May 6, 2021

Zoom session with Brooks: Bill E., Bill & Bonnie C., Darrell, Jill

• No one lives alone

• Understanding the answer to prayer

God is with each of you and with all. You are surrounded not only by God’s presence but also by the loving proximity, the loving reality of all of those whom you have embraced and continue to embrace in your human lives. You are surrounded by the spirits of family members who have joined us, whether brothers, sisters, parents, or members of your family from generations past. You are surrounded by the spirits of all whom you have felt to be close personally. In short, you are being surrounded by countless spirits whose sole purpose is the expression of a loving God directed toward all.

Those souls who are accompanying you on your individual pathways are not so aware of self but rather aware of you personally and collectively. There is no sense in our lives of us. There is only we. There is only a commitment to the reality that all are together, that all are unified, that what is important is what is capable of expressing and receiving love.

In human life, you experience the presence of love before you are able to express that toward others. For us, your guides, we experience the expressing of love before we are even fully aware of the totality of its existence. We love at first, and it is only after the giving of love that we recognize that all spirit is capable of giving love. It is in that recognition that we begin to see that love is all around.

We speak of this connection between what you pray for and what is already present. From our perspective, we learn that what is present in our own lives is essential to all that exists, and it is that recognition of the fullness of that love that is an important part of our “seeing” as you might call it, the presence of God. We see God’s love because we are aware of the universality of that love. The love of which we speak, the creative energy that you refer to as God, is not a single entity. As you know, it is not a human-like presence that we suddenly see and therefore know exists. We see that presence of God through our own efforts.

This connection that we speak of that allows you to become aware of that for which you pray is a connection that is not a totally willful effort. There is, as was referred to, a kind of natural flow, for as you know, you are not loved because of what you do. You are loved because you exist. This energy, this vibrancy of spirit, is not something that is earned. It simply is, and by the nature of your being alive, much of that connection flows freely.

What then is the nature of that interference that we speak of, the barriers that may exist between that for which you pray and that which is present? Many of those barriers are barriers of expectation and condition. It is understandable that when you pray for peace, for healing, you perceive that peace and healing with conditions attached, with expectations that belong to your prayers. It is the conditions, the expectations, that can impede your vision of what is there.

How often is it in your daily lives that you look for something which you believe has been misplaced and you cannot find it because you expect it to appear in a certain way, when in reality it appears differently that those expectations? When you dropped what you anticipated to be its appearance, its shape, its color, its design, its location, you found what you were looking for. It was there all the time, but you were looking with conditions and expectations that were blinding you from locating that which you sought.

If you seek peace and you pray for peace, you expect peace to be defined according to conditions that you identify. While it may be that those conditions are indeed valid, it could very well be that the peace that is present can be described in ways other than your own definitions.

You pray for healing, but what is healing? Does it mean simply the elimination of physical or emotional challenges? It can be that healing is not so much the affliction but rather what you bring to those challenges. So in effect, true healing is the healing of spirit, the healing of one’s approach. It is not withdrawing the challenges. The healing is always present.

You and all human beings have within you the inherent ability to find strength within. That is strength of spirit. It is not muscular or mental strength. The healing you seek may not always be the healing that is most beneficial. If you are growing in spirit, in your capacity to be loving, is it equally important that what afflicts you should have the same consequences?

Of course, when you see emotional and physical suffering, you pray that such suffering will be alleviated, perhaps even eliminated. That is natural. No one wants to see someone they love endure enormous hardship, pain, or agony. No one wishes such outcomes. But in the end, it is what happens to the person inside in spirit that is of greatest significance.

It is, of course, difficult to see this without interpreting it as saying “suffering is not such a big deal; it’s what is inside that is important.” We are not suggesting a callous relationship to the suffering of others, but rather to help you understand that the process of healing extends far beyond balance in terms of physical and emotional well-being. It is easy for us to say the spirit is permanent and the body is temporal, but it is very different for human beings to ignore the challenges of body, for that is what you are dealing with regularly, daily. That’s what you see when you look at others. You don’t necessarily see the suffering inside. You don’t necessarily see the growth inside. You see only the physical manifestation of illness. It is therefore much harder to wrap your thoughts around what true healing means. The person who responds to life with gratitude in the presence of pain and suffering is indeed one who is healing, is in the process of healing at the very deepest, most meaningful level.

The pursuit of peace is not the absence of war. You may be engaged in living in a condition seen by others as war, and yet you may be experiencing a peace that is deep within. That peace is not visible to others perhaps, but it is nevertheless strength-giving and serves as a kind of rudder that helps direct one’s life.

Connecting to that inner life of spirit is the connection that is so necessary to recognize that you are indeed benefitting through the prayers that are offered. There is another aspect of this connection. Your connection to what you pray for is not only a link between your spirit and God’s presence. It is more fully recognized as a connection between your experience and God’s presence as expressed by others. That’s the connection, the vision, that gives you sight of God’s presence.

It is that connection, the connection of others, of other spirits, that gives us our vision of God’s presence. It is because of the love of other spirits that we see God.

It is through the collective responses of others that another person may see God. God can be seen through your own response, but that vision of God is enhanced and intensified by the response of many. That collective response is then experienced not by conditions and expectations but rather by seemingly generous offerings of others even when not requested.

If you seek peace, the peace that is God’s peace is a peace that is expressed not by one but by many. You may feel alone and cry out to God in your loneliness, and yet you may experience the warm embrace of love by others who are around you.

That presence of God’s love was not expected. It was what you were looking for and yet wrapped in clothing that was not immediately recognized. The breaking down of barriers for what you pray, therefore, should be the elimination of conditions and expectations. When those are eliminated, you will always see more clearly God’s responses to prayers of the heart.

Part of the beauty of human life is allowing yourselves to become a part of God’s response to the needs of others. You are given life to learn to be loving. Part of that experience of learning is to be loving. That act of being loving as it is offered to others is done collectively with other human beings, and it is that total response of being loving that is in true measure God’s response to what is prayed for and what is needed.

We say you are a part of God’s response. You are all part of that response. The presence of spirit belonging to all whom you have loved who are living in true spirit form belong to God’s response. No one lives alone. No one truly suffers alone. No one is totally lost. All are part of the totality of creation, and God’s response belongs to the response of that totality. Your response is part of God’s response.

When you pray to God for whatever you feel is necessary, be willing to acknowledge that response in ways that are totally unanticipated, in ways outside of all conditions. Your prayers are always answered. No one is denied the loving presence that is the source of all for which you pray.

We pray for your vision. We pray for your ability to give up conditions, to give up expectations and merely to be open. In being so open, God’s presence will be enormously rich and rewarding in its love and in its brilliance.

Be comforted in that love. Be illuminated on your pathways by its brilliance.

Amen.