Gloria to God:

Dear Father of All, I came across Matthew 6:7 in a Bible Crossword puzzle: "When ye pray, use not vain repetitions." It doesn't mean not to say repetitive prayers, does it?

God:

It means not to just mouth the words but to be present with them, to repeat a prayer with your heart impulsing it.

If you pray without heart, it is like your hand giving a penny to one who asks while your eyes do not look upon the one you toss it to.

There is nothing wayward about repetitive prayers so long as there is joy in repeating them.

Gloria:

I was amazed at how much I love these quotations from the Bible!

God:

Hearts such as yours copied down most of them.

Gloria:

Karen said last night that neutrality IS pure love.

God:

Pure being. Not a moving force, not a passion, but a quiet awareness of another being's beingness. Pure love is awareness of God. There is no pushing or pulling with pure love. No having. No ruling.

Pure love is this moment of beingness. You do not conquer beingness, take it captive, make it to your liking. It is already its fullness, and you recognize it as yours.

Be aware of the blessing of unattachment instead of the need to own. Allow pure love to be unhampered.

In that moment of awareness is your invitation to pure love, and thus you disallow attachment. Neutrality is the natural state.

I gave freedom. Pure being has no shackles.

Model yourself after Me, the Giver of Freedom. I am a well-oiled God Who loves without sticking.

Gloria:

Dear God, I would like to ask You a question on Mary's behalf. She is a writer, former schoolteacher, with much good experience, education, and character. When I first met her, she was washing dishes in a restaurant just to get by. Finding suitable work and earning a basic income have been an ongoing struggle for Mary with delay after delay.

God:

It will be good for Mary to have more confidence in Me. She tries to take too much on herself.

It is relying on Me that gives more confidence to the rely-er. The rely-er is swathed in peace rather than uncertainty.

Suggest that Mary enlist My aid.

Strength is Mine. Let My strength broaden her shoulders.

If Mary cannot find the confidence in herself that she merits, perhaps she will find it in Me, for I give Mine willingly.

I want everyone to have the surety of Me.

Mary needs to look for work the same way she rides a horse. Finding work can be as effortless.

Mary, write down how you ride a horse. Then convert your observations into the language of job search.

And, yes, Mary needs to acknowledge to herself her worthiness. Mary's doubts hold her back. She sends skittish messages. Mary needs more knowing and less fretting.

More attention on Me, Mary, and less on details. Expend your energy; don't fritter it. Much energy is consumed in your worry. Substitute thoughts of Me for your worrying.

Say, "God knows me and loves me. He has confidence in me. Shall I not have confidence in Him? Everything in my life will be easier when I ride with God. Let Him take me where He wills, and I will try not to ask too many questions, for my questions delay me."

Mary, you know how people put their palms together to pray to me, pointing up to Heaven? Their fingers are not in many directions but in one. That is what to do with your thoughts. No more "what if's" or "but's" or all the other ways you hold yourself back.

Now you are an arrow. You know your direction.

Stop saying that it has been hard to find work, hard to make ends meet. Start thinking: With God, it is easy.

See how easy that is?

Laugh at the old Mary who shrouded herself with veils of doubt.

Today's Mary beams like the sun, and she knows full well what she is doing.

Mary rides a horse through an uncharted woods, and she puts her fears aside for the sake of the horse she rides, for Mary is the rider, and she rides well.