Podcasts about acim

Jennifer Hadley and Mark Anthony Lord met as Agape Science of Mind Practitioners in training in 1999, and they've walked the same road ever since: prayer practitioner training, becoming ministers, starting their own ministries, learning to counsel and to train counselors. Both came up through their own dark night first, so this is also the story of how the work itself became the healing. Two longtime A Course in Miracles teachers on what it really takes, and what ACIM keeps giving back along the way. To learn more about ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠A Course in Miracles⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ please visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Powerofloveministry.net⁠⁠⁠⁠. For the transcript of this episode and more please visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LivingACourseinMiracles.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. It's joyful to answer the call. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

https://www.the-christ.net/Join David, Jason, Kirsten, and Marina for this powerful closing session recorded live at the culmination of the Renovatio retreat in Duchesne, Utah. In a gathering filled with joy, gratitude, and heartfelt testimonies, the panel returns to what A Course in Miracles calls one of its deepest and most challenging teachings: True Empathy.Moving beyond sympathy and the temptation to make suffering real, they explore what it means to take complete responsibility for sight—to see with the Holy Spirit, hold no exceptions to the miracle, and recognize that only the truth is true. Through stories, laughter, and profound sharings from retreat participants, this session reveals how every relationship can become a holy opportunity for healing, where we learn to see beyond personalities to the light of Christ in one another.Filled with moving expressions of gratitude, experiences of deep joining, and the joy of discovering that awakening cannot fail, this beautiful conclusion is a celebration of mighty companionship and a reminder that true empathy is not entering into suffering, but standing unwaveringly in love and innocence together.For further insights and unfolding session summaries, be sure to visit David Hoffmeister's Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/david.hoffmeister). For more information about movie watching for awakening, visit MWGE.org.Get involved: https://www.the-christ.net/If you want to learn more about David Hoffmeister and Living Miracles events, visit https://circle.livingmiraclescenter.org/events Recording date: June 11, 2026Follow us on:YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/DavidHoffmeister https://www.youtube.com/@LivingMiraclesFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/ACIM.ACourseInMiracles Learn more about David & Living Miracles:https://circle.livingmiraclescenter.org/eventsLearn more about A Course in Miracles:https://ACIM.bizDavid's Spanish YouTube Channel is: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP9Gw00CldPUmiu43y7fdWwDavid's Portuguese YouTube Channel is:https://www.youtube.com/@davidhoffmeisterucem

LESSON 174Review of Lessons 157 - 158God is but Love, and therefore so am I.(157) Into His Presence would I enter now.God is but Love, and therefore so am I.(158) Today I learn to give as I receive.God is but Love, and therefore so am I.- Jesus Christ in ACIM

Why does it seem harder than ever for us to talk across our differences? Why are so many feeling lonely, disconnected, and dissatisfied despite unprecedented focus on personal growth and self-care? And what role might love, forgiveness, and compassion have to play in healing our culture? In this episode of Exploring A Course in Miracles, Emily sits down with bestselling author, spiritual teacher, and former presidential candidate Marianne Williamson for a thoughtful conversation about politics, spirituality, relationships, and the challenges facing our world today. ___________________________ Since 1993, our purpose has been to help with both the theory and practical application of A Course in Miracles. We are the publisher of the Complete and Annotated Edition of the Course (known as the "CE"), which is available as a revised hardcover*, ebook*, and via Audible. Our work grows out of our commitment to be as faithful as possible to what A Course in Miracles says, years of dedication to walking this path ourselves, and a desire to see the Course's purpose realized in the lives of students and in the world. You are invited to download the free ACIM CE App to read, search, or listen to the Course wherever you are in the world, by following the instructions at https://acimce.app/ Whether you are new to ACIM or you've been a student for many years, you are welcome to join our online community and learning platform to access a vast collection of resources designed to help you understand and apply Course teachings in everyday life: https://community.circleofa.org/ To submit a question or suggest a topic for a future podcast episode, please email info@circleofa.org. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider subscribing and leaving a review, as this will help us reach other listeners. You are also welcome to make a donation to help support our work at circleofa.org/donate. *Amazon affiliate links  

LESSON 173Review of Lessons 155 - 156God is but Love, and therefore so am I.(155) I will step back and let Him lead the way.God is but Love, and therefore so am I.(156) I walk with God in perfect holiness.God is but Love, and therefore so am I.- Jesus Christ in ACIM

LESSON 172Review of Lessons 153 - 154God is but Love, and therefore so am I.(153) In my defenselessness my safety lies.God is but Love, and therefore so am I.(154) I am among the ministers of God.God is but Love, and therefore so am I.- Jesus Christ in ACIM

Our earthly fathers are a challenge to us, and we're a challenge to them.  In all of our primary relationships there's a call for forgiveness.  No one does it perfectly and some of us really fail - but we can begin again.  It's about being willing to Love without conditions.  Jennifer Hadley sits with A Course in Miracles Text Chapter 1 and the story of her own journey with her father, where ACIM's teaching on the atonement met decades of conflict head-on. What if the move you've been waiting for them to make has always been yours? To learn more about ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠A Course in Miracles⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ please visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Powerofloveministry.net⁠⁠⁠⁠. For the transcript of this episode and more please visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LivingACourseinMiracles.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. We can move on from the past and be happy now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Review Lessons 171-180IntroductionWe now review again. This time we are ready to give more effort and more time to what we undertake. We recognize we are preparing for another phase of understanding. We would take this step completely, that we may go on again more certain, more sincere, with faith upheld more surely. Our footsteps have not been unwavering, and doubts have made us walk uncertainly and slowly on the road this course sets forth. But now we hasten on, for we approach a greater certainty, a firmer purpose and a surer goal.Steady our feet, our Father. Let our doubts be quiet and our holy minds be still, and speak to us. We have no words to give to You. We would but listen to Your Word, and make it ours. Lead our practicing as does a father lead a little child along a way he does not understand. Yet does he follow, sure that he is safe because his father leads the way for him.So do we bring our practicing to You. And if we stumble, You will raise us up. If we forget the way, we count upon Your sure remembering. We wander off, but You will not forget to call us back. Quicken our footsteps now, that we may walk more certainly and quickly unto You. And we accept the Word You offer us to unify our practicing, as we review the thoughts that You have given us.This is the thought which should precede the thoughts that we review. Each one but clarifies some aspect of this thought, or helps it be more meaningful, more personal and true, and more descriptive of the holy Self we share and now prepare to know again:God is but Love, and therefore so am I.This Self alone knows love. This Self alone is perfectly consistent in Its thoughts; knows Its Creator, understands Itself, is perfect in Its knowledge and Its love, and never changes from Its constant state of union with Its Father and Itself.And it is This That waits to meet us at the journey's ending. Every step we take brings us a little nearer. This review will shorten time immeasurably, if we keep in mind that This remains our goal, and as we practice it is This to Which we are approaching. Let us raise our hearts from dust to life, as we remember This is promised us, and that this course was sent to open up the path of light to us, and teach us, step by step, how to return to the eternal Self we thought we lost.I take the journey with you. For I share your doubts and fears a little while, that you may come to me who recognize the road by which all fears and doubts are overcome. We walk together. I must understand uncertainty and pain, although I know they have no meaning. Yet a savior must remain with those he teaches, seeing what they see, but still retaining in his mind the way that led him out, and now will lead you out with him. God's Son is crucified until you walk along the road with me.My resurrection comes again each time I lead a brother safely to the place at which the journey ends and is forgot. I am renewed each time a brother learns there is a way from misery and pain. I am reborn each time a brother's mind turns to the light in him and looks for me. I have forgotten no one. Help me now to lead you back to where the journey was begun, to make another choice with me.Release me as you practice once again the thoughts I brought to you from Him Who sees your bitter need, and knows the answer God has given Him. Together we review these thoughts. Together we devote our time and effort to them. And together we will teach them to our brothers. God would not have Heaven incomplete. It waits for you, as I do. I am incomplete without your part in me. And as I am made whole we go together to our ancient home, prepared for us before time was and kept unchanged by time, immaculate and safe, as it will be at last when time is done.Let this review be then your gift to me. For this alone I need; that you will hear the words I speak, and give them to the world. You are my voice, my eyes, my feet, my hands through which I save the world. The Self from Which I call to you is but your own. To Him we go together. Take your brother's hand, for this is not a way we walk alone. In him I walk with you, and you with me. Our Father wills His Son be one with Him. What lives but must not then be one with you?Let this review become a time in which we share a new experience for you, yet one as old as time and older still. Hallowed your name. Your glory undefiled forever. And your wholeness now complete, as God established it. You are His Son, completing His extension in your own. We practice but an ancient truth we knew before illusion seemed to claim the world. And we remind the world that it is free of all illusions every time we say:God is but Love, and therefore so am I.With this we start each day of our review. With this we start and end each period of practice time. And with this thought we sleep, to waken once again with these same words upon our lips, to greet another day. No thought that we review but we surround with it, and use the thoughts to hold it up before our minds, and keep it clear in our remembrance throughout the day. And thus, when we have finished this review, we will have recognized the words we speak are true.Yet are the words but aids, and to be used, except at the beginning and the end of practice periods, but to recall the mind, as needed, to its purpose. We place faith in the experience that comes from practice, not the means we use. We wait for the experience, and recognize that it is only here conviction lies. We use the words, and try and try again to go beyond them to their meaning, which is far beyond their sound. The sound grows dim and disappears, as we approach the Source of meaning. It is Here that we find rest.LESSON 171Review of Lessons 151 - 152God is but Love, and therefore so am I.(151) All things are echoes of the Voice for God.God is but Love, and therefore so am I.(152) The power of decision is my own.God is but Love, and therefore so am I.- Jesus Christ in ACIM

https://circle.livingmiraclescenter.org/eventsJoin David Hoffmeister for a profound evening session recorded live at the Renovatio retreat in Duchesne, Utah.David explores one of the deepest teachings of "A Course in Miracles": the world was made to distract us from the power of our own mind and to induce a kind of spiritual amnesia—a forgetting of love, eternal life, and our oneness with God.Through the movie's themes of memory, identity, and perception, David gently leads us on what he calls a journey of "reverse amnesia": the undoing of everything we have believed about ourselves as separate beings living in a world outside us. As the mind withdraws its investment in fear, guilt, and loss, a new perception dawns—the happy dream—in which forgiveness becomes natural and peace is no longer dependent on circumstances.David reminds us that awakening is not about becoming something different, but about remembering what we have always been. Beneath every story of loss and separation lies the radiant innocence of the Christ child within, waiting only to be remembered. This moving talk is an invitation to leave the world behind—not through sacrifice, but through the joyful remembrance of God's eternal Love.For further insights and unfolding session summaries, be sure to visit David Hoffmeister's Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/david.hoffmeister). For more information about movie watching for awakening, visit MWGE.org.Get involved: https://www.the-christ.net/If you want to learn more about David Hoffmeister and Living Miracles events, visit https://circle.livingmiraclescenter.org/events Recording date: June 10, 2026Follow us on:YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/DavidHoffmeister https://www.youtube.com/@LivingMiraclesFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/ACIM.ACourseInMiracles Learn more about David & Living Miracles:https://circle.livingmiraclescenter.org/eventsLearn more about A Course in Miracles:https://ACIM.bizDavid's Spanish YouTube Channel is: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP9Gw00CldPUmiu43y7fdWwDavid's Portuguese YouTube Channel is:https://www.youtube.com/@davidhoffmeisterucem

Send us Fan MailTrying to “accept everything” can sound holy, but it can also become a quiet form of self-attack. From Kehenna Beach Estates on Hawai‘i Island, I walk through a blunt, practical A Course in Miracles perspective: we are not asked to approve of war, sickness, aging, or death. The real invitation is self-acceptance, the kind that lets you admit “I hate this” without shame and without pretending. That honesty is where the mind relaxes enough for a miracle, meaning a genuine shift in perception that restores peace.We dig into why ACIM forgiveness is not the same as apologising for being human, and how the guilty self-concept keeps the world feeling solid and inevitable. I apply this to the places people feel stuck most: habits and willpower, medical storylines, fear of the sun, body changes, and the constant pressure to improve yourself to become “spiritual enough.” The emphasis stays grounded: don't tempt the ego, do listen for guidance, and keep returning to the peace of God as your real priority.Listener questions open the conversation into ascension and what a transformed world could look like, plus topics like exorcism, speaking in tongues, and helping someone who is triggered or threatening. I also share personal stories that show how fear can flip into calm when you stop granting reality to threat and let inner guidance lead. If you want a direct, uncompromising take on spiritual awakening, mind training, and miracles that actually change how you feel day to day, this one will give you plenty to sit with.Subscribe, share this with a friend who feels stuck in self-improvement, and leave a review with the line that challenged you most.Support the show

LESSON 170There Is No Cruelty In God And None In Me.No one attacks without intent to hurt. This can have no exception. When you think that you attack in self-defense, you mean that to be cruel is protection; you are safe because of cruelty. You mean that you believe to hurt another brings you freedom. And you mean that to attack is to exchange the state in which you are for something better, safer, more secure from dangerous invasion and from fear.How thoroughly insane is the idea that to defend from fear is to attack! For here is fear begot and fed with blood, to make it grow and swell and rage. And thus is fear protected, not escaped. Today we learn a lesson which can save you more delay and needless misery than you can possibly imagine. It is this:You make what you defend against,and by your own defense against it is it real and inescapable.Lay down your arms, and only then do you perceive it false.It seems to be the enemy without that you attack. Yet your defense sets up an enemy within; an alien thought at war with you, depriving you of peace, splitting your mind into two camps which seem wholly irreconcilable. For love now has an “enemy,” an opposite; and fear, the alien, now needs your defense against the threat of what you really are.If you consider carefully the means by which your fancied self-defense proceeds on its imagined way, you will perceive the premises on which the idea stands. First, it is obvious ideas must leave their source, for it is you who make attack, and must have first conceived of it. Yet you attack outside yourself, and separate your mind from him who is to be attacked, with perfect faith the split you made is real.Next, are the attributes of love bestowed upon its “enemy.” For fear becomes your safety and protector of your peace, to which you turn for solace and escape from doubts about your strength, and hope of rest in dreamless quiet. And as love is shorn of what belongs to it and it alone, love is endowed with attributes of fear. For love would ask you lay down all defense as merely foolish. And your arms indeed would crumble into dust. For such they are.With love as enemy, must cruelty become a god. And gods demand that those who worship them obey their dictates, and refuse to question them. Harsh punishment is meted out relentlessly to those who ask if the demands are sensible or even sane. It is their enemies who are unreasonable and insane, while they are always merciful and just.Today we look upon this cruel god dispassionately. And we note that though his lips are smeared with blood, and fire seems to flame from him, he is but made of stone. He can do nothing. We need not defy his power. He has none. And those who see in him their safety have no guardian, no strength to call upon in danger, and no mighty warrior to fight for them.This moment can be terrible. But it can also be the time of your release from abject slavery. You make a choice, standing before this idol, seeing him exactly as he is. Will you restore to love what you have sought to wrest from it and lay before this mindless piece of stone? Or will you make another idol to replace it? For the god of cruelty takes many forms. Another can be found.Yet do not think that fear is the escape from fear. Let us remember what the text has stressed about the obstacles to peace. The final one, the hardest to believe is nothing, and a seeming obstacle with the appearance of a solid block, impenetrable, fearful and beyond surmounting, is the fear of God Himself. Here is the basic premise which enthrones the thought of fear as god. For fear is loved by those who worship it, and love appears to be invested now with cruelty.Where does the totally insane belief in gods of vengeance come from? Love has not confused its attributes with those of fear. Yet must the worshippers of fear perceive their own confusion in fear's “enemy”; its cruelty as now a part of love. And what becomes more fearful than the Heart of Love Itself? The blood appears to be upon His Lips; the fire comes from Him. And He is terrible above all else, cruel beyond conception, striking down all who acknowledge Him to be their God.The choice you make today is certain. For you look for the last time upon this bit of carven stone you made, and call it god no longer. You have reached this place before, but you have chosen that this cruel god remain with you in still another form. And so the fear of God returned with you. This time you leave it there. And you return to a new world, unburdened by its weight; beheld not in its sightless eyes, but in the vision that your choice restored to you.Now do your eyes belong to Christ, and He looks through them. Now your voice belongs to God and echoes His. And now your heart remains at peace forever. You have chosen Him in place of idols, and your attributes, given by your Creator, are restored to you at last. The Call for God is heard and answered. Now has fear made way for love, as God Himself replaces cruelty.Father, we are like You. No cruelty abides in us, for there is none in You. Your peace is ours. And we bless the world with what we have received from You alone. We choose again, and make our choice for all our brothers, knowing they are one with us. We bring them Your salvation as we have received it now. And we give thanks for them who render us complete. In them we see Your glory, and in them we find our peace. Holy are we because Your holiness has set us free. And we give thanks. Amen.- Jesus Christ in ACIM

ACIM Quote:Free will does not mean that you can establish the curriculum. ⁵It means only that you can elect what you want to take at a given time. (ACIM, T-in.1:4-5)Today's Guest:Jill Carel joins Tam and Matt to discuss a forgiveness with her daughter that challenged her identity and her daughter's identity.Your Forgiveness Story: Think your forgiveness story could inspire others? Submit your forgiveness story for consideration at https://www.miraclevoices.org/formFeel Inspired to Make a Donation?Visit https://www.miraclevoices.org/donateClosing ACIM Quote:God's Will for me is perfect happiness. (ACIM, W-101)

LESSON 169By Grace I Live. By Grace I Am Released.Grace is an aspect of the Love of God which is most like the state prevailing in the unity of truth. It is the world's most lofty aspiration, for it leads beyond the world entirely. It is past learning, yet the goal of learning, for grace cannot come until the mind prepares itself for true acceptance. Grace becomes inevitable instantly in those who have prepared a table where it can be gently laid and willingly received; an altar clean and holy for the gift.Grace is acceptance of the Love of God within a world of seeming hate and fear. By grace alone the hate and fear are gone, for grace presents a state so opposite to everything the world contains, that those whose minds are lighted by the gift of grace can not believe the world of fear is real.Grace is not learned. The final step must go beyond all learning. Grace is not the goal this course aspires to attain. Yet we prepare for grace in that an open mind can hear the Call to waken. It is not shut tight against God's Voice. It has become aware that there are things it does not know, and thus is ready to accept a state completely different from experience with which it is familiarly at home.We have perhaps appeared to contradict our statement that the revelation of the Father and the Son as one has been already set. But we have also said the mind determines when that time will be, and has determined it. And yet we urge you to bear witness to the Word of God to hasten the experience of truth, and speed its advent into every mind that recognizes truth's effects on you.Oneness is simply the idea God is. And in His Being, He encompasses all things. No mind holds anything but Him. We say “God is,” and then we cease to speak, for in that knowledge words are meaningless. There are no lips to speak them, and no part of mind sufficiently distinct to feel that it is now aware of something not itself. It has united with its Source. And like its Source Itself, it merely is.We cannot speak nor write nor even think of this at all. It comes to every mind when total recognition that its will is God's has been completely given and received completely. It returns the mind into the endless present, where the past and future cannot be conceived. It lies beyond salvation; past all thought of time, forgiveness and the holy face of Christ. The Son of God has merely disappeared into his Father, as his Father has in him. The world has never been at all. Eternity remains a constant state.This is beyond experience we try to hasten. Yet forgiveness, taught and learned, brings with it the experiences which bear witness that the time the mind itself determined to abandon all but this is now at hand. We do not hasten it, in that what you will offer was concealed from Him Who teaches what forgiveness means.All learning was already in His Mind, accomplished and complete. He recognized all that time holds, and gave it to all minds that each one might determine, from a point where time was ended, when it is released to revelation and eternity. We have repeated several times before that you but make a journey that is done.For oneness must be here. Whatever time the mind has set for revelation is entirely irrelevant to what must be a constant state, forever as it always was; forever to remain as it is now. We merely take the part assigned long since, and fully recognized as perfectly fulfilled by Him Who wrote salvation's script in His Creator's Name, and in the Name of His Creator's Son.There is no need to further clarify what no one in the world can understand. When revelation of your oneness comes, it will be known and fully understood. Now we have work to do, for those in time can speak of things beyond, and listen to words which explain what is to come is past already. Yet what meaning can the words convey to those who count the hours still, and rise and work and go to sleep by them?Suffice it, then, that you have work to do to play your part. The ending must remain obscure to you until your part is done. It does not matter. For your part is still what all the rest depends on. As you take the role assigned to you, salvation comes a little nearer each uncertain heart that does not beat as yet in tune with God.Forgiveness is the central theme that runs throughout salvation, holding all its parts in meaningful relationships, the course it runs directed and its outcome sure. And now we ask for grace, the final gift salvation can bestow. Experience that grace provides will end in time, for grace foreshadows Heaven, yet does not replace the thought of time but for a little while.The interval suffices. It is here that miracles are laid; to be returned by you from holy instants you receive, through grace in your experience, to all who see the light that lingers in your face. What is the face of Christ but his who went a moment into timelessness, and brought a clear reflection of the unity he felt an instant back to bless the world? How could you finally attain to it forever, while a part of you remains outside, unknowing, unawakened, and in need of you as witness to the truth?Be grateful to return, as you were glad to go an instant, and accept the gifts that grace provided you. You carry them back to yourself. And revelation stands not far behind. Its coming is ensured. We ask for grace, and for experience that comes from grace. We welcome the release it offers everyone. We do not ask for the unaskable. We do not look beyond what grace can give. For this we can give in the grace that has been given us.Our learning goal today does not exceed this prayer. Yet in the world, what could be more than what we ask this day of Him Who gives the grace we ask, as it was given Him?By grace I live. By grace I am released.By grace I give. By grace I will release.- Jesus Christ in ACIM

https://circle.livingmiraclescenter.org/eventsJoin David Hoffmeister for a powerful evening session recorded live on Day 4 of the Renovatio retreat in Duchesne, Utah. In this episode, David utilizes a custom-compiled "Mission Accomplished" mini-movie to explore the profound mechanics of high-level mind training. Focusing heavily on the film's demonstration of flawless team collaboration, immaculate precision, and advanced communication networks, David maps these cinematic themes directly onto our spiritual awakening. He illustrates how navigating the complex ego matrix requires a level of dedication in which personal agendas are entirely yielded to the singular, unified guidance of the Holy Spirit.Tune in to discover how stepping into this synchronized, non-personal collaboration allows the mind to completely drop the loop of past conditioning and accept the ultimate, peaceful reality of a mission already accomplished.For further insights and unfolding session summaries, be sure to visit David Hoffmeister's Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/david.hoffmeister). For more information about movie watching for awakening, visit MWGE.org.Get involved: https://www.the-christ.net/If you want to learn more about David Hoffmeister and Living Miracles events, visit https://circle.livingmiraclescenter.org/events Recording date: June 9, 2026Follow us on:YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/DavidHoffmeister https://www.youtube.com/@LivingMiraclesFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/ACIM.ACourseInMiracles Learn more about David & Living Miracles:https://circle.livingmiraclescenter.org/eventsLearn more about A Course in Miracles:https://ACIM.bizDavid's Spanish YouTube Channel is: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP9Gw00CldPUmiu43y7fdWwDavid's Portuguese YouTube Channel is:https://www.youtube.com/@davidhoffmeisterucem

LESSON 168Your Grace Is Given Me. I Claim It Now.God speaks to us. Shall we not speak to Him? He is not distant. He makes no attempt to hide from us. We try to hide from Him, and suffer from deception. He remains entirely accessible. He loves His Son. There is no certainty but this, yet this suffices. He will love His Son forever. When his mind remains asleep, He loves him still. And when his mind awakes, He loves him with a never-changing Love.If you but knew the meaning of His Love, hope and despair would be impossible. For hope would be forever satisfied; despair of any kind unthinkable. His grace His answer is to all despair, for in it lies remembrance of His Love. Would He not gladly give the means by which His Will is recognized? His grace is yours by your acknowledgment. And memory of Him awakens in the mind that asks the means of Him whereby its sleep is done.Today we ask of God the gift He has most carefully preserved within our hearts, waiting to be acknowledged. This the gift by which God leans to us and lifts us up, taking salvation's final step Himself. All steps but this we learn, instructed by His Voice. But finally He comes Himself, and takes us in His Arms and sweeps away the cobwebs of our sleep. His gift of grace is more than just an answer. It restores all memories the sleeping mind forgot; all certainty of what Love's meaning is.God loves His Son. Request Him now to give the means by which this world will disappear, and vision first will come, with knowledge but an instant later. For in grace you see a light that covers all the world in love, and watch fear disappear from every face as hearts rise up and claim the light as theirs. What now remains that Heaven be delayed an instant longer? What is still undone when your forgiveness rests on everything?It is a new and holy day today, for we receive what has been given us. Our faith lies in the Giver, not our own acceptance. We acknowledge our mistakes, but He to Whom all error is unknown is yet the One Who answers our mistakes by giving us the means to lay them down, and rise to Him in gratitude and love.And He descends to meet us, as we come to Him. For what He has prepared for us He gives and we receive. Such is His Will, because He loves His Son. To Him we pray today, returning but the word He gave to us through His Own Voice, His Word, His Love:Your grace is given me. I claim it now.Father, I come to You. And You will come to me who ask.I am the Son You love.- Jesus Christ in ACIM

In a world that constantly demands our outrage, most of us have never stopped to ask whether our anger is actually working – or whether it's working against us. In this episode recorded at a recent Sunday Gathering sermon, Emily Perry looks at what A Course in Miracles teaches about the true roots of anger, and why the Course makes the radical claim that anger is never justified. If you're tired of carrying anger you don't know how to put down, this message is for you.  ___________________________ Since 1993, our purpose has been to help with both the theory and practical application of A Course in Miracles. We are the publisher of the Complete and Annotated Edition of the Course (known as the "CE"), which is available as a revised hardcover*, ebook*, and via Audible. Our work grows out of our commitment to be as faithful as possible to what A Course in Miracles says, years of dedication to walking this path ourselves, and a desire to see the Course's purpose realized in the lives of students and in the world. You are invited to download the free ACIM CE App to read, search, or listen to the Course wherever you are in the world, by following the instructions at https://acimce.app/ Whether you are new to ACIM or you've been a student for many years, you are welcome to join our online community and learning platform to access a vast collection of resources designed to help you understand and apply Course teachings in everyday life: https://community.circleofa.org/ To submit a question or suggest a topic for a future podcast episode, please email info@circleofa.org. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider subscribing and leaving a review, as this will help us reach other listeners. You are also welcome to make a donation to help support our work at circleofa.org/donate. *Amazon affiliate links  

https://circle.livingmiraclescenter.org/eventsJoin David Hoffmeister for a profound evening session recorded live on Day 3 of the Renovatio retreat in Duchesne, Utah. Diving deep into a mind-bending sci-fi series, David challenges our fundamental beliefs about linear time, human history, and civilization's supposed progress.Drawing from A Course in Miracles, this session exposes the ego's complex "separation matrix" and invites us into a radical shift in perception. By examining the deep layers of human consciousness, memory, and the longing for ultimate truth, David beautifully maps out the journey from collective amnesia to the natural, quiet recognition of Oneness. Step out of the labyrinth of the past and open your heart to the gentle invitation of the Spirit.For further insights and unfolding session summaries, be sure to visit David Hoffmeister's Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/david.hoffmeister). For more information about movie watching for awakening, visit MWGE.org.Get involved: https://www.the-christ.net/If you want to learn more about David Hoffmeister and Living Miracles events, visit https://circle.livingmiraclescenter.org/events Recording date: June 8, 2026Follow us on:YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/DavidHoffmeister https://www.youtube.com/@LivingMiraclesFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/ACIM.ACourseInMiracles Learn more about David & Living Miracles:https://circle.livingmiraclescenter.org/eventsLearn more about A Course in Miracles:https://ACIM.bizDavid's Spanish YouTube Channel is: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP9Gw00CldPUmiu43y7fdWwDavid's Portuguese YouTube Channel is:https://www.youtube.com/@davidhoffmeisterucem

"12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all of our affairs." — Alcoholics Anonymous, Page 60 " If you don't realize the source, you stumble in confusion and sorrow. When you realize where you come from, you naturally become tolerant, disinterested, amused, kindhearted as a grandmother, dignified as a king. Immersed in the wonder of the Tao, you can deal with whatever life brings you, and when death comes, you are ready." — Stephen Mitchell, Tao Te Ching, Verse 16   GUS – 12StepRecovery.ai 30 Tools to Stay Sober All Year Round! Here is a link to an online version of the Tao Te Ching that we use in every meeting: https://ttc.tasuki.org/display:Year:1972,1988,1996,2004/section:80 You can download a free PDF of the latest version of Powerless But Not Helpless, a Recovery Interpretation of the Tao Te Ching, at www.BuddyC.org. Feel free to share, post, and distribute this book wherever you believe it will be helpful. You can also sign up for a free daily Tao Recovery Email, access a list of podcasts, and find many other recovery resources.   Join our private Facebook group and continue the conversation! Here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TaoPodcast/ or search Tao of Our understanding Podcast.   A Course in Miracles - Daily lessons from the 365-Day Course in Miracles Calendar. See the notes in each entry for a more detailed description.  Click Here to add the Course in Miracles Calendar to your Google Calendar   Daily Thought is a daily Google Calendar you can add to your  Google Calendar. It provides a daily thought that combines elements of Christian, ACIM, Tao, and AA. Click here to add the Daily Thought Calendar to your Google Calendar    Nightly 9 pm eastern Zoom A.A. Meeting www.ZoomAAMeetings.com   Would you like to receive a free daily topic email with the most popular A.A. resources, accompanied by a secret Facebook group for discussion? Go to www.DailyAAEmails.com for more information!

LESSON 167There Is One Life, And That I Share With God.There are not different kinds of life, for life is like the truth. It does not have degrees. It is the one condition in which all that God created share. Like all His Thoughts, it has no opposite. There is no death because what God created shares His Life. There is no death because an opposite to God does not exist. There is no death because the Father and the Son are one.In this world, there appears to be a state that is life's opposite. You call it death. Yet we have learned that the idea of death takes many forms. It is the one idea which underlies all feelings that are not supremely happy. It is the alarm to which you give response of any kind that is not perfect joy. All sorrow, loss, anxiety and suffering and pain, even a little sigh of weariness, a slight discomfort or the merest frown, acknowledge death. And thus deny you live.You think that death is of the body. Yet it is but an idea, irrelevant to what is seen as physical. A thought is in the mind. It can be then applied as mind directs it. But its origin is where it must be changed, if change occurs. Ideas leave not their source. The emphasis this course has placed on that idea is due to its centrality in our attempts to change your mind about yourself. It is the reason you can heal. It is the cause of healing. It is why you cannot die. Its truth established you as one with God.Death is the thought that you are separate from your Creator. It is the belief conditions change, emotions alternate because of causes you cannot control, you did not make, and you can never change. It is the fixed belief ideas can leave their source, and take on qualities the source does not contain, becoming different from their own origin, apart from it in kind as well as distance, time and form.Death cannot come from life. Ideas remain united to their source. They can extend all that their source contains. In that, they can go far beyond themselves. But they can not give birth to what was never given them. As they are made, so will their making be. As they were born, so will they then give birth. And where they come from, there will they return.The mind can think it sleeps, but that is all. It cannot change what is its waking state. It cannot make a body, nor abide within a body. What is alien to the mind does not exist, because it has no source. For mind creates all things that are, and cannot give them attributes it lacks, nor change its own eternal, mindful state. It cannot make the physical. What seems to die is but the sign of mind asleep.The opposite of life can only be another form of life. As such, it can be reconciled with what created it, because it is not opposite in truth. Its form may change; it may appear to be what it is not. Yet mind is mind, awake or sleeping. It is not its opposite in anything created, nor in what it seems to make when it believes it sleeps.God creates only mind awake. He does not sleep, and His creations cannot share what He gives not, nor make conditions which He does not share with them. The thought of death is not the opposite to thoughts of life. Forever unopposed by opposites of any kind, the Thoughts of God remain forever changeless, with the power to extend forever changelessly, but yet within themselves, for they are everywhere.What seems to be the opposite of life is merely sleeping. When the mind elects to be what it is not, and to assume an alien power which it does not have, a foreign state it cannot enter, or a false condition not within its Source, it merely seems to go to sleep a while. It dreams of time; an interval in which what seems to happen never has occurred, the changes wrought are substanceless, and all events are nowhere. When the mind awakes, it but continues as it always was.Let us today be children of the truth, and not deny our holy heritage. Our life is not as we imagine it. Who changes life because he shuts his eyes, or makes himself what he is not because he sleeps, and sees in dreams an opposite to what he is? We will not ask for death in any form today. Nor will we let imagined opposites to life abide even an instant where the Thought of life eternal has been set by God Himself.His holy home we strive to keep today as He established it, and wills it be forever and forever. He is Lord of what we think today. And in His Thoughts, which have no opposite, we understand there is one life, and that we share with Him, with all creation, with their thoughts as well, whom He created in a unity of life that cannot separate in death and leave the Source of life from where it came.We share one life because we have one Source, a Source from Which perfection comes to us, remaining always in the holy minds which He created perfect. As we were, so are we now and will forever be. A sleeping mind must waken, as it sees its own perfection mirroring the Lord of Life so perfectly it fades into what is reflected there. And now it is no more a mere reflection. It becomes the thing reflected, and the light which makes reflection possible. No vision now is needed. For the wakened mind is one that knows its Source, its Self, its Holiness.- Jesus Christ in ACIM

Join Dini, Melly, Colin, Rafael, and Erik as they gather to explore a profound spiritual theme: how giving is the true way out of darkness and any sense of lack. Through personal parables and heartfelt reflections, the group discusses the continuous invitation from their community to step fully into a life of giving.  Colin shares a powerful story of being detained at Mexican customs during the COVID-19 pandemic, describing how stepping up to translate for other travelers completely dissolved his intense fear.  Rafael discusses how fully accepting new community projects—such as organizing Portuguese and French translations—brought him immense lightness and happiness. He also shares how leaning into divine support helped him overcome his feelings of shyness and indignity.  Melly reflects on her journey of letting go of worldly desires to instead ask Jesus to teach her how to give. She shares a touching story about realizing that true change and healing must happen within her own mind, rather than expecting others to change.  Erik introduces his original song, "Giving Trust," sharing his personal realization that letting go of his own point of view to completely trust his brothers is a profound form of giving.  The group shares live, heartfelt musical performances. Listeners will be treated to beautiful lyrics, including reminders like "Whatever appears to be lacking is what I have failed to give" and "Love is not obtained, love is given".  Tune in to discover how shifting from a mindset of getting to a mindset of giving allows divine providence to flow freely, providing exactly what is most helpful for our minds.  Join Us Live!We invite you to spend your Sunday mornings together with us in devotion. Join us live every Sunday at 11 AM (CDT) for a space to open your heart and celebrate the light in one another.The Worship Service is streamed online through the LCM app. Be sure to check your push notification settings to receive a reminder for our next gathering. See you there!https://livingchurchministries.org/media/hbf3gbp/sunday-worship-from-the-garden-of-la-casa-the-gift-of-relationshipRecorded Live: June 14, 2026Follow us on:YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/DavidHoffmeister https://www.youtube.com/@LivingMiraclesFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/ACIM.ACourseInMiracles Learn more about David & Living Miracles:https://circle.livingmiraclescenter.org/eventsLearn more about A Course in Miracles:https://ACIM.bizDavid's Spanish YouTube Channel is: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP9Gw00CldPUmiu43y7fdWwDavid's Portuguese YouTube Channel is:https://www.youtube.com/@davidhoffmeisterucem

https://circle.livingmiraclescenter.org/events What does it truly look like to live in a spiritual community anchored entirely in A Course in Miracles? In this insightful session recorded live at the Renovatio retreat in Duchesne, Utah, Kirsten, Marina, and David use a comedy movie as a springboard to contrast the ego's chaotic expectations with the simplicity of a shared divine framework.Together, they explore what it means to yield your mind to a single purpose: forgiveness, open communication, and the undoing of the self-concept. Through deeply personal stories about navigating fear, moving past blind spots, and learning to internalize guidance honestly rather than trying to look like a "good" spiritual student, this episode offers a practical and refreshing roadmap for stepping into true collaboration with the Spirit. Discover the profound safety and relaxation that come when you commit to leaving no private thoughts behind.For further insights and unfolding session summaries, be sure to visit David Hoffmeister's Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/david.hoffmeister). For more information about movie watching for awakening, visit MWGE.org.Get involved: https://www.the-christ.net/If you want to learn more about David Hoffmeister and Living Miracles events, visit https://circle.livingmiraclescenter.org/events Recording date: June 8, 2026Follow us on:YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/DavidHoffmeister https://www.youtube.com/@LivingMiraclesFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/ACIM.ACourseInMiracles Learn more about David & Living Miracles:https://circle.livingmiraclescenter.org/eventsLearn more about A Course in Miracles:https://ACIM.bizDavid's Spanish YouTube Channel is: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP9Gw00CldPUmiu43y7fdWwDavid's Portuguese YouTube Channel is:https://www.youtube.com/@davidhoffmeisterucem

LESSON 166I Am Entrusted With The Gifts Of God.All things are given you. God's trust in you is limitless. He knows His Son. He gives without exception, holding nothing back that can contribute to your happiness. And yet, unless your will is one with His, His gifts are not received. But what would make you think there is another will than His?Here is the paradox that underlies the making of the world. This world is not the Will of God, and so it is not real. Yet those who think it real must still believe there is another will, and one that leads to opposite effects from those He wills. Impossible indeed; but every mind that looks upon the world and judges it as certain, solid, trustworthy and true believes in two creators; or in one, himself alone. But never in one God.The gifts of God are not acceptable to anyone who holds such strange beliefs. He must believe that to accept God's gifts, however evident they may become, however urgently he may be called to claim them as his own, is to be pressed to treachery against himself. He must deny their presence, contradict the truth, and suffer to preserve the world he made.Here is the only home he thinks he knows. Here is the only safety he believes that he can find. Without the world he made is he an outcast; homeless and afraid. He does not realize that it is here he is afraid indeed, and homeless, too; an outcast wandering so far from home, so long away, he does not realize he has forgotten where he came from, where he goes, and even who he really is.Yet in his lonely, senseless wanderings, God's gifts go with him, all unknown to him. He cannot lose them. But he will not look at what is given him. He wanders on, aware of the futility he sees about him everywhere, perceiving how his little lot but dwindles, as he goes ahead to nowhere. Still he wanders on in misery and poverty, alone though God is with him, and a treasure his so great that everything the world contains is valueless before its magnitude.He seems a sorry figure; weary, worn, in threadbare clothing, and with feet that bleed a little from the rocky road he walks. No one but has identified with him, for everyone who comes here has pursued the path he follows, and has felt defeat and hopelessness as he is feeling them. Yet is he really tragic, when you see that he is following the way he chose, and need but realize Who walks with him and open up his treasures to be free?This is your chosen self, the one you made as a replacement for reality. This is the self you savagely defend against all reason, every evidence, and all the witnesses with proof to show this is not you. You heed them not. You go on your appointed way, with eyes cast down lest you might catch a glimpse of truth, and be released from self-deception and set free.You cower fearfully lest you should feel Christ's touch upon your shoulder, and perceive His gentle hand directing you to look upon your gifts. How could you then proclaim your poverty in exile? He would make you laugh at this perception of yourself. Where is self-pity then? And what becomes of all the tragedy you sought to make for him whom God intended only joy?Your ancient fear has come upon you now, and justice has caught up with you at last. Christ's hand has touched your shoulder, and you feel that you are not alone. You even think the miserable self you thought was you may not be your Identity. Perhaps God's Word is truer than your own. Perhaps His gifts to you are real. Perhaps He has not wholly been outwitted by your plan to keep His Son in deep oblivion, and go the way you chose without your Self.God's Will does not oppose. It merely is. It is not God you have imprisoned in your plan to lose your Self. He does not know about a plan so alien to His Will. There was a need He did not understand, to which He gave an Answer. That is all. And you who have this Answer given you have need no more of anything but This.Now do we live, for now we cannot die. The wish for death is answered, and the sight that looked upon it now has been replaced by vision which perceives that you are not what you pretend to be. One walks with you Who gently answers all your fears with this one merciful reply, “It is not so.” He points to all the gifts you have each time the thought of poverty oppresses you, and speaks of His Companionship when you perceive yourself as lonely and afraid.Yet He reminds you still of one thing more you had forgotten. For His touch on you has made you like Himself. The gifts you have are not for you alone. What He has come to offer you, you now must learn to give. This is the lesson that His giving holds, for He has saved you from the solitude you sought to make in which to hide from God. He has reminded you of all the gifts that God has given you. He speaks as well of what becomes your will when you accept these gifts, and recognize they are your own.The gifts are yours, entrusted to your care, to give to all who chose the lonely road you have escaped. They do not understand they but pursue their wishes. It is you who teach them now. For you have learned of Christ there is another way for them to walk. Teach them by showing them the happiness that comes to those who feel the touch of Christ, and recognize God's gifts. Let sorrow not tempt you to be unfaithful to your trust.Your sighs will now betray the hopes of those who look to you for their release. Your tears are theirs. If you are sick, you but withhold their healing. What you fear but teaches them their fears are justified. Your hand becomes the giver of Christ's touch; your change of mind becomes the proof that who accepts God's gifts can never suffer anything. You are entrusted with the world's release from pain.Betray it not. Become the living proof of what Christ's touch can offer everyone. God has entrusted all His gifts to you. Be witness in your happiness to how transformed the mind becomes which chooses to accept His gifts, and feel the touch of Christ. Such is your mission now. For God entrusts the giving of His gifts to all who have received them. He has shared His joy with you. And now you go to share it with the world.- Jesus Christ in ACIM

https://circle.livingmiraclescenter.org/events Join David Hoffmeister for an illuminating session recorded live on Day 2 of the Renovatio retreat in Duchesne, Utah. Set against the mind-bending backdrop of a time-travel series, David delves into the ego's ultimate trick: linear time.Drawing on deep insights from A Course in Miracles and a fresh look at our mental "image-making," this session explains why trying to alter or fix the past is an endless loop. Discover how to channel a true passion for spiritual awakening, choose forgiveness as your highest priority, and step out of the heavy constraints of time to experience the freedom of the present moment.For further insights and unfolding session summaries, be sure to visit David Hoffmeister's Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/david.hoffmeister). For more information about movie watching for awakening, visit MWGE.org.Get involved: https://www.the-christ.net/If you want to learn more about David Hoffmeister and Living Miracles events, visit https://circle.livingmiraclescenter.org/events Recording date: June 7, 2026Follow us on:YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/DavidHoffmeister https://www.youtube.com/@LivingMiraclesFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/ACIM.ACourseInMiracles Learn more about David & Living Miracles:https://circle.livingmiraclescenter.org/eventsLearn more about A Course in Miracles:https://ACIM.bizDavid's Spanish YouTube Channel is: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP9Gw00CldPUmiu43y7fdWwDavid's Portuguese YouTube Channel is:https://www.youtube.com/@davidhoffmeisterucem

Join us on World Awakenings episode #255 as we welcome spiritual seeker, meditation teacher, and podcast host Eric McCarty. Eric is the creator and host of Just a Yogi: The Yoga of True Forgiveness, a popular YouTube channel featuring inspiring conversations with leading spiritual teachers, authors, and practitioners of A Course in Miracles (ACIM), meditation, mindfulness, forgiveness, and personal transformation.As a certified Primordial Sound Meditation Instructor and dedicated student of A Course in Miracles, Eric shares profound insights into spiritual awakening, inner peace, self-discovery, conscious living, and the transformative power of forgiveness. Through his interviews, teachings, and personal reflections, he helps others cultivate greater compassion, simplicity, presence, and emotional healing in everyday life.Eric is also the author of the Headless Now blog, where he explores themes of awareness, spirituality, nature, mindfulness, forgiveness, and the journey toward higher consciousness through thoughtful essays and personal experiences. Join us for an enlightening conversation about spiritual growth, awakening to your true nature, finding inner peace, and living a more loving and authentic life.You can now watch World Awakenings not only on YouTube, but also on New Reality TVMake sure to check out Eric McCarty's YouTube Channel, Just a YogiEric also has a wonderful blog page called, Headless NowSHOW TIMELINE:00:00 Introduction & Welcome02:15 Meet Eric McCarty05:40 Discovering A Course in Miracles11:20 The Meaning of True Forgiveness17:05 How Forgiveness Heals the Mind23:40 Primordial Sound Meditation Explained29:15 Finding Peace in Everyday Life35:10 Awareness, Presence & Spiritual Awakening40:45 The Inspiration Behind Headless Now46:30 Nature, Simplicity & the Spiritual Journey51:50 Living with Greater Kindness & Compassion56:10 Final Reflections & Spiritual Insights59:00 Eric's Resources & How to Connect1:00:30 Closing Remarks

LESSON 165Let Not My Mind Deny The Thought Of God.What makes this world seem real except your own denial of the truth that lies beyond? What but your thoughts of misery and death obscure the perfect happiness and the eternal life your Father wills for you? And what could hide what cannot be concealed except illusion? What could keep from you what you already have except your choice to see it not, denying it is there?The Thought of God created you. It left you not, nor have you ever been apart from it an instant. It belongs to you. By it you live. It is your Source of life, holding you one with it, and everything is one with you because it left you not. The Thought of God protects you, cares for you, makes soft your resting place and smooth your way, lighting your mind with happiness and love. Eternity and everlasting life shine in your mind, because the Thought of God has left you not, and still abides with you.Who would deny his safety and his peace, his joy, his healing and his peace of mind, his quiet rest, his calm awakening, if he but recognized where they abide? Would he not instantly prepare to go where they are found, abandoning all else as worthless in comparison with them? And having found them, would he not make sure they stay with him, and he remain with them?Deny not Heaven. It is yours today, but for the asking. Nor need you perceive how great the gift, how changed your mind will be before it comes to you. Ask to receive, and it is given you. Conviction lies within it. Till you welcome it as yours, uncertainty remains. Yet God is fair. Sureness is not required to receive what only your acceptance can bestow.Ask with desire. You need not be sure that you request the only thing you want. But when you have received, you will be sure you have the treasure you have always sought. What would you then exchange for it? What would induce you now to let it fade away from your ecstatic vision? For this sight proves that you have exchanged your blindness for the seeing eyes of Christ; your mind has come to lay aside denial, and accept the Thought of God as your inheritance.Now is all doubting past, the journey's end made certain, and salvation given you. Now is Christ's power in your mind, to heal as you were healed. For now you are among the saviors of the world. Your destiny lies there and nowhere else. Would God consent to let His Son remain forever starved by his denial of the nourishment he needs to live? Abundance dwells in him, and deprivation cannot cut him off from God's sustaining Love and from his home.Practice today in hope. For hope indeed is justified. Your doubts are meaningless, for God is certain. And the Thought of Him is never absent. Sureness must abide within you who are host to Him. This course removes all doubts which you have interposed between Him and your certainty of Him.We count on God, and not upon ourselves, to give us certainty. And in His Name we practice as His Word directs we do. His sureness lies beyond our every doubt. His Love remains beyond our every fear. The Thought of Him is still beyond all dreams and in our minds, according to His Will.- Jesus Christ in ACIM

LESSON 164Now Are We One With Him Who Is Our Source.What time but now can truth be recognized? The present is the only time there is. And so today, this instant, now, we come to look upon what is forever there; not in our sight, but in the eyes of Christ. He looks past time, and sees eternity as represented there. He hears the sounds the senseless, busy world engenders, yet He hears them faintly. For beyond them all He hears the song of Heaven, and the Voice for God more clear, more meaningful, more near.The world fades easily away before His sight. Its sounds grow dim. A melody from far beyond the world increasingly is more and more distinct; an ancient Call to Which He gives an ancient answer. You will recognize them both, for they are but your answer to your Father's Call to you. Christ answers for you, echoing your Self, using your voice to give His glad consent; accepting your deliverance for you.How holy is your practicing today, as Christ gives you His sight and hears for you, and answers in your name the Call He hears! How quiet is the time you give to spend with Him, beyond the world. How easily are all your seeming sins forgot, and all your sorrows unremembered. On this day is grief laid by, for sights and sounds that come from nearer than the world are clear to you who will today accept the gifts He gives.There is a silence into which the world can not intrude. There is an ancient peace you carry in your heart and have not lost. There is a sense of holiness in you the thought of sin has never touched. All this today you will remember. Faithfulness in practicing today will bring rewards so great and so completely different from all things you sought before, that you will know that here your treasure is, and here your rest.This is the day when vain imaginings part like a curtain, to reveal what lies beyond them. Now is what is really there made visible, while all the shadows which appeared to hide it merely sink away. Now is the balance righted, and the scale of judgment left to Him Who judges true. And in His judgment will a world unfold in perfect innocence before your eyes. Now will you see it with the eyes of Christ. Now is its transformation clear to you.Brother, this day is sacred to the world. Your vision, given you from far beyond all things within the world, looks back on them in a new light. And what you see becomes the healing and salvation of the world. The valuable and valueless are both perceived and recognized for what they are. And what is worthy of your love receives your love, while nothing to be feared remains.We will not judge today. We will receive but what is given us from judgment made beyond the world. Our practicing today becomes our gift of thankfulness for our release from blindness and from misery. All that we see will but increase our joy, because its holiness reflects our own. We stand forgiven in the sight of Christ, with all the world forgiven in our own. We bless the world, as we behold it in the light in which our Savior looks on us, and offer it the freedom given us through His forgiving vision, not our own.Open the curtain in your practicing by merely letting go all things you think you want. Your trifling treasures put away, and leave a clean and open space within your mind where Christ can come, and offer you the treasure of salvation. He has need of your most holy mind to save the world. Is not this purpose worthy to be yours? Is not Christ's vision worthy to be sought above the world's unsatisfying goals?Let not today slip by without the gifts it holds for you receiving your consent and your acceptance. We can change the world, if you acknowledge them. You may not see the value your acceptance gives the world. But this you surely want; you can exchange all suffering for joy this very day. Practice in earnest, and the gift is yours. Would God deceive you? Can His promise fail? Can you withhold so little, when His Hand holds out complete salvation to His Son?- Jesus Christ in ACIM

LESSON 163There Is No Death. The Son Of God Is Free.Death is a thought that takes on many forms, often unrecognized. It may appear as sadness, fear, anxiety or doubt; as anger, faithlessness and lack of trust; concern for bodies, envy, and all forms in which the wish to be as you are not may come to tempt you. All such thoughts are but reflections of the worshipping of death as savior and as giver of release.Embodiment of fear, the host of sin, god of the guilty and the lord of all illusions and deceptions, does the thought of death seem mighty. For it seems to hold all living things within its withered hand; all hopes and wishes in its blighting grasp; all goals perceived but in its sightless eyes. The frail, the helpless and the sick bow down before its image, thinking it alone is real, inevitable, worthy of their trust. For it alone will surely come.All things but death are seen to be unsure, too quickly lost however hard to gain, uncertain in their outcome, apt to fail the hopes they once engendered, and to leave the taste of dust and ashes in their wake, in place of aspirations and of dreams. But death is counted on. For it will come with certain footsteps when the time has come for its arrival. It will never fail to take all life as hostage to itself.Would you bow down to idols such as this? Here is the strength and might of God Himself perceived within an idol made of dust. Here is the opposite of God proclaimed as lord of all creation, stronger than God's Will for life, the endlessness of love and Heaven's perfect, changeless constancy. Here is the Will of Father and of Son defeated finally, and laid to rest beneath the headstone death has placed upon the body of the holy Son of God.Unholy in defeat, he has become what death would have him be. His epitaph, which death itself has written, gives no name to him, for he has passed to dust. It says but this: “Here lies a witness God is dead.” And this it writes again and still again, while all the while its worshippers agree, and kneeling down with foreheads to the ground, they whisper fearfully that it is so.It is impossible to worship death in any form, and still select a few you would not cherish and would yet avoid, while still believing in the rest. For death is total. Either all things die, or else they live and cannot die. No compromise is possible. For here again we see an obvious position, which we must accept if we be sane; what contradicts one thought entirely can not be true, unless its opposite is proven false.The idea of the death of God is so preposterous that even the insane have difficulty in believing it. For it implies that God was once alive and somehow perished; killed, apparently, by those who did not want Him to survive. Their stronger will could triumph over His, and so eternal life gave way to death. And with the Father died the Son as well.Death's worshippers may be afraid. And yet, can thoughts like these be fearful? If they saw that it is only this which they believe, they would be instantly released. And you will show them this today. There is no death, and we renounce it now in every form, for their salvation and our own as well. God made not death. Whatever form it takes must therefore be illusion. This the stand we take today. And it is given us to look past death, and see the life beyond.Our Father, bless our eyes today. We are Your messengers, and we would look upon the glorious reflection of Your Love which shines in everything. We live and move in You alone. We are not separate from Your eternal life. There is no death, for death is not Your Will. And we abide where You have placed us, in the life we share with You and with all living things, to be like You and part of You forever. We accept Your Thoughts as ours, and our will is one with Yours eternally. Amen.- Jesus Christ in ACIM

Miracles Collapse Time After David presented the documentary about a poor boy who became a successful entrepreneur, it sparked profound questions among the participants in the online “The Way” session. While it's easy to accept the script when everything goes according to plan, how do we handle situations that seem to have negative outcomes? David addressed this by emphasizing that the problem lies in our judgment of situations, not in any specific worldly circumstance, regardless of whether people perceive them as positive or negative. As Jesus taught us in ACIM, everything happens for the greater good, without exception. When we judge something negatively, it may seem like God wants us to suffer, but this couldn't be further from the truth. God's will for us is perfect happiness, which can only be achieved when we have forgiven the past, forgiven the present, and forgiven the future. Miracles can help us transcend the limitations of time. Other participants inquired about how to navigate this world of illusions while fulfilling their personal needs. David explained that our belief in reciprocity creates the illusion that giving and receiving are opposite actions. In reality, they are the same because we are all interconnected, loved and protected as an idea in the mind of God. These gatherings took place during the first three weekends of April 2026 and featured teachings, films, music, panel discussions, and live Q&A sessions with David Hoffmeister. Register for the Way of the Mystic for free here: https://programs.the-christ.net/courses/the-way-of-the-mystic To participate online in a Movie Gathering, join our online community: https://programs.the-christ.net/courses/membership-weekly-online-movie-gatherings Join our online community:  https://programs.the-christ.net/products/communities/tribe-of-christ If you are interested to know more about David Hoffmeister and Living Miracles events, here is more information:  https://circle.livingmiraclescenter.org/events. Read A Course in Miracles online here: https://acourseinmiraclesnow.com/ Learn more about David Hoffmeister here: https://davidhoffmeister.com

What is the most firm belief that we do not bring to question? "Death is inevitable." This thought forms the conerstone of our "temple built to death." It is the basis for all sorrow in the world. It brings about pain, sickness, old age, and the eventual demise of the body. It is the ego's main premise, and from this thought all fear springs. This is the thought that the Christ is here to question and to heal. Can we, will we, do we ever question and change this thought? And would we put our WHOLE BEING into the truth of this Lesson? As Students of ACIM we are being asked to do so. Is this the day you will "give up the belief in death?" We are as God created us as Spirit, and we have a function God would have us fill here in a Body. It is our Job to fulfill it, should that take more years than we thought. There is no Death. The Son of God is Free.

LESSON 162I Am As God Created Me.This single thought, held firmly in the mind, would save the world. From time to time we will repeat it, as we reach another stage in learning. It will mean far more to you as you advance. These words are sacred, for they are the words God gave in answer to the world you made. By them it disappears, and all things seen within its misty clouds and vaporous illusions vanish as these words are spoken. For they come from God.Here is the Word by which the Son became His Father's happiness, His Love and His completion. Here creation is proclaimed, and honored as it is. There is no dream these words will not dispel; no thought of sin and no illusion which the dream contains that will not fade away before their might. They are the trumpet of awakening that sounds around the world. The dead awake in answer to its call. And those who live and hear this sound will never look on death.Holy indeed is he who makes these words his own; arising with them in his mind, recalling them throughout the day, at night bringing them with him as he goes to sleep. His dreams are happy and his rest secure, his safety certain and his body healed, because he sleeps and wakens with the truth before him always. He will save the world, because he gives the world what he receives each time he practices the words of truth.Today we practice simply. For the words we use are mighty, and they need no thoughts beyond themselves to change the mind of him who uses them. So wholly is it changed that it is now the treasury in which God places all His gifts and all His Love, to be distributed to all the world, increased in giving; kept complete because its sharing is unlimited. And thus you learn to think with God. Christ's vision has restored your sight by salvaging your mind.We honor you today. Yours is the right to perfect holiness you now accept. With this acceptance is salvation brought to everyone, for who could cherish sin when holiness like this has blessed the world? Who could despair when perfect joy is yours, available to all as remedy for grief and misery, all sense of loss, and for complete escape from sin and guilt?And who would not be brother to you now; you, his redeemer and his savior. Who could fail to welcome you into his heart with loving invitation, eager to unite with one like him in holiness? You are as God created you. These words dispel the night, and darkness is no more. The light is come today to bless the world. For you have recognized the Son of God, and in that recognition is the world's.- Jesus Christ in ACIM

Welcome back to the vibrant Worship Services at La Casa de Milagros! Recorded live from our beautiful, lush garden, this session continues our joyful celebration of God's Love through music, heartfelt joining, and shared devotion.In this gathering, Erik Archbold, Jiska Stroes, Peter Kirk, and the choir lead us as we open our hearts to explore the profound theme of Resting in the Guidance Together. Through uplifting melodies, shared stillness, and reflective prayer, we are reminded that our connections with one another are sacred opportunities to remember the Presence that unites us, celebrate the light within, and extend Love to all.Join Us Live!We invite you to spend your Sunday mornings together with us in devotion. Join us live every Sunday at 11 AM (CDT) for a space to open your heart and celebrate the light in one another.The Worship Service is streamed online through the LCM app. Be sure to check your push notification settings to receive a reminder for our next gathering. See you there!https://livingchurchministries.org/media/hbf3gbp/sunday-worship-from-the-garden-of-la-casa-the-gift-of-relationshipRecorded Live: June 7, 2026Follow us on:YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/DavidHoffmeister https://www.youtube.com/@LivingMiraclesFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/ACIM.ACourseInMiracles Learn more about David & Living Miracles:https://circle.livingmiraclescenter.org/eventsLearn more about A Course in Miracles:https://ACIM.bizDavid's Spanish YouTube Channel is: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP9Gw00CldPUmiu43y7fdWwDavid's Portuguese YouTube Channel is:https://www.youtube.com/@davidhoffmeisterucem

You believe in God. You also believe somebody is a sinner, that someone deserves what's coming, that you're being punished. The contradiction doesn't show up because everyone you know carries it too. The depression. The feeling of being judged. The joy that keeps slipping out of reach. Jennifer Hadley sits with A Course in Miracles Text Chapter 10, the section ACIM calls the denial of God, naming what's quietly closing the door. What if the call you've been waiting for is the one you haven't answered?  To learn more about ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠A Course in Miracles⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ please visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Powerofloveministry.net⁠⁠⁠⁠. For the transcript of this episode and more please visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LivingACourseinMiracles.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. We can grow and live without suffering. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

LESSON 161Give Me Your Blessing, Holy Son Of God.Today we practice differently, and take a stand against our anger, that our fears may disappear and offer room to love. Here is salvation in the simple words in which we practice with today's idea. Here is the answer to temptation which can never fail to welcome in the Christ where fear and anger had prevailed before. Here is Atonement made complete, the world passed safely by and Heaven now restored. Here is the answer of the Voice for God.Complete abstraction is the natural condition of the mind. But part of it is now unnatural. It does not look on everything as one. It sees instead but fragments of the whole, for only thus could it invent the partial world you see. The purpose of all seeing is to show you what you wish to see. All hearing but brings to your mind the sounds it wants to hear.Thus were specifics made. And now it is specifics we must use in practicing. We give them to the Holy Spirit, that He may employ them for a purpose which is different from the one we gave to them. Yet He can use but what we made, to teach us from a different point of view, so we can see a different use in everything.One brother is all brothers. Every mind contains all minds, for every mind is one. Such is the truth. Yet do these thoughts make clear the meaning of creation? Do these words bring perfect clarity with them to you? What can they seem to be but empty sounds; pretty, perhaps, correct in sentiment, yet fundamentally not understood nor understandable. The mind that taught itself to think specifically can no longer grasp abstraction in the sense that it is all-encompassing. We need to see a little, that we learn a lot.It seems to be the body that we feel limits our freedom, makes us suffer, and at last puts out our life. Yet bodies are but symbols for a concrete form of fear. Fear without symbols calls for no response, for symbols can stand for the meaningless. Love needs no symbols, being true. But fear attaches to specifics, being false.Bodies attack, but minds do not. This thought is surely reminiscent of our text, where it is often emphasized. This is the reason bodies easily become fear's symbols. You have many times been urged to look beyond the body, for its sight presents the symbol of love's “enemy” Christ's vision does not see. The body is the target for attack, for no one thinks he hates a mind. Yet what but mind directs the body to attack? What else could be the seat of fear except what thinks of fear?Hate is specific. There must be a thing to be attacked. An enemy must be perceived in such a form he can be touched and seen and heard, and ultimately killed. When hatred rests upon a thing, it calls for death as surely as God's Voice proclaims there is no death. Fear is insatiable, consuming everything its eyes behold, seeing itself in everything, compelled to turn upon itself and to destroy.Who sees a brother as a body sees him as fear's symbol. And he will attack, because what he beholds is his own fear external to himself, poised to attack, and howling to unite with him again. Mistake not the intensity of rage projected fear must spawn. It shrieks in wrath, and claws the air in frantic hope it can reach to its maker and devour him.This do the body's eyes behold in one whom Heaven cherishes, the angels love and God created perfect. This is his reality. And in Christ's vision is his loveliness reflected in a form so holy and so beautiful that you could scarce refrain from kneeling at his feet. Yet you will take his hand instead, for you are like him in the sight that sees him thus. Attack on him is enemy to you, for you will not perceive that in his hands is your salvation. Ask him but for this, and he will give it to you. Ask him not to symbolize your fear. Would you request that love destroy itself? Or would you have it be revealed to you and set you free?Today we practice in a form we have attempted earlier. Your readiness is closer now, and you will come today nearer Christ's vision. If you are intent on reaching it, you will succeed today. And once you have succeeded, you will not be willing to accept the witnesses your body's eyes call forth. What you will see will sing to you of ancient melodies you will remember. You are not forgot in Heaven. Would you not remember it?Select one brother, symbol of the rest, and ask salvation of him. See him first as clearly as you can, in that same form to which you are accustomed. See his face, his hands and feet, his clothing. Watch him smile, and see familiar gestures which he makes so frequently. Then think of this: What you are seeing now conceals from you the sight of one who can forgive you all your sins; whose sacred hands can take away the nails which pierce your own, and lift the crown of thorns which you have placed upon your bleeding head. Ask this of him, that he may set you free:Give me your blessing, holy Son of God.I would behold you with the eyes of Christ,and see my perfect sinlessness in you.And He will answer Whom you called upon. For He will hear the Voice for God in you, and answer in your own. Behold him now, whom you have seen as merely flesh and bone, and recognize that Christ has come to you. Today's idea is your safe escape from anger and from fear. Be sure you use it instantly, should you be tempted to attack a brother and perceive in him the symbol of your fear. And you will see him suddenly transformed from enemy to savior; from the devil into Christ.- Jesus Christ in ACIM

LESSON 160I Am At Home. Fear Is The Stranger Here.Fear is a stranger to the ways of love. Identify with fear, and you will be a stranger to yourself. And thus you are unknown to you. What is your Self remains an alien to the part of you which thinks that it is real, but different from yourself. Who could be sane in such a circumstance? Who but a madman could believe he is what he is not, and judge against himself?There is a stranger in our midst, who comes from an idea so foreign to the truth he speaks a different language, looks upon a world truth does not know, and understands what truth regards as senseless. Stranger yet, he does not recognize to whom he comes, and yet maintains his home belongs to him, while he is alien now who is at home. And yet, how easy it would be to say, “This is my home. Here I belong, and will not leave because a madman says I must.”What reason is there for not saying this? What could the reason be except that you had asked this stranger in to take your place, and let you be a stranger to yourself? No one would let himself be dispossessed so needlessly, unless he thought there were another home more suited to his tastes.Who is the stranger? Is it fear or you who are unsuited to the home which God provided for His Son? Is fear His Own, created in His likeness? Is it fear that love completes, and is completed by? There is no home can shelter love and fear. They cannot coexist. If you are real, then fear must be illusion. And if fear is real, then you do not exist at all.How simply, then, the question is resolved. Who fears has but denied himself and said, “I am the stranger here. And so I leave my home to one more like me than myself, and give him all I thought belonged to me.” Now is he exiled of necessity, not knowing who he is, uncertain of all things but this; that he is not himself, and that his home has been denied to him.What does he search for now? What can he find? A stranger to himself can find no home wherever he may look, for he has made return impossible. His way is lost, except a miracle will search him out and show him that he is no stranger now. The miracle will come. For in his home his Self remains. It asked no stranger in, and took no alien thought to be Itself. And It will call Its Own unto Itself in recognition of what is Its Own.Who is the stranger? Is he not the one your Self calls not? You are unable now to recognize this stranger in your midst, for you have given him your rightful place. Yet is your Self as certain of Its Own as God is of His Son. He cannot be confused about creation. He is sure of what belongs to Him. No stranger can be interposed between His knowledge and His Son's reality. He does not know of strangers. He is certain of His Son.God's certainty suffices. Who He knows to be His Son belongs where He has set His Son forever. He has answered you who ask, “Who is the stranger?” Hear His Voice assure you, quietly and sure, that you are not a stranger to your Father, nor is your Creator stranger made to you. Whom God has joined remain forever one, at home in Him, no stranger to Himself.Today we offer thanks that Christ has come to search the world for what belongs to Him. His vision sees no strangers, but beholds His Own and joyously unites with them. They see Him as a stranger, for they do not recognize themselves. Yet as they give Him welcome, they remember. And He leads them gently home again, where they belong.Not one does Christ forget. Not one He fails to give you to remember, that your home may be complete and perfect as it was established. He has not forgotten you. But you will not remember Him until you look on all as He does. Who denies his brother is denying Him, and thus refusing to accept the gift of sight by which his Self is clearly recognized, his home remembered and salvation come.- Jesus Christ in ACIM

In this special Ask Us Anything episode of Exploring A Course in Miracles, Robert and Emily respond to real questions submitted by members of our Course Companions community. In this wide-ranging conversation, we explore questions such as: If the world is ultimately an illusion, how should we understand injustice and suffering? What responsibility do we have for our behavior toward others? Can a holy relationship become special? How much responsibility do we carry for healing a difficult relationship? What does the Course say about self-esteem, people-pleasing, and childhood trauma? How can we see the innocence of political leaders who appear to be causing harm? Does the Course have a view on diet and nutrition? Why do many Course students hesitate to tell others they study A Course in Miracles? Where did the "tiny mad idea" come from? Can we communicate with loved ones who have passed on? Why is guidance sometimes so difficult to hear? How should we approach legal disputes, self-defense, war, and military service? Is there a connection between thoughts and illness? And yes—we even answer questions about our own relationship and how we navigate everyday disagreements. Whether you're a longtime student or just beginning your journey with the Course, this episode offers practical wisdom, thoughtful reflection, and honest conversation about applying these teachings to real life. ___________________________ Since 1993, our purpose has been to help with both the theory and practical application of A Course in Miracles. We are the publisher of the Complete and Annotated Edition of the Course (known as the "CE"), which is available as a revised hardcover*, ebook*, and via Audible. Our work grows out of our commitment to be as faithful as possible to what A Course in Miracles says, years of dedication to walking this path ourselves, and a desire to see the Course's purpose realized in the lives of students and in the world. You are invited to download the free ACIM CE App to read, search, or listen to the Course wherever you are in the world, by following the instructions at https://acimce.app/ Whether you are new to ACIM or you've been a student for many years, you are welcome to join our online community and learning platform to access a vast collection of resources designed to help you understand and apply Course teachings in everyday life: https://community.circleofa.org/ To submit a question or suggest a topic for a future podcast episode, please email info@circleofa.org. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider subscribing and leaving a review, as this will help us reach other listeners. You are also welcome to make a donation to help support our work at circleofa.org/donate. *Amazon affiliate links  

Welcome to the opening session of the Renovatio Movie Retreat, recorded live from the peaceful sanctuary of the Living Miracles Monastery! In this intimate introductory gathering with David Hoffmeister, Jason Warwick, Marina Colombo, and Kirsten Buxton, we dive into a vibrant state of mind centered entirely on deep forgiveness and the radical renewal of the mind (Renovatio).True rebirth requires us to step back and let the Holy Spirit interpret the "script" of our lives. Rather than getting tangled in the ego's complex plot twists and personal dramas, we can use the movie screen of our daily encounters to peer behind the curtain, gently surrender our grievances to the light, and experience a joyful, magic carpet ride of transcendence.Relax, leave the world behind, and join us in this ongoing celebration of love and light!For further insights and unfolding session summaries, be sure to visit David Hoffmeister's Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/david.hoffmeister). For more information about movie watching for awakening, visit MWGE.org.Get involved: https://www.the-christ.net/If you want to learn more about David Hoffmeister and Living Miracles events, visit https://circle.livingmiraclescenter.org/events Recording date: June 6, 2026Follow us on:YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/DavidHoffmeister https://www.youtube.com/@LivingMiraclesFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/ACIM.ACourseInMiracles Learn more about David & Living Miracles:https://circle.livingmiraclescenter.org/eventsLearn more about A Course in Miracles:https://ACIM.bizDavid's Spanish YouTube Channel is: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP9Gw00CldPUmiu43y7fdWwDavid's Portuguese YouTube Channel is:https://www.youtube.com/@davidhoffmeisterucem

"11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for the knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out." — Alcoholics Anonymous, Page 59 " We mold clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that makes the vessel useful." — J.H. McDonald, Tao Te Ching, Verse 11   GUS – 12StepRecovery.ai 30 Tools to Stay Sober All Year Round! Here is a link to an online version of the Tao Te Ching that we use in every meeting: https://ttc.tasuki.org/display:Year:1972,1988,1996,2004/section:80 You can download a free PDF of the latest version of Powerless But Not Helpless, a Recovery Interpretation of the Tao Te Ching, at www.BuddyC.org. Feel free to share, post, and distribute this book wherever you believe it will be helpful. You can also sign up for a free daily Tao Recovery Email, access a list of podcasts, and find many other recovery resources.   Join our private Facebook group and continue the conversation! Here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TaoPodcast/ or search Tao of Our understanding Podcast.   A Course in Miracles - Daily lessons from the 365-Day Course in Miracles Calendar. See the notes in each entry for a more detailed description.  Click Here to add the Course in Miracles Calendar to your Google Calendar   Daily Thought is a daily Google Calendar you can add to your  Google Calendar. It provides a daily thought that combines elements of Christian, ACIM, Tao, and AA. Click here to add the Daily Thought Calendar to your Google Calendar    Nightly 9 pm eastern Zoom A.A. Meeting www.ZoomAAMeetings.com   Would you like to receive a free daily topic email with the most popular A.A. resources, accompanied by a secret Facebook group for discussion? Go to www.DailyAAEmails.com for more information!

LESSON 159I Give The Miracles I Have Received.No one can give what he has not received. To give a thing requires first you have it in your own possession. Here the laws of Heaven and the world agree. But here they also separate. The world believes that to possess a thing, it must be kept. Salvation teaches otherwise. To give is how to recognize you have received. It is the proof that what you have is yours.You understand that you are healed when you give healing. You accept forgiveness as accomplished in yourself when you forgive. You recognize your brother as yourself, and thus do you perceive that you are whole. There is no miracle you cannot give, for all are given you. Receive them now by opening the storehouse of your mind where they are laid, and giving them away.Christ's vision is a miracle. It comes from far beyond itself, for it reflects Eternal Love and the rebirth of love which never dies, but has been kept obscure. Christ's vision pictures Heaven, for it sees a world so like to Heaven that what God created perfect can be mirrored there. The darkened glass the world presents can show but twisted images in broken parts. The real world pictures Heaven's innocence.Christ's vision is the miracle in which all miracles are born. It is their source, remaining with each miracle you give, and yet remaining yours. It is the bond by which the giver and receiver are united in extension here on earth, as they are one in Heaven. Christ beholds no sin in anyone. And in His sight the sinless are as one. Their holiness was given by His Father and Himself.Christ's vision is the bridge between the worlds. And in its power can you safely trust to carry you from this world into one made holy by forgiveness. Things which seem quite solid here are merely shadows there; transparent, faintly seen, at times forgot, and never able to obscure the light that shines beyond them. Holiness has been restored to vision, and the blind can see.This is the Holy Spirit's single gift; the treasure house to which you can appeal with perfect certainty for all the things that can contribute to your happiness. All are laid here already. All can be received but for the asking. Here the door is never locked, and no one is denied his least request or his most urgent need. There is no sickness not already healed, no lack unsatisfied, no need unmet within this golden treasury of Christ.Here does the world remember what was lost when it was made. For here it is repaired, made new again, but in a different light. What was to be the home of sin becomes the center of redemption and the hearth of mercy, where the suffering are healed and welcome. No one will be turned away from this new home, where his salvation waits. No one is stranger to him. No one asks for anything of him except the gift of his acceptance of his welcoming.Christ's vision is the holy ground in which the lilies of forgiveness set their roots. This is their home. They can be brought from here back to the world, but they can never grow in its unnourishing and shallow soil. They need the light and warmth and kindly care Christ's charity provides. They need the love with which He looks on them. And they become His messengers, who give as they received.Take from His storehouse, that its treasures may increase. His lilies do not leave their home when they are carried back into the world. Their roots remain. They do not leave their source, but carry its beneficence with them, and turn the world into a garden like the one they came from, and to which they go again with added fragrance. Now are they twice blessed. The messages they brought from Christ have been delivered, and returned to them. And they return them gladly unto Him.Behold the store of miracles set out for you to give. Are you not worth the gift, when God appointed it be given you? Judge not God's Son, but follow in the way He has established. Christ has dreamed the dream of a forgiven world. It is His gift, whereby a sweet transition can be made from death to life; from hopelessness to hope. Let us an instant dream with Him. His dream awakens us to truth. His vision gives the means for a return to our unlost and everlasting sanctity in God.- Jesus Christ in ACIM

LESSON 158Today I Learn To Give As I Receive.What has been given you? The knowledge that you are a mind, in Mind and purely mind, sinless forever, wholly unafraid, because you were created out of Love. Nor have you left your Source, remaining as you were created. This was given you as knowledge which you cannot lose. It was given as well to every living thing, for by that knowledge only does it live.You have received all this. No one who walks the world but has received it. It is not this knowledge which you give, for that is what creation gave. All this cannot be learned. What, then, are you to learn to give today? Our lesson yesterday evoked a theme found early in the text. Experience cannot be shared directly, in the way that vision can. The revelation that the Father and the Son are one will come in time to every mind. Yet is that time determined by the mind itself, not taught.The time is set already. It appears to be quite arbitrary. Yet there is no step along the road that anyone takes but by chance. It has already been taken by him, although he has not yet embarked on it. For time but seems to go in one direction. We but undertake a journey that is over. Yet it seems to have a future still unknown to us.Time is a trick, a sleight of hand, a vast illusion in which figures come and go as if by magic. Yet there is a plan behind appearances that does not change. The script is written. When experience will come to end your doubting has been set. For we but see the journey from the point at which it ended, looking back on it, imagining we make it once again; reviewing mentally what has gone by.A teacher does not give experience, because he did not learn it. It revealed itself to him at its appointed time. But vision is his gift. This he can give directly, for Christ's knowledge is not lost, because He has a vision He can give to anyone who asks. The Father's Will and His are joined in knowledge. Yet there is a vision which the Holy Spirit sees because the mind of Christ beholds it too.Here is the joining of the world of doubt and shadows made with the intangible. Here is a quiet place within the world made holy by forgiveness and by love. Here are all contradictions reconciled, for here the journey ends. Experience - unlearned, untaught, unseen - is merely there. This is beyond our goal, for it transcends what needs to be accomplished. Our concern is with Christ's vision. This we can attain.Christ's vision has one law. It does not look upon a body, and mistake it for the Son whom God created. It beholds a light beyond the body; an idea beyond what can be touched, a purity undimmed by errors, pitiful mistakes, and fearful thoughts of guilt from dreams of sin. It sees no separation. And it looks on everyone, on every circumstance, all happenings and all events, without the slightest fading of the light it sees.This can be taught; and must be taught by all who would achieve it. It requires but the recognition that the world can not give anything that faintly can compare with this in value; nor set up a goal that does not merely disappear when this has been perceived. And this you give today: See no one as a body. Greet him as the Son of God he is, acknowledging that he is one with you in holiness.Thus are his sins forgiven him, for Christ has vision that has power to overlook them all. In His forgiveness are they gone. Unseen by One they merely disappear, because a vision of the holiness that lies beyond them comes to take their place. It matters not what form they took, nor how enormous they appeared to be, nor who seemed to be hurt by them. They are no more. And all effects they seemed to have are gone with them, undone and never to be done.Thus do you learn to give as you receive. And thus Christ's vision looks on you as well. This lesson is not difficult to learn, if you remember in your brother you but see yourself. If he be lost in sin, so must you be; if you see light in him, your sins have been forgiven by yourself. Each brother whom you meet today provides another chance to let Christ's vision shine on you, and offer you the peace of God.It matters not when revelation comes, for that is not of time. Yet time has still one gift to give, in which true knowledge is reflected in a way so accurate its image shares its unseen holiness; its likeness shines with its immortal love. We practice seeing with the eyes of Christ today. And by the holy gifts we give, Christ's vision looks upon ourselves as well.- Jesus Christ in ACIM

Send us Fan MailIf you have ever felt like pain makes you “better,” like sacrifice earns love, or like God must punish someone for the world to make sense, we take that belief apart from the inside. We are reading A Course in Miracles in the section “Atonement Without Sacrifice,” and we follow the thread to a surprisingly practical claim: perception only reflects the state of mind that perceives. When the mind believes in guilt, it will see guilt. When it believes attack is justified, it will find enemies, danger, and proof that fear is rational.From there we slow down and get usable. We talk about what ACIM means by innocence, not moral superiority, not pretending nothing hurts, but a willingness to be untouched by the belief in evil. That willingness becomes forgiveness in the Course sense: releasing the idea that guilt is even possible, so our vision can clear. We also unpack “defending true perception,” which is not “winning” spiritual arguments, but protecting clarity in our own mind and refusing to build an identity out of judgment, specialness, and victimhood.We end by naming how sacrifice-thinking shows up everywhere: in relationships, work, health anxiety, scarcity mindset, and the constant story of “not enough.” The line that anchors it all is simple: sacrifice is totally unknown to God, because love does not trade, deprive, or demand payment. If you want a calmer nervous system, cleaner relationships, and a more stable sense of the peace of God, press play and practice along. Subscribe, share with a friend who is tired of “holy suffering,” and leave a review with the biggest insight you are taking today.Support the show

LESSON 157Into His Presence Would I Enter Now.This is a day of silence and of trust. It is a special time of promise in your calendar of days. It is a time Heaven has set apart to shine upon, and cast a timeless light upon this day, when echoes of eternity are heard. This day is holy, for it ushers in a new experience; a different kind of feeling and awareness. You have spent long days and nights in celebrating death. Today you learn to feel the joy of life.This is another crucial turning point in the curriculum. We add a new dimension now; a fresh experience that sheds a light on all that we have learned already, and prepares us for what we have yet to learn. It brings us to the door where learning ceases, and we catch a glimpse of what lies past the highest reaches it can possibly attain. It leaves us here an instant, and we go beyond it, sure of our direction and our only goal.Today it will be given you to feel a touch of Heaven, though you will return to paths of learning. Yet you have come far enough along the way to alter time sufficiently to rise above its laws, and walk into eternity a while. This you will learn to do increasingly, as every lesson, faithfully rehearsed, brings you more swiftly to this holy place and leaves you, for a moment, to your Self.He will direct your practicing today, for what you ask for now is what He wills. And having joined your will with His this day, what you are asking must be given you. Nothing is needed but today's idea to light your mind, and let it rest in still anticipation and in quiet joy, wherein you quickly leave the world behind.From this day forth, your ministry takes on a genuine devotion, and a glow that travels from your fingertips to those you touch, and blesses those you look upon. A vision reaches everyone you meet, and everyone you think of, or who thinks of you. For your experience today will so transform your mind that it becomes the touchstone for the holy Thoughts of God.Your body will be sanctified today, its only purpose being now to bring the vision of what you experience this day to light the world. We cannot give experience like this directly. Yet it leaves a vision in our eyes which we can offer everyone, that he may come the sooner to the same experience in which the world is quietly forgot, and Heaven is remembered for a while.As this experience increases and all goals but this become of little worth, the world to which you will return becomes a little closer to the end of time; a little more like Heaven in its ways; a little nearer its deliverance. And you who bring it light will come to see the light more sure; the vision more distinct. The time will come when you will not return in the same form in which you now appear, for you will have no need of it. Yet now it has a purpose, and will serve it well.Today we will embark upon a course you have not dreamed of. But the Holy One, the Giver of the happy dreams of life, Translator of perception into truth, the holy Guide to Heaven given you, has dreamed for you this journey which you make and start today, with the experience this day holds out to you to be your own.Into Christ's Presence will we enter now, serenely unaware of everything except His shining face and perfect Love. The vision of His face will stay with you, but there will be an instant which transcends all vision, even this, the holiest. This you will never teach, for you attained it not through learning. Yet the vision speaks of your remembrance of what you knew that instant, and will surely know again.- Jesus Christ in ACIM

LESSON 156I Walk With God In Perfect Holiness.Today's idea but states the simple truth that makes the thought of sin impossible. It promises there is no cause for guilt, and being causeless it does not exist. It follows surely from the basic thought so often mentioned in the text; ideas leave not their source. If this be true, how can you be apart from God? How could you walk the world alone and separate from your Source?We are not inconsistent in the thoughts that we present in our curriculum. Truth must be true throughout, if it be true. It cannot contradict itself, nor be in parts uncertain and in others sure. You cannot walk the world apart from God, because you could not be without Him. He is what your life is. Where you are He is. There is one life. That life you share with Him. Nothing can be apart from Him and live.Yet where He is, there must be holiness as well as life. No attribute of His remains unshared by everything that lives. What lives is holy as Himself, because what shares His life is part of Holiness, and could no more be sinful than the sun could choose to be of ice; the sea elect to be apart from water, or the grass to grow with roots suspended in the air.There is a light in you which cannot die; whose presence is so holy that the world is sanctified because of you. All things that live bring gifts to you, and offer them in gratitude and gladness at your feet. The scent of flowers is their gift to you. The waves bow down before you, and the trees extend their arms to shield you from the heat, and lay their leaves before you on the ground that you may walk in softness, while the wind sinks to a whisper round your holy head.The light in you is what the universe longs to behold. All living things are still before you, for they recognize Who walks with you. The light you carry is their own. And thus they see in you their holiness, saluting you as savior and as God. Accept their reverence, for it is due to Holiness Itself, Which walks with you, transforming in Its gentle Light all things unto Its likeness and Its purity.This is the way salvation works. As you step back, the light in you steps forward and encompasses the world. It heralds not the end of sin in punishment and death. In lightness and in laughter is sin gone, because its quaint absurdity is seen. It is a foolish thought, a silly dream, not frightening, ridiculous perhaps, but who would waste an instant in approach to God Himself for such a senseless whim?Yet you have wasted many, many years on just this foolish thought. The past is gone, with all its fantasies. They keep you bound no longer. The approach to God is near. And in the little interval of doubt that still remains, you may perhaps lose sight of your Companion, and mistake Him for the senseless, ancient dream that now is past.“Who walks with me?” This question should be asked a thousand times a day, till certainty has ended doubting and established peace. Today let doubting cease. God speaks for you in answering your question with these words:I walk with God in perfect holiness.I light the world, I light my mind andall the minds which God created one with me.- Jesus Christ in ACIM

ACIM Quote: When you want only love you will see nothing else (ACIM, T-12.VII.8:1)Today's Guest:Maryanne Wood joins Tam and Matt to discuss how an inflamed ego melted in a moment when a forgotten letter surfaced, creating a memorable healing opportunity.Maryanne's Book: We Need a Voice: Connecting Across Realms: Messages from the Spirit World. https://www.amazon.com/We-Need-Voice-Connecting-Messages/dp/B0FFBHDG91/Think your Forgiveness Story Could Inspire Others? Submit your Forgiveness Story at: https://www.miraclevoices.org/formInspired to Make a Donation? Visit https://www.miraclevoices.org/donateClosing ACIM Quote:²It is impossible that anyone be healed alone. ⁴But healing is his own decision to be one again, and to accept his Self with all Its parts intact and unassailed. (ACIM, W-137.3:2,4)

LESSON 155I Will Step Back And Let Him Lead The Way.There is a way of living in the world that is not here, although it seems to be. You do not change appearance, though you smile more frequently. Your forehead is serene; your eyes are quiet. And the ones who walk the world as you do recognize you also, and believe that you are like them, as you were before.The world is an illusion. Those who choose to come to it are seeking for a place where they can be illusions, and avoid their own reality. Yet when they find their own reality is even here, then they step back and let it lead the way. What other choice is really theirs to make? To let illusions walk ahead of truth is madness. But to let illusion sink behind the truth and let the truth stand forth as what it is, is merely sanity.This is the simple choice we make today. The mad illusion will remain awhile in evidence, for those to look upon who chose to come, and have not yet rejoiced to find they were mistaken in their choice. They cannot learn directly from the truth, because they have denied that it is so. And so they need a Teacher Who perceives their madness, but Who still can look beyond illusion to the simple truth in them.If truth demanded they give up the world, it would appear to them as if it asked the sacrifice of something that is real. Many have chosen to renounce the world while still believing its reality. And they have suffered from a sense of loss, and have not been released accordingly. Others have chosen nothing but the world, and they have suffered from a sense of loss still deeper, which they did not understand.Between these paths there is another road that leads away from loss of every kind, for sacrifice and deprivation both are quickly left behind. This is the way appointed for you now. You walk this path as others walk, nor do you seem to be distinct from them, although you are indeed. Thus can you serve them while you serve yourself, and set their footsteps on the way that God has opened up to you, and them through you.Illusion still appears to cling to you, that you may reach them. Yet it has stepped back. And it is not illusion that they hear you speak of, nor illusion that you bring their eyes to look on and their minds to grasp. Nor can the truth, which walks ahead of you, speak to them through illusions, for the road leads past illusion now, while on the way you call to them, that they may follow you.All roads will lead to this one in the end. For sacrifice and deprivation are paths that lead nowhere, choices for defeat, and aims that will remain impossible. All this steps back as truth comes forth in you, to lead your brothers from the ways of death, and set them on the way to happiness. Their suffering is but illusion. Yet they need a guide to lead them out of it, for they mistake illusion for the truth.Such is salvation's call, and nothing more. It asks that you accept the truth, and let it go before you, lighting up the path of ransom from illusion. It is not a ransom with a price. There is no cost, but only gain. Illusion can but seem to hold in chains the holy Son of God. It is but from illusions he is saved. As they step back, he finds himself again.Walk safely now, yet carefully, because this path is new to you. And you may find that you are tempted still to walk ahead of truth, and let illusions be your guide. Your holy brothers have been given you, to follow in your footsteps as you walk with certainty of purpose to the truth. It goes before you now, that they may see something with which they can identify; something they understand to lead the way.Yet at the journey's ending there will be no gap, no distance between truth and you. And all illusions walking in the way you travelled will be gone from you as well, with nothing left to keep the truth apart from God's completion, holy as Himself. Step back in faith and let truth lead the way. You know not where you go. But One Who knows goes with you. Let Him lead you with the rest.When dreams are over, time has closed the door on all the things that pass and miracles are purposeless, the holy Son of God will make no journeys. There will be no wish to be illusion rather than the truth. And we step forth toward this, as we progress along the way that truth points out to us. This is our final journey, which we make for everyone. We must not lose our way. For as truth goes before us, so it goes before our brothers who will follow us.We walk to God. Pause and reflect on this. Could any way be holier, or more deserving of your effort, of your love and of your full intent? What way could give you more than everything, or offer less and still content the holy Son of God? We walk to God. The truth that walks before us now is one with Him, and leads us to where He has always been. What way but this could be a path that you would choose instead?Your feet are safely set upon the road that leads the world to God. Look not to ways that seem to lead you elsewhere. Dreams are not a worthy guide for you who are God's Son. Forget not He has placed His Hand in yours, and given you your brothers in His Trust that you are worthy of His Trust in you. He cannot be deceived. His Trust has made your pathway certain and your goal secure. You will not fail your brothers nor your Self.And now He asks but that you think of Him a while each day, that He may speak to you and tell you of His Love, reminding you how great His Trust; how limitless His Love. In your name and His Own, which are the same, we practice gladly with this thought today:I will step back and let Him lead the way,For I would walk along the road to Him.- Jesus Christ in ACIM

LESSON 154I Am Among The Ministers Of God.Let us today be neither arrogant nor falsely humble. We have gone beyond such foolishness. We cannot judge ourselves, nor need we do so. These are but attempts to hold decision off, and to delay commitment to our function. It is not our part to judge our worth, nor can we know what role is best for us; what we can do within a larger plan we cannot see in its entirety. Our part is cast in Heaven, not in hell. And what we think is weakness can be strength; what we believe to be our strength is often arrogance.Whatever your appointed role may be, it was selected by the Voice for God, Whose function is to speak for you as well. Seeing your strengths exactly as they are, and equally aware of where they can be best applied, for what, to whom and when, He chooses and accepts your part for you. He does not work without your own consent. But He is not deceived in what you are, and listens only to His Voice in you.It is through His ability to hear one Voice Which is His Own that you become aware at last there is one Voice in you. And that one Voice appoints your function, and relays it to you, giving you the strength to understand it, do what it entails, and to succeed in everything you do that is related to it. God has joined His Son in this, and thus His Son becomes His messenger of unity with Him.It is this joining, through the Voice for God, of Father and of Son, that sets apart salvation from the world. It is this Voice Which speaks of laws the world does not obey; Which promises salvation from all sin, with guilt abolished in the mind that God created sinless. Now this mind becomes aware again of Who created it, and of His lasting union with itself. So is its Self the one reality in Which its will and that of God are joined.A messenger is not the one who writes the message he delivers. Nor does he question the right of him who does, nor ask why he has chosen those who will receive the message that he brings. It is enough that he accept it, give it to the ones for whom it is intended, and fulfill his role in its delivery. If he determines what the messages should be, or what their purpose is, or where they should be carried, he is failing to perform his proper part as bringer of the Word.There is one major difference in the role of Heaven's messengers, which sets them off from those the world appoints. The messages that they deliver are intended first for them. And it is only as they can accept them for themselves that they become able to bring them further, and to give them everywhere that they were meant to be. Like earthly messengers, they did not write the messages they bear, but they become their first receivers in the truest sense, receiving to prepare themselves to give.An earthly messenger fulfills his role by giving all his messages away. The messengers of God perform their part by their acceptance of His messages as for themselves, and show they understand the messages by giving them away. They choose no roles that are not given them by His authority. And so they gain by every message that they give away.Would you receive the messages of God? For thus do you become His messenger. You are appointed now. And yet you wait to give the messages you have received. And so you do not know that they are yours, and do not recognize them. No one can receive and understand he has received until he gives. For in the giving is his own acceptance of what he received.You who are now the messengers of God, receive His messages. For that is part of your appointed role. God has not failed to offer what you need, nor has it been left unaccepted. Yet another part of your appointed task is yet to be accomplished. He Who has received for you the messages of God would have them be received by you as well. For thus do you identify with Him and claim your own.It is this joining that we undertake to recognize today. We will not seek to keep our minds apart from Him Who speaks for us, for it is but our voice we hear as we attend Him. He alone can speak to us and for us, joining in one Voice the getting and the giving of God's Word; the giving and receiving of His Will.We practice giving Him what He would have, that we may recognize His gifts to us. He needs our voice that He may speak through us. He needs our hands to hold His messages, and carry them to those whom He appoints. He needs our feet to bring us where He wills, that those who wait in misery may be at last delivered. And He needs our will united with His Own, that we may be the true receivers of the gifts He gives.Let us but learn this lesson for today: We will not recognize what we receive until we give it. You have heard this said a hundred ways, a hundred times, and yet belief is lacking still. But this is sure; until belief is given it, you will receive a thousand miracles and then receive a thousand more, but will not know that God Himself has left no gift beyond what you already have; nor has denied the tiniest of blessings to His Son. What can this mean to you, until you have identified with Him and with His Own?Our lesson for today is stated thus:I am among the ministers of God, and I am grateful thatI have the means by which to recognize that I am free.The world recedes as we light up our minds, and realize these holy words are true. They are the message sent to us today from our Creator. Now we demonstrate how they have changed our minds about ourselves, and what our function is. For as we prove that we accept no will we do not share, our many gifts from our Creator will spring to our sight and leap into our hands, and we will recognize what we received.- Jesus Christ in ACIM

LESSON 153In My Defenselessness My Safety Lies.You who feel threatened by this changing world, its twists of fortune and its bitter jests, its brief relationships and all the “gifts” it merely lends to take away again; attend this lesson well. The world provides no safety. It is rooted in attack, and all its “gifts” of seeming safety are illusory deceptions. It attacks, and then attacks again. No peace of mind is possible where danger threatens thus.The world gives rise but to defensiveness. For threat brings anger, anger makes attack seem reasonable, honestly provoked, and righteous in the name of self-defense. Yet is defensiveness a double threat. For it attests to weakness, and sets up a system of defense that cannot work. Now are the weak still further undermined, for there is treachery without and still a greater treachery within. The mind is now confused, and knows not where to turn to find escape from its imaginings.It is as if a circle held it fast, wherein another circle bound it and another one in that, until escape no longer can be hoped for nor obtained. Attack, defense; defense, attack, become the circles of the hours and the days that bind the mind in heavy bands of steel with iron overlaid, returning but to start again. There seems to be no break nor ending in the ever-tightening grip of the imprisonment upon the mind.Defenses are the costliest of all the prices which the ego would exact. In them lies madness in a form so grim that hope of sanity seems but to be an idle dream, beyond the possible. The sense of threat the world encourages is so much deeper, and so far beyond the frenzy and intensity of which you can conceive, that you have no idea of all the devastation it has wrought.You are its slave. You know not what you do, in fear of it. You do not understand how much you have been made to sacrifice, who feel its iron grip upon your heart. You do not realize what you have done to sabotage the holy peace of God by your defensiveness. For you behold the Son of God as but a victim to attack by fantasies, by dreams, and by illusions he has made; yet helpless in their presence, needful only of defense by still more fantasies, and dreams by which illusions of his safety comfort him.Defenselessness is strength. It testifies to recognition of the Christ in you. Perhaps you will recall the text maintains that choice is always made between Christ's strength and your own weakness, seen apart from Him. Defenselessness can never be attacked, because it recognizes strength so great attack is folly, or a silly game a tired child might play, when he becomes too sleepy to remember what he wants.Defensiveness is weakness. It proclaims you have denied the Christ and come to fear His Father's anger. What can save you now from your delusion of an angry god, whose fearful image you believe you see at work in all the evils of the world? What but illusions could defend you now, when it is but illusions that you fight?We will not play such childish games today. For our true purpose is to save the world, and we would not exchange for foolishness the endless joy our function offers us. We would not let our happiness slip by because a fragment of a senseless dream happened to cross our minds, and we mistook the figures in it for the Son of God; its tiny instant for eternity.We look past dreams today, and recognize that we need no defense because we are created unassailable, without all thought or wish or dream in which attack has any meaning. Now we cannot fear, for we have left all fearful thoughts behind. And in defenselessness we stand secure, serenely certain of our safety now, sure of salvation; sure we will fulfill our chosen purpose, as our ministry extends its holy blessing through the world.Be still a moment, and in silence think how holy is your purpose, how secure you rest, untouchable within its light. God's ministers have chosen that the truth be with them. Who is holier than they? Who could be surer that his happiness is fully guaranteed? And who could be more mightily protected? What defense could possibly be needed by the ones who are among the chosen ones of God, by His election and their own as well?It is the function of God's ministers to help their brothers choose as they have done. God has elected all, but few have come to realize His Will is but their own. And while you fail to teach what you have learned, salvation waits and darkness holds the world in grim imprisonment. Nor will you learn that light has come to you, and your escape has been accomplished. For you will not see the light, until you offer it to all your brothers. As they take it from your hands, so will you recognize it as your own.Salvation can be thought of as a game that happy children play. It was designed by One Who loves His children, and Who would replace their fearful toys with joyous games, which teach them that the game of fear is gone. His game instructs in happiness because there is no loser. Everyone who plays must win, and in his winning is the gain to everyone ensured. The game of fear is gladly laid aside, when children come to see the benefits salvation brings.You who have played that you are lost to hope, abandoned by your Father, left alone in terror in a fearful world made mad by sin and guilt; be happy now. That game is over. Now a quiet time has come, in which we put away the toys of guilt, and lock our quaint and childish thoughts of sin forever from the pure and holy minds of Heaven's children and the Son of God.We pause but for a moment more, to play our final, happy game upon this earth. And then we go to take our rightful place where truth abides and games are meaningless. So is the story ended. Let this day bring the last chapter closer to the world, that everyone may learn the tale he reads of terrifying destiny, defeat of all his hopes, his pitiful defense against a vengeance he can not escape, is but his own deluded fantasy. God's ministers have come to waken him from the dark dreams this story has evoked in his confused, bewildered memory of this distorted tale. God's Son can smile at last, on learning that it is not true.Today we practice in a form we will maintain for quite a while. We will begin each day by giving our attention to the daily thought as long as possible. Five minutes now becomes the least we give to preparation for a day in which salvation is the only goal we have. Ten would be better; fifteen better still. And as distraction ceases to arise to turn us from our purpose, we will find that half an hour is too short a time to spend with God. Nor will we willingly give less at night, in gratitude and joy.Each hour adds to our increasing peace, as we remember to be faithful to the Will we share with God. At times, perhaps, a minute, even less, will be the most that we can offer as the hour strikes. Sometimes we will forget. At other times the business of the world will close on us, and we will be unable to withdraw a little while, and turn our thoughts to God.Yet when we can, we will observe our trust as ministers of God, in hourly remembrance of our mission and His Love. And we will quietly sit by and wait on Him and listen to His Voice, and learn what He would have us do the hour that is yet to come; while thanking Him for all the gifts He gave us in the one gone by.In time, with practice, you will never cease to think of Him, and hear His loving Voice guiding your footsteps into quiet ways, where you will walk in true defenselessness. For you will know that Heaven goes with you. Nor would you keep your mind away from Him a moment, even though your time is spent in offering salvation to the world. Think you He will not make this possible, for you who chose to carry out His plan for the salvation of the world and yours?Today our theme is our defenselessness. We clothe ourselves in it, as we prepare to meet the day. We rise up strong in Christ, and let our weakness disappear, as we remember that His strength abides in us. We will remind ourselves that He remains beside us through the day, and never leaves our weakness unsupported by His strength. We call upon His strength each time we feel the threat of our defenses undermine our certainty of purpose. We will pause a moment, as He tells us, “I am here.”Your practicing will now begin to take the earnestness of love, to help you keep your mind from wandering from its intent. Be not afraid nor timid. There can be no doubt that you will reach your final goal. The ministers of God can never fail, because the love and strength and peace that shine from them to all their brothers come from Him. These are His gifts to you. Defenselessness is all you need to give Him in return. You lay aside but what was never real, to look on Christ and see His sinlessness.- Jesus Christ in ACIM

You've been waiting for your life to look different before you'd let yourself feel joy. Until the body heals. Until the relationship resolves. Until the news stops breaking your heart. Many of us have lived this way so long it's stopped feeling like waiting. Jennifer Hadley sits down with A Course in Miracles teacher Lisa Natoli, author of The Joy of Being, for a conversation that quietly questions whether joy ever needed those conditions. What if ACIM has been pointing toward something already available, right now? To learn more about ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠A Course in Miracles⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ please visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Powerofloveministry.net⁠⁠⁠⁠. For the transcript of this episode and more please visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LivingACourseinMiracles.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Joy is unconditional! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What does it look like when someone really shows up for you? And when did that become so rare? In this Sunday Gathering sermon, we're exploring what A Course in Miracles says is at the root of our loneliness, our division, and our inability to get back to each other - as well as the surprisingly simple prescription it offers. We hope you'll plan to join us for our next Sunday Gathering. Access is included with our Course Companions membership.  ___________________________ Since 1993, our purpose has been to help with both the theory and practical application of A Course in Miracles. We are the publisher of the Complete and Annotated Edition of the Course (known as the "CE"), which is available as a revised hardcover*, ebook*, and via Audible. Our work grows out of our commitment to be as faithful as possible to what A Course in Miracles says, years of dedication to walking this path ourselves, and a desire to see the Course's purpose realized in the lives of students and in the world. You are invited to download the free ACIM CE App to read, search, or listen to the Course wherever you are in the world, by following the instructions at https://acimce.app/ Whether you are new to ACIM or you've been a student for many years, you are welcome to join our online community and learning platform to access a vast collection of resources designed to help you understand and apply Course teachings in everyday life: https://community.circleofa.org/ To submit a question or suggest a topic for a future podcast episode, please email info@circleofa.org. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider subscribing and leaving a review, as this will help us reach other listeners. You are also welcome to make a donation to help support our work at circleofa.org/donate. *Amazon affiliate links  

"10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it." — Alcoholics Anonymous, Page 59 "Take on difficulties while they are still easy." — Jonathan Star, Tao Te Ching, The Definitive Edition, Verse 63   GUS - 12StepRecovery.AI 30 Tools to Stay Sober All Year Round! Here is a link to an online version of the Tao Te Ching that we use in every meeting: https://ttc.tasuki.org/display:Year:1972,1988,1996,2004/section:80 You can download a free PDF of the latest version of Powerless But Not Helpless, a Recovery Interpretation of the Tao Te Ching, at www.BuddyC.org. Feel free to share, post, and distribute this book wherever you believe it will be helpful. You can also sign up for a free daily Tao Recovery Email, access a list of podcasts, and find many other recovery resources.   Join our private Facebook group and continue the conversation! Here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TaoPodcast/ or search Tao of Our understanding Podcast.   A Course in Miracles - Daily lessons from the 365-Day Course in Miracles Calendar. See the notes in each entry for a more detailed description.  Click Here to add the Course in Miracles Calendar to your Google Calendar   Daily Thought is a daily Google Calendar you can add to your  Google Calendar. It provides a daily thought that combines elements of Christian, ACIM, Tao, and AA. Click here to add the Daily Thought Calendar to your Google Calendar    Nightly 9 pm eastern Zoom A.A. Meeting www.ZoomAAMeetings.com   Would you like to receive a free daily topic email with the most popular A.A. resources, accompanied by a secret Facebook group for discussion? Go to www.DailyAAEmails.com for more information!

You've worked the lessons. You've tried harder. Somewhere underneath, a quiet voice still says you're not doing A Course in Miracles right. Maybe the forgiveness you thought you'd finished keeps circling back. Maybe the guilt of falling short has become its own weight. Jennifer Hadley sits down with author and teacher Michael Mirdad for a conversation that gently questions what ACIM is actually asking of us, and whether you've been carrying a burden it never handed you. What if effort was never the point? To learn more about ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠A Course in Miracles⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ please visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Powerofloveministry.net⁠⁠⁠⁠. For the transcript of this episode and more please visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LivingACourseinMiracles.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. We can relax into forgiveness. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices