On May 11, 2006, the car my husband drives to work was stolen, along with his wallet.  I am used to turning to God first so I naturally turned to Him in prayer about that.  While I took the necessary measures the police advised us to take, in my mind, I was praying to God for His will to be done.  I knew that God does not condone theft.  Thou shall not steal, is one of His laws to obey.  If God is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory for ever (in the Lord’s Prayer), that leaves no room at all for someone to steal and have no remorse; I held on to that for several days.  A good conscience makes a good pillow, and no one who knows they’ve done wrong can live with it forever.  Everyday, I watch some preacher on TV, or I read my Bible mindfully, or listened to a relative or a friend reassuring me he or she is praying for us, and found encouragement.  Until today (May 24, 2006).  I was studying the Christian Science weekly Bible lesson when I came across section 3, Zeph. 3:17 "God is Almighty...He saves."  I was holding on to that promise when the phone call came announcing the car had been recovered, intact but for a slight scratch. 

While this has caused us inconvenience and worry and some expenses, still, I rejoice that the person(s) who stole the car did return it where it could be found - this, I take as an indication that there is good in the heart of men, and that the “Still Small Voice” is still being heard (even if the person’s motive might have been the fear of consequences, it still resulted in the return of the object and therefore the right thing was done).

I hope you’ll share my testimony with others, so that others are encouraged by it too.  If the voices for good become louder than those that are not, God will be more greatly manifested and Heaven on Earth won’t be just a dream anymore, but a reality.

If I could speak with the man (or men) (one man is shown on a secret camera entering the stolen vehicle at the location where it was parked), I would congratulate him for returning the vehicle and I would encourage him to also return the wallet with all its content.  There is something called Restorative Justice which, more than “punishment for crime,” repairs harm done and rights wrongs.  The return of the car symbolizes to me evolution and God at work.  I’m very grateful. 

Looking for a birthday card for my mother who’s staying with my husband and I for a few months, brought unexpected anger.  The cards contained suggestions of what a loving and capable mother does, but that did not accurately describe my experience.  Not having had the experiences the cards suggested, made me feel separated from the love of God as Mother Love. 

In the evening, the headache I’d had for several hours, caused me such pain, I called Frank to ask for help through prayer.  His answer immediately brought  reassurance and calm:  “I’ll be doing some listenin’ and prayin’.”  Motherly Love, I thought, mixed with Fatherly Principle and Mind.  I went back to bed feeling hopeful that God, as Spirit, would make the mist disappear.  Soon, I drifted in a half-sleep, where I saw pieces of some of my memories spread before me like a puzzle, and, filling the gaps between the missing pieces where more Love should have been, was the Our Father and Psalm 23, as if taking a solid form and knitting the spaces between the pieces of the puzzle together.  It was awesome! I slept a few hours, woke up with a headache, drifted back to that strange sleep again, several times.  Finally, the phone rang. Someone close to my mom spoke with her. I had to get my day going since I had an appointment.  I was angry with myself for feeling my mother had failed me and my family, and I was condemning myself for causing her pain by judging her efforts at not been good enough and that I wasn’t good enough either as a consequence.  But even worse, I was feeling separated from God, and I didn’t know how to reconcile God’s Motherhood qualities with my experience.  

I was grateful to have solid prayers to anchor my thoughts to all day.  As a result, anger and self-condemnation melted away.  Thoughts of continued love and forgiveness for my mother, and hope, too, flooded my thinking.  Angel thoughts came to me in the form of suggestions of activities for her to do—continued Soul in expression.  At home, she too had had renewed thoughts of peace and love.  We were able to communicate kindly and truthfully, establish some guidelines that would make me feel respected in my home and my life and please her too.  

Later, watching a popular tv show, I realized that parents cannot be expected to meet all of their children’s needs, to let go of my idea of what that should have been or should be, and to continue to let God “mother” and “father” me in God’s own way (not my will, but Thine be done).  My mom did the best she could raising us.  As a matter of fact, when I told her the parable of the talents (in Matthew and Luke) and asked her how many talents she’d be bringing back to The Master…her response indicated to me she was genuinely trying her hardest, and that God would be pleased.  God never compares.  I feel more of the grace of acceptance.  I, too, am doing the best I can to show her love.  The false responsibility of making her happy and compensating for her unfulfilled dreams is not mine to take, but I trust God will knit her pieces of her puzzle, too.  God is infinite.  I am reconciled with the fact that Father will continue to bless His children in every possible way.  I am reconciled with God as Mother Love.  As a final note, I am grateful the store cards showed me thoughts that needed healing.

Part of what I had to do that upset me was to respond to an inquirer I’d spent hours educating about rates and expectations on a possible translation assignment.  The inquiry had been triggered by my receiving unsolicited confidential legal originals —something that had never happened before in my 20+ years career.  I was responding to the signed letter request to translate the documents, and to forward my invoice—quote unseen.  Obviously, I could not keep these original documents and had to respond.  I could not do the translation without first confirming that my prices would meet with approval, so I had to engage in a dialogue with the person who signed the letter.  The whole situation became even more complicated due to the fact that that person referred me to a third individual.  Dialogue with that third party claiming to be a lawyer, was peppered with insults from him, to which I responded rationally and kindly.  My dilemma was that, as I advertise, if I need to spend beyond 15 minutes to give a quote, I now need to charge for that time as it becomes a consultation.  I spell that out on the Terms and Conditions on my professional website.  I had already spent in excess of four hours dialoguing back and forth with the individuals.  The pressures of earning income, coupled with other of life’s pressures, started weighing on me.  After speaking with Frank, the problem and the solution appeared clearer:  the problem was a seeming resistance to God-like honesty, principle, truth; the solution was to know that God could not be opposed and that man reflects all that is Godlike.  With that Truth in mind, I felt calm and a harmonious flow returned, allowing me to compose a just letter to the prospective client.  While the prospective client’s motives for contacting me remained dubious, a week later I received the small token I had asked for and the dialogue surely bore fruit.