you look at miracles from this perspective, you will realize that we experience miracles every day and we are the co-creator of these miracles.

For example, the Columbian jet crash was considered a ‘miracle’.  In the August 17, 2010 edition of the Toronto Star Vivian Sequera from the Associated Press writes “Survival was ‘a miracle of God.  Thanks to God we are alive.” Ramirez said.”    In another section of the article San Andres Gov. Pedro Gallardo is quoted to have said “It was a miracle and we have to give thanks to God (that only one person died).” The skill of the pilot, co-created the miracle along with God.

Learn to truly listen to God to help you co-create miracles.  He will guide you step-by-step and give you signs along the way.  The pilot  was given the strength and courage, along with specific instructions of what he should do to keep the plane from hitting the airport.  God truly is everyone’s co-pilot.

If we would only invest time daily, slowing the mind down long enough to talk to Him, and then being quiet enough to listen to what He is saying, we would begin to welcome the quiet time together.  By increasing the time that we talk to God as we go about our day, we will begin to feel the comfort of knowing that God is helping us to steer our course every step of the way.

Take time to be thankful for the many miracles that occur in your life and take time to pray and thank God for the miracles that happen to others as well.  Blessing everyone and everything and being truly grateful leads to experiencing a truly miraculous life every day.

Some people just pray when they find themselves in a health crisis, or are enduring a time in their life often called the “dark knight of the soul”.  These times are like bad nightmares that won’t go away, filling you with fear.

A crisis has seeped itself into Christopher Hitchens’ life (the atheist author diagnosed with cancer in June 2010) who agrees that he has taunted God most of his life.  As mentioned in the National Post August 5, 2010 article – “Ailing Hitchens enters ‘the land of malady’” by Araminta Wordsworth, Christopher is actually admitting being open to having people pray for him.

Whether you choose to form a prayer group through Facebook, other internet social groups, through your church, family, or friends, the results are powerful.  In my book – “Ask and You Shall Receive – A Miracle for Steven” I have named a chapter – “Awakening to the Power of Prayer”.  In this chapter I talk about the prayer chain we developed with family members when we learned that our 7 year old son was diagnosed with cancer.

We hung on to our “never give up hope” attitude and extended our prayer chain to everyone we knew asking them to pass on the message to others to pray for a healing miracle.  Groups formed on our behalf and we even had an elderly nun pray non-stop for hours.  A miracle did happen which we largely attribute to the power of prayer.  Steven won the battle with cancer!

If you are seeking support for a life challenge you are faced with, try tapping into resources that hold prayer groups and determine which ones fit with your spiritual values and which ones have members that you feel will support you.

Pray as if you know that your prayer has already been faithfully answered, however that answer may come, rather than feeling powerless and doing nothing. We are always encouraged and empowered to take part in the healing of our lives and relationships, as well as our body and our world.

We all admire people from different walks-of-life.  I select people that I want to learn from and whom I feel would be willing to spend time with me to help me move forward.

I have developed an “ask and you shall receive” principle.  It provides me with confidence that I will receive assistance in some form.  It may not arrive in the way that I think it will, but at least in a form that will motivate me to take action.

A mentor is not necessarily in human form.  As Neale Donald Walsh says “Do you every feel the following:  On some days I feel so terribly alone.  At some moments I feel that I am fighting this battle by myself.  That’s because you have left Me, my child.  You have abandoned your awareness of Me.  Yet where there is awareness of Me, you can never be alone.”

God is always with you – you are never alone – ask for His help and listen for the wisdom that comes to you in visions, dreams and even in words you hear repeated three or more times.

I would enjoy hearing about your mentor experiences.  How did you meet your mentors and how did they help you?  Have you been a mentor to someone else?  How were you instrumental in another person’s life?

Can you imagine what our world would be like if more people reached out to others to offer them their support and guidance.  Oh, what a wonderful world it would be!

According to Neale Donald Walsh “Illness is not a sign of weakness, but of spiritual strength.  When we fall ill there are some who will say, ‘Why did you create that for yourself?’  They might convince you to see it as a sign of spiritual weakness or failure.  It is not.  It is a sign of spiritual strength.  All challenges are a sign of spiritual strength, and of the readiness of the ‘soul’ to move on; to evolve even further.”  This way of looking at our ‘supposed’ weakness as a form of spiritual readiness to move on, helps to encourage us to deal with the passing of a loved one.

Neale also says that “You change what you see.  You don’t have to be trapped by it.  Nothing has to remain the way it is, and nothing is the way it is forever, unless and until you say so.  You really are in charge of your day to day experience.  How bad things may look right now means nothing.  It’s how good you know they can look with God’s help that counts.  Life has a habit of changing itself completely around in 24 hours, even in 24 minutes sometimes.  Don’t you dare give up on tomorrow because of the way things look today.  Don’t even think about it.”

My philosophy is to never let anyone take away your hope, nor to take away anyone else’s hope.   With God by your side, nothing is impossible.  Where in your life have you given up hope and why?  What would help you to renew your strength and faith?  What prayers do you say that help you feel confident that everything will turn out in Divine timing?

When life becomes overwhelming – for example, looking after elderly relatives or juggling a job and family, you have choice about how to handle the stress. You can choose to ignore what you are facing or create solutions for each challenge which might include enlisting the help of others. CHOOSE to remain positive. Instead of focusing on the problems you face, focus on the solutions. Expect good things to happen each day without being attached to the outcome.

Go out in nature and smell the air. Watch the birds fly by and think of five things you accomplished that day and how you can move each situation forward by consciously focusing on progressive action. This helps diminish the feeling of being overwhelmed.

William James, one of the founders of modern psychology said, “The greatest discovery of this generation is that a human being can alter their life by altering their attitude.” You can CHOOSE to take charge of your life and not feel like a victim.

Your attitude not only impacts your happiness and success, it also impacts the happiness and success of everyone around you such as family, friends and peers at work. Have you reflected on what a difference you can make in someone’s day if you smiled instead of frowned?

When possible solutions to your challenges come your way, be prepared to take advantage of them. Evaluate them and be creative. You always have choice. I would enjoy hearing your stories of times when opportunity knocked and how you handled that opportunity.

What CHOICES or small steps can lead you toward the life you would ideally like to live?

Stephen Post, PH.D., a professor at Case Western Reserve University’s School of Medicine, created a research group who discovered the following:

Gratitude Defends – Just 15 minutes a day focusing on the things you are grateful for will significantly increase your body’s natural antibodies.

Gratitude Sharpens – Naturally grateful people are more focused and are mentally and measurably less vulnerable to clinical depression.

Gratitude Calms – A grateful state of mind induces a physiological state called resonance that’s associated with healthier blood pressure and heart rate.

Gratitude Strengthens – Caring for others is draining. Grateful caregivers are healthier and more capable than less grateful ones.

Gratitude Heals – Recipients of donated organs who have the most grateful attitudes heal faster.

Our global society is a constantly changing society. When we are in an economic recession, we often see signs of change in thought and heart as more people struggle with job loss and economic hardship. We do not take things nearly so much for granted and often see many people reaching out to help others less fortunate. I recognize this as humans evolving as a whole society looking for ways to help each other, rather than looking for ways to get ahead of them. How do you express your gratitude to colleagues and your employer? I would enjoy hearing from you as to how you give thanks, are a role model for others and how being grateful has influenced your life.

I encourage you to thank God for all of your blessings, for all of the things that have been right in your life and for all of the difficulties that have been learning experiences resulting in the growth and the creation of who you are today.

Enjoy being a role model by demonstrating an attitude of gratitude.

All God asks of us is to summon the courage to take those steps, without second guessing ourselves and follow through with conviction and integrity, developing a “never give up” attitude. He will always be by our side coaching us along the way.

If you were to reflect on what is going on in your life, are there baby steps that you could be taking to move you forward right now? Are you afraid to take the next step? We need to share our fears with others, because only then can we identify where that fear is coming from and learn what action to take to replace the fear with faith.

What leap of faith do you need to take? I want to hear your stories because I always learn something from others experiences. I will share stories with you about how I needed to take a leap of faith many times in my life and what happened when I braved facing the consequences. Together, we will grow in faith and trust. Let us share our stories….

Book signing is 1pm-3pm at Chapters, Kitchener
135 Gateway Park Dr.
Kitchener, Ontario N2P 2J9

Today, you may want to try letting go of all fear, doubt and worry. Keep reminding yourself that you represent love, joy and abundance always. Enjoy using your God-given talents to help others and to make a difference in the world. Adopt a faithful focus.

One of the meditations I use to help maintain my faithful focus is:

A WINNER’S CREED

“If you think you are beaten, you are;

If you think you dare not; you don’t

If you’d like to win, but think you can’t,

It’s almost a cinch you won’t.

If you think you’ll lose, you’ve lost,

For out in the world we find

Success begins with a person’s faith;

It’s all in the state of mind.

Life’s battles don’t always go

To the stronger or faster hand;

They go to the one who trusts in God

And always thinks, ‘I can’.”

Author Unknown

How do you use your God-given gifts to help others maintain their faithful focus? What words of encouragement have you given people to help them to strengthen their faith in themselves and others?

Let Go and Let God and learn to adopt the attitude of:

FORGIVE…FORGET…FORGE ON

Otherwise, you could be adopting an EGO way of life – Edging God Out.

What faithful focus do you want to live by?