Ask the Author: Question and Response
 

I have read your book You Have Chosen To Remember and did find it inspirational. I sometimes return to it when I feel lost. I know what you say is right but sometimes I wonder if perhaps I am just not doing something right as I used to know that God was listening but recently this feeling has gone. Do you think that God ever turns his back? Do you think that a person can ask too many times for help for the mundane?

- Jo, North Yorkshire, England

God thought and created you. God thought and created your brother and sister. The true essence of you, and your brothers and sisters, is the same.  The Love that is this essence is always within you, thus always with you. There is never a moment where God is not. There is never a moment where God is not within you, with you. God does not turn his back on any of His creations. Your sense of connectedness comes when you are extending this expression. The acts of compassion, forgiveness, love, charity, and when you are laughing and joyful come about by extending this expression. 

When you start to focus on negativity, judgment, self-deprecation or self-doubt, you are focusing your attention on inventions of the ego, on illusions that you have taught yourself are real. When you focus on something other than extending your true essence, then that’s where the feelings of disconnection come from. And so you see, that feeling, that questioning, that wondering if God ever turns His back on you does not come from Him turning His back, for that which is in all people, places and things has no back. These feelings come from your decision to focus on something other than extending and expressing your true essence.  It is you who has the power. It is you who makes the choice, and this, in and of itself, is actually very good news! For once you realize, once you remember, that you do have that choice, you start understanding that you have the power to see, experience and participate in the world in the way you choose to - by what you choose to focus on.

Forgetting is just a form of remembering better. When you forget that you are here to express your true essence into the world, there is something from within you that tugs at your conscience, that tugs at your heart and soul. And this tugging does not come from someone who does not care about you, it happens because someone who deeply loves you is gently saying that He has not left you. He is reminding you that you have come to express your true essence, to be an example to others that this light exists within us all. And when you are focusing your efforts on being compassionate in whatever form fits you best, when you are focusing on being loving in whatever way you are most comfortable with, when you are focusing on being charitable and kind in whatever ways are possible for you, then you are extending your true essence, you are reminding the world of the truth within us all. And when you do so, your connection to God and to all your brothers and sisters will become evident.

You don’t ask God for too much, you ask Him for too little. In fact, God is with you in every moment. Yes it is true that there are times when your focus goes away from God, there are times when the ego tells you that judgment is a proper response, when forgiveness seems too difficult to offer, when your well of compassion seems to have dried up, and yet by experiencing these times, in actuality, you are in the process of reminding yourself of the futility of such behaviors, actions and reactions. And in being reminded of this, they in turn show you what you do not want. They assist you in bringing you back to your center, into refocusing on those things that do bring you joy, that do free you from judgment, that bring love and support back into your life. So you see, these so called dark or lonely times are simply helping you understand what it is you do not want, and it is in your knowledge of this that their gift lies. For once you know this, your only response to them will be gratitude. And so now, if during those dark and lonely times you are able to thank them instead of judge them, imagine how much less time you would live and participate in feeding those illusions, instead of feeling bad for feeling bad! And by doing so, imagine the example you would set to those around you. Imagine the light you would gift to those so lost in the darkness and solitude of their own illusions. All this - simply because you made the decision to take back your power of free will, take back your power of choice, and see those moments where you once thought God had turned His back on you were actually those moments where God was raising you up, embraced in His hands, as a lantern in the dark, as an example of the triumph of the soul.

I feel a great sense of joy, and it is an honor that you return to my book when you feel lost. But know this, that what you are truly doing during those times is making a choice to return to your own center, a return to your true source and essence, and you need no book for that. For what is in my book was within you long before the creation of my book. And what is in you, is in all your brothers and sisters, in all people, places and things. God waits for you, in the most mundane of moments God makes Himself available to your decision to focus on Him, and to experience Him.  And when you remember that He is in everything, everyone, everywhere and every moment, abundant gratitude will be your response to the realization that all people, places and things are a gift from God to you - to remember your perfection and connection. Let the sun rise once again in you, and in the light stand wholly unafraid. Allow compassion and joy to radiate from you.  And your brothers and sisters will see and experience you as a reminder to them that this same light, hope and possibility exists within them too. An example to them that those who are lost can be found, that those who were once blind can now see!
 

Note:  To read more about God, you may want to read Chapter Six Overview: Trusting God.
 

View larger images of front & back cover 
of the great spiritual / self development book You Have Chosen to Remember: A Journey from Perception to Knowledge, Peace of Mind and Joy by James Blanchard Cisneros.