Back in 2000, when I realized I had to get a divorce, again, my husband asked if we could go to couple’s counseling.  I said yes.  My acupuncturist at the time gave me the name of a wonderful therapist, and we went to her.   Trouble was, it was very clear right from the start that therapy was not the answer, at least not as a couple.  I continued seeing Cate by myself, though.  Cate was also the person who eventually recommended Hoffman to me, which as you know if you read my posts about my experiences doing the Process, was life altering and life saving for me.  Anyway, I was just reading through my journal from the fall of 2000, looking for specifics about when exactly Cate recommended the “Conversations With God” series of books.  I found two references to it in my journal, but nothing more than that.  I do know that, although she told me about the books in November, after I returned from doing the Process in Wisconsin, I did not actually read the first one until later in December.

I came out to California to look for a place to live, and had no luck.  I needed a very specific house, with hardwood floors, a fenced yard, a garage, etc.  Rental properties in Los Angeles were so different from those in Chicago, so much more expensive, and Chicago in not an inexpensive city.  So after a week of searching, I went back to Chicago empty-handed, so to speak.  Then I read “Conversations With God,” and my whole outlook and way of speaking to myself changed.  Let me back up a minute here before I explain just how impactful the book was.  If you had asked me at any point in my life if I believed in God, my answer would have been a resounding NO!  I had had unpleasant experiences with religion as a teenager and had never seen anything good about it.  When I finally read CWG, Book 1, I suddenly understood why I had such a negative view of God and religion.  I realized that I did believe in God, just not in a vindictive, mean God, which was my understanding of what/who God was up to that point.  It was truly a life-changing book for me, and when I came back out to Los Angeles in January of 2001 to look again for a house, I found what I was looking for.  When I made the trip in December, I kept saying, ‘I hope I find a house.’  After reading CWG, I understood I had been ‘asking’ in the wrong way.  For the second trip, I said, ‘thank you for my new home.’  I knew I would be shown exactly what I needed, at a price that I could afford, in an area I wanted to be.  I KNEW!  And that’s what made the difference.  What I learned from CWG, and many subsequent books since, was it is all in the way we ask for or intend things in our lives.  In my daily prayers, I never ask for anything.  I simply thank God for whatever it is, as if it is already here.  So instead, as an example, of saying, ‘Please send me more work,’ I say, ‘thank You for all the great jobs I have.’  Because even if I don’t have any work at that moment, I know more is on the way.  And why was this such a life-changer for me?  Because right from the start it worked!  And continues to each and every day.

I went on to read CWG, Book 2 and Book 3, and have since read and listened to all 3 numerous times since.  I highly recommend them, especially if you have a ‘problem’ with organized religion or the concept of God.  They just made sense to me in a way that nothing else, to that point, ever had.  In the last few months, I have also listened to and/or read “The New Revelations,” “Communion With God,” “What God Said,” and “Friendship With God.”  I loved each one, though I think my favorite with always remain the first one I ever read, “Conversations With God, Book 1.”