Reaching rock bottom can be a humbling experience. There we gain strength in humility – when we humbly declare: “I can of my own self can do nothing” and turn to God. Getting ourselves out of the way allows the strength and power of God to take the field and establish order and right activity. There’s nothing weak in being still and listening to the Truth because it’s empowering thinking with the mind of God.
Tom Taffel
When The Best Plans Go Terribly Wrong
by Tom Taffel
(Written for Emergence International)
October 31, 2013
When a downward trend turns into an avalanche of unwanted events and nothing seems to go as planned it’s time to “Stop in the name of love” and ask God to give us the thoughts He wants us to think.
Reaching rock bottom can be a humbling experience. There we gain strength in humility – when we humbly declare: “I can of my own self can do nothing” and turn to God. Getting ourselves out of the way allows the strength and power of God to take the field and establish order and right activity. There’s nothing weak in being still and listening to the Truth because it’s empowering thinking with the mind of God.
God is the master of details and He needs no reminder of what He needs to do. We on the other hand need to get ourselves out of the way so God’s will can “do its thing.” We need to remove all the barriers we have placed in the road to our progress. That’s all we need to do: remove all the mental roadblocks so that God’s plan can take action. And that’s the key: removing those mental roadblocks because all discord, fear, ill-health and lack are a mental construct and not a divinely established fact.
We sometimes rationalize evil by thinking it has some purpose – perhaps to teach us a lesson we need to learn. Although evil may come to us in the disguise of good, true good never comes to us in the disguise of evil. God doesn’t send us problems in order to reveal a truth – the truth that the evil was trying to hide.
When we humbly change our thinking — step aside and let God take control, we can then listen for and hear Divine Love’s guidance and then act upon it with certainty and confidence.
Let me illustrate: For nearly five weeks, I tried to reserve an inexpensive, small, one-night hotel room within walking distance of Copenhagen Airport for a late-night, thirteen hour layover between two international flights. My daily Internet search proved to be useless as no vacancies ever became available.
Roadblocks, frustration and stagnation are pretty good indicators that we are not listening – and following God’s guidance.
When checking in at our originating airport in Lisbon, just a few weeks ago, I pleaded with the air carrier to allow us to Interline our bags to our next flight departing Copenhagen for San Francisco, but unfortunately that couldn’t be done. We would need to keep the bags with us throughout the night at Copenhagen airport.
Upon arrival – at the baggage carousel in Copenhagen, I stopped….and asked God for guidance. I could see our next airline’s ticket counter not far away, but, due to the lateness of the hour, it was closed for the night. I was directed by divine Mind to walk over to the empty ticket counter and simply stand there, quietly, patiently.
Within moments, a young employee on his way home, unexpectedly appeared.
I approached him and explained our predicament. He then offered to re-open his computer terminal and check our bags into the system for the following day’s flight. Had his friend been on time to pick him up after work, there would have been no one there to help us.
He then suggested we hang out in an area between the “A” and “B” gates until the lounge re-opened at 5:30AM in the morning.
We began walking and silently expressing gratitude, when we saw a helpful lady at an information desk. When we told her where we were headed, she suggested an even better area where we could stretch out for a few hours and sleep in subdued light in a safe and quiet area.
5:30AM rolled around quickly, and just two minutes away was the lounge where we were welcomed with a complimentary private “cabin” including a shower, bed, Internet and full breakfast.
Things don’t always work out the way we planned them but that’s OK when guided by Divine Love.
Thinking with God is always the best way to go. All we need to do is to let God do the knowing – freeing us up to do the listening. Listen! Follow! Rejoice! That’s a sure recipe for success, and rest assured, you will always know when the voice you are hearing is Divine Mind and not mortal mind speaking because God’s direction will always lead you toward peace. That’s a sure test.
For me the answer is simple: stop and listen. Divine Love has already met our needs. When our plans seem to go terribly wrong, we just need to “stop in the name of Love,” and listen. God’s love for us includes the completeness of every accomplishment.
Blessings,
Tom Taffel
