/> Raising Angels: Read It, Believe It

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Read It, Believe It

I was at a retreat a few weeks ago that focused on beauty, namely how beauty comes from within - from God. It was an inspiring, and genuine retreat. The women who gave the talks did a fantastic job and the ones who shared really bared their souls.

As I walked outside, I found myself almost feeling guilty for being happy and really relishing the beauty God has put within me. I have had some trials in my life but they don't compare with the suffering some of these other women have experienced. I felt that the absence of such pain made me somewhat less significant.

And yet, I couldn't wipe the silly grin off my face. I am in a good place and the talks over the weekend encouraged and inspired me. In short, I was feeling God's love and it brought forth an uninhibited joy that I could not deny. As the smile spontaneously spread across my face, I felt that gentle nudge from God. "It's okay," I heard Him say, "to be happy."

For the next thirty minutes or so, God and I had a running conversation about having confidence in Him and the gifts He's given me. Again I was encouraged and called on to use those gifts to bring Him glory.

When I came back inside, one of the women got up and read the following quote from the movie Akeelah and the Bee. It was exactly what I had heard God say to me in my prayer time. I left that retreat on a high and have been there ever since.

Dear readers, I want you to experience this feeling I'm feeling. Read the quote. Copy and paste it somewhere you can read it often. Then read it every day until you start to believe it. Once you believe it, live it. Then you too will feel the joy.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

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