Beloved,

We have had such unusual weather in my neck of the woods this week.
Last week it was down to below zero which made the Ice fisherman
very happy and this week it was up to 55 degrees and we even had
a lightning storm. I can’t call it a thunderstorm because there was
no thunder. I woke up at 1:45Am with lightning flashing in my window
although I had my blinds shut and I heard my generator going which
meant the power had gone off.

I am ever so grateful that I finally decided to have a standby
generator installed, it goes on automatically when the power goes off.
I have such a sense of relief and trust knowing that it is there
although it is not used very often. It is also a reminder to me
that I am trusting in something material where my true trust begins
in something that you can’t see but you can feel. Trust in God and
all that is provided for me to feel safe in this world.

The winds went up to 60 miles an hour that night. What power!!!
I had woken from a dream that was challenging me to the utmost.
Yet as I lay there being encased in the forceful sound of the wind
and the lightning coming in my window through closed blinds, I
realized that although the dream were two women threatening me at
my car, I suddenly pressed my foot on the gas and got away from them.
Sooo, I was empowered and I also trusted that my car would take me
away from that life threatening situation. Another realization was
that it was not men threatening me this time, it was women. Another
reminder that your challenges come in many forms but you are in
charge. You create your own reality and get stronger with each
exercise in knowing that.

I felt so safe in my own bed with the protection of my home around
me that I fell asleep knowing ALL IS WELL. I realize now that I am
no longer fearful about what MIGHT happen but I now feel the assurance
and trust that I am being cared for. What a switch. For so many
years I feared the future of what MIGHT happen rather than being
in the moment and knowing that there is only this moment which I
could destroy with fear of what MIGHT happen although most of what
I feared never occurred.

Do you have that level of trust yet? I pray that you do and if not,
that you come quickly to the realization that if you are safe in this
very moment, then you are safe. This is the only moment that exists
as you can not change the prior moment and the next one has not
been created yet. I am not suggesting that you be foolish like
walking in front of a car. God gave you a beautiful mind so that
can think for yourself and do all that is necessary to protect
yourself BUT then relax and trust in what you have created. Like
I had the generator installed after 9 months of researching all my
avenues to be safe in my home but then I needed to trust that it
would go on and I would never be without electricity again for 6 days
with all the problems that ensued from that episode.

My wish for you is that you adopt this method of trusting way sooner
than I have. You will spend more of your moments in bliss or at
least contentment. This is what this new year is all about. It is
a time for us to create a new world. Can you imagine just what a
fantastic world this would be if everyone trusted in themselves even
for a moment? Fear would go away and it is fear that encourages
people to steal because they are afraid they do not have enough.
It is fear that envelops nations who are afraid of compromising
lest they lose power. We spend more of our resources in protecting
ourselves with power that destroys others. Why not use LOVE instead.
Love of one another because we are all one species on one planet.
Mother Earth gives us all we need not only to survive but to live
in harmony and peace. There IS enough to go around. It is only
when we give that we make the space to receive.

You were born with the gift that you chose to share with others in
this lifetime. If all humans gave what they came to give, it
would be paradise. Each person would be valued for what they have
and others would share what their gift is. For so many years, I
begged God to get me out of here, to take me back to where I came
from because I did not belong. Finally in my 50’s, (I hope sooner
for you) God gave me a message that I had it backwards. Here I was
praying to go to heaven when I was here to bring Heaven to Earth.
What an awakening that was and it is true for each of us. IF EACH
of us shares our gift then Heaven will manifest here on Earth.

I am going to pass on a true story that a friend sent to me. It is
long and I don’t know how to create a link that would shorten my
newsletter but I feel the truth it shares of what just one person
can do is worth the read. It also speaks highly to judgement.This
is the level of trust that I aspire to:

Daniel’s Gloves

I sat, with two friends, in the picture window of a quaint restaurant
just off the corner of the town-square. The food and the company
were both especially good that day.

As we talked, my attention was drawn outside,across the street. There,
walking into town, was a man who appeared to be carrying all his
worldly goods on his back. He was carrying, a well-worn sign that
read, ‘I will work for food.’ My heart sank.

I brought him to the attention of my friends and noticed that others
around us had stopped eating to focus on him. Heads moved in a
mixture of sadness and disbelief.

We continued with our meal, but his image lingered in my mind. We
finished our meal and went our separate ways. I had errands to do
and quickly set out to accomplish them. I glanced toward the town
square, looking somewhat halfheartedly for the strange visitor.
I was fearful, knowing that seeing him again would call some
response. I drove through town and saw nothing of him. I made some
purchases at a store and got back in my car.

Deep within me, the Spirit of God kept speaking to me: ‘Don’t go
back to the office until you’ve at least driven once more around
the square.’

Then with some hesitancy, I headed back into town. As I turned the
square’s third corner, I saw him. He was standing on the steps of
the church, going through his sack.

I stopped and looked; feeling both compelled to speak to him, yet
wanting to drive on. The empty parking space on the corner seemed
to be a sign from God: an invitation to park. I pulled in, got out
and approached the town’s newest visitor.

‘Looking for the pastor?’ I asked.

‘Not really,’ he replied, ‘just resting.’

‘Have you eaten today?’

‘Oh, I ate something early this morning.’

‘Would you like to have lunch with me?’

‘Do you have some work I could do for you?’

‘No work,’ I replied ‘I commute here to work from the city, but I
would like to take you to lunch.’

‘Sure,’ he replied with a smile.

As he began to gather his things, I asked some surface questions.

Where you headed?’ St. Louis ‘

Where you from?’ Oh, all over; mostly Florida ..’

‘How long you been walking?’ ‘Fourteen years,’ came the reply.

I knew I had met someone unusual. We sat across from each other in
the same restaurant I had left earlier. His face was weathered
slightly beyond his 38 years. His eyes were dark yet clear, and he
spoke with an eloquence and articulation that was startling He
removed his jacket to reveal a ragged T-shirt that said,
‘Jesus is The Never Ending Story.’

Then Daniel’s story began to unfold. He had seen rough times early
in life. He’d made some wrong choices and reaped the consequences..
Fourteen years earlier, while backpacking across the country, he had
stopped on the beach in Daytona… He tried to hire on with some men
who were putting up a large tent and some equipment. A concert,
he thought.

He was hired, but the tent would not house a concert but revival
services, and in those services he saw life more clearly. He gave
his life over to God

‘Nothing’s been the same since,’ he said, ‘I felt the Lord telling
me to keep walking, and so I did, some 14 years now.’

‘Ever think of stopping?’ I asked.

‘Oh, once in a while, when it seems to get the best of me But God has
given me this calling. I give out Bibles That’s what’s in my sack.
I work to buy food and Bibles, and I give them out when His Spirit
leads.’

I sat amazed. My homeless friend was not homeless. He was on a
mission and lived this way by choice. The question burned inside
for a moment and then I asked: ‘What’s it like?’

‘What?’

‘To walk into a town carrying all your things on your back and to
show your sign?’

‘Oh, it was humiliating at first. People would stare and make comments.
Once someone tossed a piece of half-eaten bread and made a gesture
that certainly didn’t make me feel welcome. But then it became
humbling to realize that God was using me to touch lives and change
people’s concepts of other folks like me.’

My concept was changing, too. We finished our dessert and gathered
his things. Just outside the door, he paused He turned to me and
said, ‘Come Ye blessed of my Father and inherit the kingdom I’ve
prepared for you. For when I was hungry you gave me food, when I
was thirsty you gave me drink, a stranger and you took me in.’

I felt as if we were on holy ground. ‘Could you use another Bible?’
I asked.

He said he preferred a certain translation. It traveled well and
was not too heavy. It was also his personal favorite.. ‘I’ve read
through it 14 times,’ he said.
‘I’m not sure we’ve got one of those, but let’s stop by our church
and see if I am able to find my new friend a Bible that would do
well, and he seemed very grateful.

‘Where are you headed from here?’ I asked.

‘Well, I found this little map on the back of this amusement park
coupon.’

‘Are you hoping to hire on there for a while?’

‘No, I just figure I should go there. I figure someone under that
star right there needs a Bible, so that’s where I’m going next.’

He smiled, and the warmth of his spirit radiated the sincerity of his
mission. I drove him back to the town-square where we’d met two hours
earlier, and as we drove, it started raining. We parked and unloaded
his things.

‘Would you sign my autograph book?’ he asked… ‘I like to keep
messages from folks I meet.’

I wrote in his little book that his commitment to his calling had
touched my life. I encouraged him to stay strong. And I left him
with a verse of scripture from Jeremiah, ‘I know the plans I have
for you, declared the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm
you; Plans to give you a future and a hope.’

‘Thanks, man,’ he said. ‘I know we just met and we’re really just
strangers, but I love you.’

‘I know,’ I said, ‘I love you, too.’ ‘The Lord is good!’

‘Yes, He is. How long has it been since someone hugged you?’ I
asked.

‘A long time,’ he replied

And so on the busy street corner in the drizzling rain, my new
friend and I embraced, and I felt deep inside that I had been
changed.. He put his things on his back, smiled his winning smile
and said, ‘See you in the New Jerusalem.’

‘I’ll be there!’ was my reply.

He began his journey again. He headed away with his sign dangling
from his bedroll and pack of Bibles. He stopped, turned and said,
‘When you see something that makes you think of me, will you pray
for me?’

‘You bet,’ I shouted back, ‘God bless.’

That was the last I saw of him.

Late that evening as I left my office, the wind blew strong. The
cold front had settled hard upon the town. I bundled up and hurried
to my car. As I sat back and reached for the emergency brake, I saw
them… a pair of well-worn brown work gloves neatly laid over the
length of the handle. I picked them up and thought of my friend and
wondered if his hands would stay warm that night without them.

Then I remembered his words: ‘If you see something that makes you
think of me, will you pray for me?’

Today his gloves lie on my desk in my office.. They help me to see
the world and its people in a new way, and they help me remember
those two hours with my unique friend and to pray for his ministry.
‘See you in the New Jerusalem,’ he said. Yes, Daniel, I know I will…

Preparing this for you brings back all the feelings I had when I
first read this. Feelings of trust and not preaching by words but
by example. I wonder if his “New Jerusalem” is the new world that
is being birthed in 2013. I sincerely hope so. Will you help me
bring the “NEW JERUSALEM to this planet? We all can do it, one
person and one gift at a time.

Love and Light

Mary Grace
www.IAmMaryGrace.com
www.TheWoundedChalice.com
http://www.waleson5.com/marygrace.html

PO Box 403
Wales, MA 01081, USA
413-245-3977