(Editor’s Note: Often readers of this newsletter have heard us discuss that there are many ways to come to a place of experiencing loving-kindness and the power of choice. Very few are more powerful than this one received in the midst of huge physical crisis. I told the recipient never to say she had not heard directly from God.)

Niece,

I know that you are wondering if there is anything that you did in your life to cause all of the recent events to occur…

The answer to the above wondering is both yes and no.

Yes, because you are always a part of your path and even if you do not consciously CHOOSE a particular circumstance, you invite all kinds of learning to illuminate your path. And sometimes that learning comes in the MOST difficult and painful of ways. I know. The things that we carry closest to our hearts are most painful of all possible lessons (our children).

Yes, as a sentient and compassionate being you chose to learn how to love as a life goal. How to BE an example of love for someone else. How to BE the light upon someone else’s path. This is the work of the heart. This is the work of God. In this way, yes, you have chosen to learn the hardest of lessons, (and the discovery still blows my mind) you have the worst of all pain yet to bear, but in this, the most powerful opportunity is to STAY LOVING. A blessed pain, if ever there was one.

And the answer is NO. You did not choose for Justine to be hurt in any way, shape or form. You did not ask for that kind of pain. There is no other like it, I can tell you. But you are there. You are on that path. You can embrace that pain and decide to learn from it, or you can beat yourself up for being there and run from it. You decide. This is not about BLAME or the kind of paycheck people mistake for “karma.” It’s all learning. In this, there is no judgment.

What is there to learn? What is your task? Your task is to stay loving and to keep the faith…in yourself, in a greater good, in a higher God, and in the ability of things to work out. To not become hard, or stay in the darkness of it all (and I know, there is a lot of darkness there right now).

To do this, you must stay courageous. Courage does not mean that you are not afraid. It is being afraid and staying with your original intention. It is called unwavering faith.

Life rarely plays out the way we think it will. Look at me. I am 42. I have terminal cancer. I have very little time left to live. I have a 2, 7 and 10 year old that I will not get to see grow up. See, we have so little control over circumstances but so much power in the big picture…but only over ourselves. How WE deal with what life gives us.

Pain means we are really close to enlightenment. Pain ravages me now. I hurt from head to toe. But you know what, Dear Niece? I bless my pain because it is almost over. Bless your pain and what it is there to do for you. And bless the relief that will come as you relinquish control over circumstances and develop the faith necessary to find peace.

Sending healing to you and Justine as well.

I have always and always will love you.

Breathe!

Always and Forever,

Auntie Marilyn