Spiritual Resuscitation

Melanie Weidner
www.ListenForJoy.com

So hard to believe how time flies...especially when we submerge into the cocoon of our own life.


My last post was as I went into hibernation in Fall 2011!?  Where the heck did all that time go?!


Now to be fair to myself, in that time, I completed the first big hurdle of nursing school (LVN with RN soon to follow), raised two teenage boys and did a lot...A LOT...of self-examination and introspection.  As a matter of fact, for the majority of 2013, I actually lost my faith, and to my natural human mind, all connection to God and the Divine part of myself.  As I re-emerge now, January 2014, I'm stunned to see that so many calendar months have passed.


I feel the Universe infusing new, fresh breath into my spiritual lungs...feeding me like a dear soul waiting in some multi-dimensional ICU...waiting to LIVE and move forward.  In truth, I feel tentative, and tender, and vulnerable in many ways.  I am remembering who I was, re-learning who I am and working towards whom I wish to be...all over again at 45 years old.  My marriage is changing, my children are becoming men...pulling away to begin their own adult life, my parents and in-laws are aging rapidly, my career is in a strange growth phase, and my friendships are too... 


Revisiting prayer, meditation, energy healing, writing and all the good stuff that supports me. 

Very grateful that I was given space to break up with God but He that always takes me back.  Looking forward to what this crazy life has for me, and more importantly, what I have left of value to give to it and the World at large.  Cheers to being resuscitated!  -MiChelle

The Last 90 Days of 2013

Last Thursday, several girlfriends and I were remarking that 2013 has been a doozy of year.  In addition, we can feel that 2014 will be a WOW year. 

We are in the last 3 months of a culmination of craziness...even the US government has shut down and gone into its chrysalis of quiet...awaiting transformation!

In honor of the miracle of the unknown, my girls and I had our own burning bowl ceremony.  In part, we acknowledged it's time to release those limiting thoughts...those blocks that encourage us to hold back when the Universe is propelling us to take a leap of faith.  We prayed for courage, peace and Divine permission to receive the blessings God wants to bestow upon us (and those around us)...without reservation or feelings of unworthiness.

So the challenge is...what will you do with these last 90 days of this year....and potentially...the last days of a decaying era?  The daily rut of going back and forth to work, paying bills, shuttling kids to practice, cleaning the house....what meaning can we find in the mundane so as to embrace the miraculous? The stillness of prayer and meditation will help...please let me know how you're doing, ok?

God bless,

MiChelle

Time for Renewal

Every year, between Christmas and New Years Eve, I find myself becoming reclusive and retreating into my cave for some much-needed respite.  It's nice to have quiet time to slip in a little extra journaling, prayer and meditation.

As 2011 draws to a close, it's easy to see and feel the shifting energy in the atmosphere and on the planet.  The crazy-making frenzy of holiday shopping has passed.  The looming "new years resolutions" are ahead of us.  But this delicious in-between time is a wonderful opportunity to pause and just be.  Hot tea or cocoa, a few emotional Lifetime Network movies, yummy (and high fat) snacks and a little house-cleaning purging all round off my week of getting back on track.

The kids in the neighborhood are savoring their month of running free from teachers, homework and sports practice.  Meals are impromptu and unstructured.  The weather is cold enough to put on a few logs in the fireplace in the evening.  It's a fabulous time of decadent rest, relaxation and reconnection with family and the home hearth.  It's also a good to let go of what "was" in 2011, in order to prepare for the lovely what "will be" in 2012.  Many of my family and friends have put aside past squabbles in favor of coming back together in anticipation of the potential love fests coming in the new year.  Even Eddie Van Halen and David Lee Roth have reunited for a new tour in 2012!  If they can do it, we can too!  God bless and enjoy this middle place.

MiChelle Jeneen
Spiritual Teacher & Writer

Appreciation

"I have not stopped thanking God for you.  I pray for you constantly."  Ephesians 1:16

It's easy to walk in gratitude when life is sunny and peachy.  But how do we stay appreciative when life has truly got us down?  I wish I had an easy answer, but there isn't one.  Holiday stress is once again upon us, and I can see the anxiety coming out in those around me.

I meditate and pray...ALOT.  I have an ongoing conversation with the Holy Trinity, as I have cultivated a deep personal relation with Jesus since I was a small child.  We talk about all kinds of things, and He is a close friend and generous provider.  He always comes through for me, though not always in the time and way that I think He should or will. 

I'm praying for us all to find the Divine in our own personal, private way.  Whatever words, signs, gestures you can find to stay in the race, please let's pull one another along.  Reach your hand out the someone ahead of you, then reach your other hand behind you so that we can continue to grow and heal together.  I'm just an email, phone call or Facebook away...luv you!

MiChelle Jeneen
Spiritual Teacher, Healer and Author

Spiritual Gifts, Discernment, Prophecy & Service

Waking up with the feeling that I want to be of greater service to God urgently on my mind is a daily occurrence.  And immediately comes the notion that it also means being of greater service the world in some way, whatever that means.  I'm often irritated with myself that this obsession, this vocation, is so persistently in my daily awareness, even though the specific details are so elusive to me.  Every day, I ask God for more specific information and a laid out plan, but it evades me. 

So I decided to go back to the basics, prayer, reading the bible and meditation.  Today's readings came through loud and clear.  We all have gifts, and most of us are either clueless what the are, resentful to a point of resistance or doubtful that we have any gifts at all...can anyone relate?  In Joyce Meyer's book "Hearing from God Each Morning: 365 Daily Devotions," she discusses the Gift of Prophecy.  1 Corinthians 14:1 says "Follow the way of Love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy." Verse 3 continues "Everyone who prophecies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort." 

And 1 Corinthians 12: 1-11 says, "To each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.  To one person, there is given, through the (Holy) Spirit, the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another the gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in tongues.  All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and He gives them to each one, just as He determines."

Whew, that's alot of gifting!  Randomly, every week, I text my teenage sons a simple message:  "YOU are a gift.  You are valuable.  You matter.  I love you."  And surprisingly, random people have mirrored the same message back to me at times when I least expect it.  Please know that you are gifted and A GIFT, you matter, you are valuable and are loved.  How can you go out and be a blessing to the world this week...using a gift that you have been given?  Please feel free to comment and let us know!

MiChelle Jeneen
Teacher, Energy Reader, Author

The Greatest Love

After a long absence, I was called to visit a local church this last Sunday for mass.  My buddies and I had already planned to go hiking a local mountain, as they do every Sunday morning before dawn. 

Unusually, being outdoors in nature and then some at-home meditation are my regular spiritual practice.  But for the last few month, I've been hearing God whisper (with the occasional tap on the shoulder) that some of the answers I seek regarding my life path and parenting my young teens might be found in fellowship with other Believers. 

Most people who know me know that I like to un-church...mostly because of the politics and dogma involved in most systems of man-made worship.  So God and I have agreed that I will "visit" a different place of worship each week, and wait for further instructions come January of 2012.  I'm meditating on the scriptural teaching this week:  Mathew 22:34-40 "...love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul and mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  the second is Love your neighbor as yourself."  I'm learning that what if we also need to love ourselves as we do our neighbor?  Couldn't we bless ourselves and those around us, but showing ourselves the same courtesies and compassion as we do do strangers?

We've all heard this spoken as a sound bite, the Golden Rule, in so many occasions.  But I have really been working with the Holy Trinity, particularly, the Holy Spirit (the electrical juice), to take me into the hologram picture of what God is showing us about the shift that is occurring on this planet right now.  I have received much insight, but for now will share that our previous preoccupation with outward appearances is being curbed with the necessity to come back to the basics of living simply, caring for our aging and rearing kind, loving progressing and faith-filled children.  In learning self-love, we are in fact able to share more of our authentic selves with the world at large.  What little things are you doing in your daily life to nurture self-love?