More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of. – Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Desire, Ask, Believe Receive – Stella Terrell Mann
Hello Beautiful;
For many living in today’s world, the idea of prayer – or of God, whatever that may be – may feel obsolete. But isn’t faith the very substance of creation? Understanding that regardless of circumstances, everything is always working out for us is the foundation for creating a life where exactly that is true.
We may want to have faith but can’t truly accept that there is something out there so much greater than we can know – so we halfheartedly pray to a Being that we don’t really believe is there – like a child peeking through half-closed fingers, hoping that beautiful birthday cake will be on the table but not really expecting it to be. I understand this deeply. As Mulder from the X files said, “I want to believe.”
But faith can sometimes be hard when we are in the midst of sorrow or adversity and can’t see the whole picture.
The topic of God, faith and prayer is an enormous topic. But when it comes down to it, the distillation of most religious doctrine begins and ends with faith.
I believe if you truly want to manifest a fulfilled life of abundance, joy, and meaning, faith is the vital aspect of that creation; or rather, co-creation, along with gratitude and love. But it for all sentient beings, manifestation begins with want.
The simplistic breakdown of this is – we are hungry. We need food. We search for food, we find food, we eat said food and we are satisfied, at least for the moment.
But on a less basic vibrational scale, We have a desire, we ask for that desire to be fulfilled, we believe that it’s on its way and through that belief, we receive the fulfillment of our dreams and wishes.
Part of this is through our own “reality filter” – the Reticular Activating System in the brain that searches through the billions of bits of information we ingest each second through our senses for whatever our focus might be. But I believe that Source also sends unexplainable synchronicities and gifts along the way to show us the path to fulfilling our deepest desires.
As an aside, I don’t believe that Source, or God, or the All That Is is relegated to any one religion or has to be for you what it is for someone else. God is not an old guy in robes and a long white beard sitting somewhere in the cosmos judging everyone.
God is to each of us exactly what we need, and speaks to us in a language we can easily understand, and I don’t think it matters if you refer to Source as God, Yahweh, Allah, Shiva, Gaia/Earth/Nature, Sheila or George, or if you see Source as a creator God, an intelligence, or the wizard behind the curtain – as long as you believe and are willing to start a conversation.
Rumi said “We are stars wrapped in skin. The Light you are seeking has always been within.”
To me, God is Love made manifest. An intelligent Divine Spark, infused in our every molecule; into every atom of the universe – like water in cells. Like cells themselves. If you have been following my other letters, you know that molecules respond to thought. Dr. Masaru Emoto’s experiments on water are a great example of this. Researchers would speak to labeled bottles of water phrases such as “I hate you”. “I love you.” “You are beautiful.” The molecules within those bottles literally altered their physical structure depending on what content was being directed to them.
The water molecules given positive phrases took on beautiful, snowflake-like structures while the negatively impacted water altered to a similar structure as a chemically polluted river. He also studied the structural changes in water from music. The structure molecules would take on altered drastically from Beethoven to Metallica. Amazing stuff!
The point is that if molecules respond to thought, then perhaps God, whatever God may be, is in every molecule composing the fabric of the universe; and we can safely assume that those molecules respond to our thoughts in much the same way as the water molecules responded to the messages and music in Dr. Emoto’s experiments. What we put out in thought and prayer we get back, whether negative or positive – though I personally feel that God/Source/ divinity is a thinking, feeling, responder and loves deeply all that is.
Here’s where it gets especially interesting and where I believe we supercharge our creative magic. In every major religion that I have researched, commonly used prayers always begin and usually end with gratitude. To give a few examples: most of us know the Lord’s prayer – “Our Father, hallowed (Holy) be your name…” This is a form of both gratitude and acknowledgment of power. “Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory for ever….” Also power and gratitude. In Islam, every prayer I have read begins in a similar manner. “Allah the Most Beneficent”…. “All the praises for Allah.” “Blessed is your name….”Your majesty is Exalted.” The Hindus chant or sing mantras from the Rig Veda and other holy scripture – repeated prayer/conversation/communication with the Divine. One of the most commonly used is the Gayatri mantra, which translated roughly breaks down to love and gratitude of God asking for wisdom and enlightenment.
Two of my personal favorite mantras are Ek Ong Kaar – God and We are One. And Ra Ma Da Sa, which is simply Sun, Moon, Earth, Space, God, I am you. Both are sung with sublime gratitude and love.
If you are interested in listening to these beautiful reminders of our connection to the divine, I would recommend Snatum Kaur’s ethereal voice. Incidentally, many believe that Hinduism is the worship of many gods, but it would be more accurate to say that each god is an avatar of one Divine being.
I see it as a way to help humans connect with the divine through accessing an aspect or attribute that is especially relatable, much as we used to worship many different gods such as Athena – goddess of wisdom and war – and Hestia, Goddess of homemakers in the Greek/Roman tradition, or Thor, God of bravery and righteousness and Balder, God of beauty and kindness in the Norse tradition. Source evolves with our understanding.
A Catholic prayer: “Thanks be to thee, my Lord Jesus Christ, for all the benefits thou hast given me, O most merciful friend, redeemer, and brother…” What I find interesting about this particular prayer is that it refers to Jesus as a brother rather than a supreme being, which would suggest an equality rather than subservience.
In the New Testament of the bible, in John 10:34, Jesus himself says “Is it not written in your Law (God’s word) ‘I have said you are Gods’?” Psalm 82:6 confirms this: “You are Gods, children of the Most High.” The scripture before speaks of mortals wandering in darkness and the scripture after says “But you will die like mere mortals and fall like every other ruler.”
This is so true – we fear to step into our power – to take full responsibility of ourselves and our lives and be the Creators we were meant to be, so we wander, fumbling in the darkness rather than lighting a lantern when we can’t see the path. But I digress.
We are meant to be creators – or co-creators – of our lives. We have the magic. We have the power within us. But for that power to fully unfold, it must begin and end with faith. Faith that Source/God has our back. Faith that things are always working out. Faith that when we ask, our prayers have already been answered. Not necessarily in the timing that we hope for, but in much the same way that atoms can exist in multiple places at exactly the same time, God has to be a timeless, dimensionless being.
We have faith that Source knows precisely the right timing for everything. Physicists have discovered that time is a construct for humans, anyway. We think time is always moving forward but in actuality, the past, present and future are happening at exactly the same moment. Mind blown, right?🤯
Much like the concept of God, I can’t even begin to fully wrap my mind around this notion, but it sure is fun to try! Or maybe that’s just my inner nerd coming through …😋
Caffeine and ADD-fueled segues aside, you probably get the gist of the letter. Faith and gratitude. Hopefully, the interjection of a little science helps you to better understand the concept and mechanisms behind co-creation and manifesting your deepest desires and wishes; to living a life on-purpose and receiving a constant inflow of abundance and blessing.
Know that there is a deeper intelligence ruling the universe, dear one. Know that you are divine and meant to be a creator. Know that you are not selfish for desiring abundance, or love, or purpose – these are seeds planted within you before you were born. It is up to you to provide the proper nourishment for those seeds, however – this is where co-creation comes in.
With desire, faith, love, gratitude, and commitment, those seeds will grow to create exactly the life that you imagine.
Much love and big hugs.💖
– Terah
This Blessed Sacred Life 