As many of you noticed, the FIRE THROUGH SPIRIT site was dormant from September 2001 through mid-January 2002. Behind the scenes in my everyday life, it was as if God declared the parameters of my reality to be mere lines on the Celestial Etch-a-Sketch, and turned it upside down to shake them out of existence:

I gave up a lucrative career, many friends and a comfortable and familiar location to move in with my fiancé, a hundred miles north in a rural part of New York State.

Simultaneous with my move, my father - with whom I was extremely close - went into the Light, after a years-long struggle with heart disease.

And within weeks of my starting my new job, my employer was diagnosed with multiple brain tumors - necessitating the closing of her practice, and meaning that in a month or two, I will once more need to seek fresh opportunities for income.

To many people's amazement, I have never felt more secure, more stable, more sure of being in the right place at the right time - and it comes from three things: welcoming change . . . looking for blessings in the darkness . . . and faith that God's Plan, while perhaps inscrutable, is the best one to stay true to my Path.

Do you remember the old brainteaser, "which leg of a three legged stool is the most important?" The answer is "all of them; without one, the rest will not support you" - and it's just as valid in life as in furniture. Let's look at how they work.

Welcoming Change

If things don't change and grow, they die. That's the law of nature. Nothing remains constant in the material world. Therefore, it stands to reason that our lives will change. We will lose some friends and gain others. We will all, eventually, lose our parents and other loved ones. We will fall ill, get well, move here or there, switch jobs, taste both days of joy and nights of sadness and doubt. That is the lot of human existence.

Even with faith that there is a Grand Plan for you, and the ability to look for blessings in difficult times - if you fight change, it makes everything more difficult. So, knowing that change is your lot - isn't it better to accept it, and actively seek out new joy and prospects coming your way?

As you embrace (rather than fight) change, moving into the heart of the river that is your life, you will save your energy for taking advantage of new situations, rather than wasting energy trying to keep the status quo. You will be like a leaf, gently riding the swells and currents effortlessly, rather than a salmon, fighting her way against the current, and ending up exhausted.

Next time change presents itself in your life, observe how you react. If your first instinct is to shake your head, close your eyes, and tell the change "I won't!" - try a new direction. Watch what happens when you open the door to change and say "welcome in."

Finding Blessings In The Darkness

Hard times can be tough to accept with grace. Even harder is turning them inside out to see the hidden blessings that may be behind a situation.

Let's look at losing a job - perhaps through a layoff, a change in personnel, or just plain getting fired. It can be a very scary time, especially when those not plugged in to Abundance Thinking try to convince you that "it's a soft economy, nobody's hiring."

Believe it or not, you have just been handed a ticket to Opportunity! It may entail simplifying your life, deciding to move, taking courses in a whole new field. But you now have that choice, because you're no longer thinking in the same old fashion. The faster you widen your "life vision," the faster the opportunities will appear. Honestly examine what it is you want to do with your life. Has there been a home business you have wanted to try? Were you truly unhappy in that job, but afraid to look for something else because of your "comfort zone"? Is there any kind of exciting potential that you were passing up because this position precluded it in some way?

You can apply this in any situation. Whether you must end a friendship, endure a fender-bender, permanently change your diet because of illness or allergy, even lose your possessions in a fire - if you look carefully, something positive will come into your life because of the change.

Even if you welcome change and believe in The Plan, if you forget to seek the blessings in the darkness, the road will be much harder than it needs to be - and there will be countless gifts in your life that go unclaimed. Seek the blessings, and move forward, opening your eyes and heart.

Faith In The Plan

When we talk of God here, we're not necessarily talking about a specific vision of God. Everyone, and every religion, has a particular image that speaks to them and is valid. "God" here is the Central Point, the Singular Intelligence, the Principal Emanation of the Universe that sets us all in motion and guides us through Love, the primal energy on which the Universe runs.

We are not chance or random. We are unique, and we all come into this existence with a Plan and a Path, through which our souls learn, grow, and heal, so that when we return Home after this "living dream" we will have come that much closer to Oneness with that Infinite Intelligence. In everyday terms, that means that there truly is a Path under our feet. If we trust in it and follow our intuitive guidance regarding it, we'll gain our deepest happiness, our greatest opportunities to serve our fellow human beings, and the most peace for our souls.

Sometimes it may appear that we are making a dead-end choice - or we're just going around in circles, like a hamster on a cage-wheel, pedaling furiously but getting nowhere! It is during those times that you most need to "ground and center," ^† finding a moment to reach up and connect with Source. Let the Love of Spirit calm your mind and heart. Allow yourself the gift of not needing to be in control - of allowing One Who can see much farther than any of us to bring you where you need to go.

Even if you welcome change and see the blessings in the darkness, without that heart-level certainty that Something greater than yourself loves you, wants the best for you, and is willing to help you on your path, you will miss hearing that still, small voice that can aim you in the best direction for your ultimate happiness and peace.

So the next time you find yourself at an uncomfortable crossroads in your life - when you feel like all your plans have been tossed in the air by a capricious and uncaring Fate - go sit on your three-legged stool, and observe your life and opportunities from that perspective. More than likely, you'll find that you have the best seat in the house.

^† If you are unfamiliar with the idea of "Ground and Center," go to the archives and read Creating Your Sacred (head) Space