“Okay, ladies, today we’re going on an adventure!” I exclaimed to a small group of women sitting in front of me on the patio of a local bookstore. All of them were excited, but had no idea what to expect. This wasn’t any ordinary group. These women were a part of my intensive Enlightened Mom course. Over the past weeks the moms had been stretched beyond their wildest imaginations, learning to love and embrace the way they were created. They had already learned tools to recognize and release fear, blame, judgment and pain, and had begun to discover the beauty and gifts in each of them. So on this day, it was time to play.
“Your adventure today is to walk into the bookstore and be open to God’s guidance. You’re going to stay open and centered and allow God to show you something that you’re ready to see. This is a message that will help put your life in the flow and be more at ease.”
Eyes bulged and grins spread across each of the moms’ faces. I’m not sure if at that moment they were grins of joy or grins masking the fear. I know some of the women were still not convinced that they would be able to do the assignment. They believed these kinds of miracles might happen for others, but not for them. I could relate. I never believed I was worthy of this kind of love either.
Until I hit my mid 30’s, I believed the only way to receive love was if you were perfect and others approved of you. This left me empty and made me angry. In fact, I was so angry that I used to take it out on my loved ones and even tried to beat up my husband! I discovered over time, however, that the reason I was angry was because I didn’t believe it was okay to receive love just for being me.
I’ll never forget the day I sat down at the beach and went into a deep meditation . I didn’t like the way I was feeling toward a friend. I felt jealous and envious of her. It seemed that she constantly had miracles in her life. At that time, I didn’t. I didn’t believe I was worthy of that kind of love. So I sat in meditation and asked, “God, why does it seem that my friend is the chosen one?”
I heard a little voice in my ear say, “She’s chosen to be chosen, Terri.”
“What?” I asked, a little stumped.
“She has chosen to be chosen. Each of you has a choice. All you have to do is give yourself permission to receive, and then the miracles will happen.”
I knew this message was right on. Receiving love has nothing to do with being perfect. It comes when you make a decision that you are worthy of being loved. It’s your choice. I made a choice that day. I gave myself permission to be me and opened up to love. I visualized “little Terri,” the little five-year-old girl inside of me, standing in front of me. She’s the heart of who I am and how I was created. I imagined handing her a blue ribbon and said, “I’m finally making you number one.”
Ironically, in making the choice to be chosen, I stepped into my life’s mission. Some would say that “to receive” is selfish. But to truly be of service, you must open up to receive God’s love and guidance. That’s what I did. I allowed myself to be embraced by the love of God and created a life of passion , purpose and unconditional love. By healing my life and by letting go of the need to be perfect, I saw my family heal. Anger, judgment and blame slipped away from our lives and greater communication and peace became the norm for all of us. And as I saw our lives change, I was called to share my message with families all over the world. That’s when I was guided to create “The Enlightened Mom.”
“So, ladies,” I continued, “as you walk into the bookstore, you may feel an urge to walk to the left or walk to the right. You may even find yourself crawling on the floor. I’ve shared with you many times that I like to walk into a bookstore, asking for guidance, and the way I get the message is to watch for an arrow in my head. Do this if it works for you. It doesn’t matter how you get your guidance. Just trust that it’s there for you.”
“Before you head in to the bookstore, let’s get grounded in God’s light. Take a relaxing breath and say, ‘I give myself permission to receive love and guidance from God.’ Now visualize a beautiful golden ball of light above your head. Imagine opening up the crown of your head like a camera lens and allow God’s light to flood throughout your body, letting all of your fear and doubt slip away.” Each of the women had been practicing this meditation over the last eight weeks and, as a result, had found themselves to be much more centered and at peace when dealing with their daily lives and their families . But today wasn’t going to be an ordinary day. Now it was time to put their tools to the test.
A few of the women had already experienced miracles from the first day of class, but there were others who were a little more skeptical. Stephanie was one of them. Her life had been blanketed in negativity and judgment with constant complaining. During the Enlightened Mom course, she had begun to realize that she had to change her attitude about her life, her husband, and about money. Stephanie lived with a sense of lack and wasn’t sure she could receive the kind of guidance and love I had been talking about. Stephanie doubted she was worthy. Ironically, she was the first mom to finish the assignment.
“I’m converted, I’m converted, I’m converted!” Stephanie cried, trembling with tears of joy flowing down her face as she came back to the patio. “I can’t believe it! I walked into the store and felt a nudge to turn right. Then I felt I had to move down the aisle and turn right again. Directly in front of me was Joel Osteen’s book, Your Best Life Now. It was staring me right in the face. I’ve seen him on TV or in ads every day for at least three weeks now and felt I was supposed to learn something from him, but I ignored it. So, I opened up his book and the first message I received was, ‘God supplies all of your needs.’ The next message was, ‘Quit complaining that nothing good ever happens.’ And, finally, ‘Start declaring everything and command light to come in.’ I can’t believe I got these messages!”
Stephanie’s final thoughts said it best as she threw her hands up in the air, “I get it now! I used to ask God for guidance and would get so angry because I never got any answers. Now I realize the messages were always there. All I had to do was give myself permission to open up and receive them!”
Stephanie made a choice to be chosen that day at the bookstore and finally got the message: love and miracles are abundant when you say “Yes!” to you, knowing you are worthy of a divine connection.
Copyright 2008As featured in the bestseller, "Wake Up Women"
Terri Amos-Britt is the author of "Message Sent" and her recently completed book, "The Enlightened Mom," as well as co-author of the bestseller, "Wake Up Women." As a spiritual coach and motivational speaker, Terri shares her experiences as a wife, mom, step-mom, former Miss USA and television host, inspiring others to release the emotional chaos in their lives, creating lives of passion, purpose and love. Terri is the co-founder of the Enlightened Family Institute with her husband, Charlie Britt. Their mission is to bring hope and healing to individuals and families all over the world. For more information, please go to EnlightenedFamilyInstitute.com .