I Will Step Back and Let God Lead the Way
by Nancy Bowers, RScP
“I will step back and let Him lead the way.” ~ Lesson 155, A Course in Miracles
There is but Love and fear. These are the two emotions at the heart of all human interactions. I find that when I am connected to faith, when I feel safe in the arms of God, that love is my guiding compass. When I have doubts, when I feel some negative emotion that arouses anxiety and stresses me out, fear is always at the root of it in one form or another. I am listening to ego rather than the Holy Spirit. I am trying to control. I am attempting to take the reins from God and run the show myself. A Course in Miracles asks, “Who would attempt to fly with the tiny wings of a sparrow when the mighty power of an eagle has been given him? And who would place his faith in the shabby offerings of the ego when the gifts of God are laid before him?”
As I have grow deeper in my faith and have learned to differentiate which voice I am listening to, I have become less afraid of relinquishing control. I have learned to trust God. I have learned that it is easier to step back and let God lead the way. I do this by choosing love over fear. I choose love. It is a conscious choice. This means not trying to make another wrong if I disagree. It means relinquishing judgment, letting go of condemnation. It means getting quiet and listening to the Voice for Love, aka the Holy Spirit, and silently asking, “What would you have me do?”
This is a prayer for returning to Love and letting go of fear:
God is Good. Spirit is Kind and Compassionate. Giving and Generous. Understanding and Supportive. God is everything I need. And I know, I’ve come to realize that there is no separation between me and that Divine Essence, that Universal Loving Energy that I term God. I am made of God-stuff and so is everyone else. Everyone. Absolutely everyone. Even the people that rub me the wrong way. Even the people I disagree with, the ones that I don’t understand, the ones I think or stupid or crazy, or politically challenged. We are all one in the Sonship.
Knowing this, I step back and let God lead the way. I pause and ask myself, my Self, am I teaching only love? I ask for guidance and when if I am not sure (I’ve allowed fear and doubt to enter the room!), I wait. I affirm that when I need to know I will because God always has my back. I declare that I am only here to be truly helpful. It doesn’t matter who agrees or disagrees with me. It doesn’t matter if I understand or think I understand what is happening, it matters only that I trust in God. I have faith that all that is happening is for my good. There is nothing to fear. I step into the Oneness. I allow God’s loving embrace to guide me back the seeming obstacles. There are no obstacles except in my own mind. My only problem is that I have temporarily forgotten the truth of who I am. I have temporarily forgotten the truth of a brother or sister. I have been listening to the voice of the ego rather than the Voice for God. I repeat this prayer from Lesson 233 in A Course in Miracles:
“1 Father, I give You all my thoughts today. I would have none of mine. In place of them, give me Your Own. I give You all my acts as well, that I may do Your Will instead of seeking goals which cannot be obtained, and wasting time in vain imaginings. Today I come to You. I will step back and merely follow You. Be You the Guide, and I the follower who questions not the wisdom of the Infinite, nor Love whose tenderness I cannot comprehend, but which is yet Your perfect gift to me.”
I am so grateful for this guidance. So grateful that I don’t need to figure out what anything means or try to control anything. I am so grateful that Oneness is always the answer. I bask in the Love of the Divine knowing is is eternally present and surrounds me and all my brothers constantly. I rest is that solace, happy it is mine for the asking. Thank you, thank you, thank you, God!
Then I let go. I step back and let God lead the way. Forever and always. And so it is. Amen.