August 1, 2023

Dear Friends,

Last week we talked about living a life of vision, mission and purpose.
This week I would like to focus on the idea of VISION.
VISIONING is aligning in consciousness with our Divine Purpose, which is
to express a greater degree of LOVE in all our activities, missions and focuses. We open ourselves to catch a sense of how that expression of love is suppose
to occur through us. (Adapted from Dr. Kathy Hearn and Dr. Michael Beckwith)

There are times when you may not have a clear idea, or any idea what you want or need, or how to go about strategizing a goal. It is time
to release what you think you know and want, and allow the Greater Spirit within you to bring forth the answers, the ideas, the new concepts of what you need.

Rev. Dr. Michael Beckwith conceived the amazing Agape International Center now in Beverly Hills, with the art of Visioning. He and his supportive friends
spent time at his home Visioning what Agape would and could be. They did not even know the name of the church/center before they started. ‘Agape’ means LOVE.
Now they have over 1900 people at each Sunday Service!

VISIONING is allowing Spirit within to come forth for your highest good. I like to think of it as letting go of the little “i” (what i think i want or i need)
and allowing the greater “I” (the Mighty I AM ‘I’) to come forth with greater good for my life. You and I as emanations of God have all the power and possibilities
at our fingertips, our mind, our heart and our consciousness. We sometimes forget there is a GREATER POWER FOR GOOD IN THE UNIVERSE and WE CAN USE IT
( Dr. Ernest Holmes).

Here are adapted questions from Dr. Michael’s Visioning Process. After each question spend some quiet time with eyes closed, ready and open to receive a new idea.
Write or draw whatever comes to you, whether is seems silly, unusual, unheard of or ridiculous. Do not judge. It helps to have at least one other person there to
Vision with you. Sometimes a group of people each catch part of the Highest Vision and once shared the totality will become amazing.

Set your Purpose.
Open with Prayer, Anchor in Love.
Open up your heart ready to receive.
ASK empowering questions.
•What is seeking to emerge now?
•What is the highest and best trying to happen?
•What is it I have to become?
•Where do I have to grow to stretch?
•What attitudes need to be reshaped?
•What do I have to release? (Like stepping on the ladder, got to let go of the lower rung)
•What talents and gifts do I have which will serve this vision?
•Do I feel centered and aligned with God when I vision this ideal?

I embrace my willingness
I say the Sacred YES.
I am Grateful
I describe it as already here! I Pray it in! I Down load the vision!

I AM ONE With the ONE,
IT IS DONE and COMPLETE
I Am Serving My Highest Calling
The Vision will be GREATER than I can IMAGINE.

Not My Will , but Thy Will Be Done,
Abigail and Steve

Dear Friends,

I received the new August ‘Science of Mind’ magazine with the theme of        “Passion and Purpose.” The articles are excellent, informative with delightful stories
of people finding their purpose and passion when everything seemed to come to a stand still. I want to share some of the writers’ insights with you.

Rev. Sally Robbins, interviewed Cory Booker some years ago and asked him if he wanted to be President of the United States. His answer was enlightening.
He said, ” Most of us focus on a position when we say what we want. That is not a calling. When you say, ‘I want to serve children or the community ,
the country or create a better life for…., that is a calling, a VISION. That is a mission.”

“Living a life on purpose requires us to ask ourselves whether we are living the life we want.“(Sally Robbins) For instance if you decide to take a new job,
is it aligned with your vision, mission, higher purpose or just a job? Will you feel you are joyfully serving? Does it ping your heart strings?
If you have not found the ideal “job” or place of work , then you are probably in, what we call, ‘divine discontent”. It is a good place to be for it allows you to PAUSE a moment, be still, and begin listening to God within you. It is time to think about what you LOVE, what you really want to do and the gifts God has given you: talents, skills, abilities and a vision purpose before you came into this lifetime. It is all there within you, just ready
to burst forth.

Rev. Karen Russo says, “Do what you love and the money will follow.” Attune deeply into what you love, what lights you up. What is your unique passion?”
Life is not about a JOB, Life is about a purposeful vision which becomes your mission. Once you are clear, the opportunities arise out of the blue.

Ernest Holmes said, “There is an irresistible potential pressing against everyone for
self-expression. If we listen, we shall hear it, not as a voice, but as a FEELING, as a divine urge to express.”

Affirm: “I confidently declare and claim that I unfold my highest potentiality and purpose. I live in the flow of my passion – everything that lights me up,
brings me joy and makes my heart sing from the rooftops!”
(Rev. Karen Fry)

Doing What Lights Us Up,
Abigail and Steve

Dear Friends,

I really look forward to my morning cup of coffee. It is the only one I have all day. Lately I have been bringing it out to our balcony to watch the sun rise
over the hills. It is so peaceful and calm. I enjoy reading spiritual material that focuses my mind on all the GOOD/GOD there is. I put on my prayer beads and
sit with my amethyst and clear crystals. I pray for our family, friends, those who are experiencing hardships or health issues and even those who have gone
on to the other side. Inspiration comes to me from multiple sources, scripture, spiritual material, whispering thought and quiet meditation. I sit there realizing
I am being infused with Spirit, with the Divine Presence. I am uplifted and energized. I am clear headed and filled with purpose for the day.
I am so happy during this time, being near, and close to God’s Presence.
One of my favorite verses to ponder is:

“Be still and know that I Am God…(Psalm 46:10)”
Ernest Holmes continues with these words:
I am still in Thy Presence.
I am quiet and peaceful, for I put my trust in Thee.
A great stillness steals over me and a great calm quiets my whole being,
as I realize Thy Presence.
My heart knows of Thee, O Most High within.
It is still in Thy Presence, and it puts its whole confidence in Thee alone.
In Thy Presence I am still.

These beautiful words remind me I am always in the Presence of God for God is always within me. All this with just a morning cup of coffee. 🙂

Take time in the mornings before the busy-ness of the day grabs you or the news on TV and the papers distract you from the truth of your being.
BE the presence of God as you journey through the day. Be confident God has the day handled! Trust, release and let go.

Enjoying my Cuppa with God,
Abigail

Steve and I have been busy creating a “History” of the Poway Interfaith Team which includes a PowerPoint, video and audio tapes of various members of POINT, past and present. We have a great professional videographer who is spending time to make this a wonderful video in order to archive our interfaith history. I have a 45 second piece and I want to share it with you. It is my story of our first “Interfaith Summer Nights” event in 2006.

“Interfaith Summer Nights was a highly successful program where a faith leader was invited to speak about his or her faith, and share cultural dances and/or music as well as food with the community attendees.

After each of the first two or three speakers, I kept nudging my husband Steve, saying, I must be Hindu, Baha’i, Buddhist or Jewish.   I believe all that they are saying. What I heard and realized was the commonality of all faiths in values, virtues and the compassion for human kind. Each one was also saying how they believed in the ONENESS of humanity. I believed all that as well.

The ways in which we celebrate our faith, and belief in God, Allah, Jesus or how you wish to call the Source and Creator of all life may be different in rituals, prayers and even dress, however the Unifying golden thread of LOVE weaves into and through all religions. That is the most important virtue of all!”

After all these years working in the Interfaith World, I still come to the same conclusion. Every faith is valuable, with TRUTH at the base of each religion. Love at the core is meant to weave through each one’s life and reflect this love to others, regardless of faith belief. This idea meshes so easily with New Thought. For we believe in LOVE at the core of our being and the ONENESS of Humanity as well. We are not separate even though on this earth plane we each have a unique body in order to live here. In TRUTH we are all God Emanations and Emissaries, here to honor and respect each other and all beings.

Please remember to mark your calendar for Interfaith Awareness Week,

August 8-10. POINT’s Program which will include the History video, will be Monday, August 7 from 4:00-5:30pm.

Blessings,

Abigail and Steve

Today we are celebrating our country’s freedom! Freedom means many things, and most importantly it means each person has a right to live, love, laugh and pray
the way he or she chooses. I am grateful I live in this country, rather than in any of the war torn countries around the world. The United States has its faults,
and because I feel free, living here, I have the right to speak up when I see something wrong or actions hurting and/or harming another being. I do not have to
worry about police arresting me because I spoke against any actions our government takes. We are free to speak, use our words and write our opinions.

Freedom comes with choice and choice comes with consequences. Our laws are set up to protect the vulnerable. If we choose to hurt another person physically our
consequence may be jail. If we hurt someone verbally, the consequence may be a loss of friendship or the karma of being hurt by words from another person.

Sometimes, a person’s freedom is falsely interrupted due to hate and prejudice.
We hear of racial profiling. We hear about graffiti on churches, mosques, temples, synagogues. We hear of shootings due to hate and prejudice. T
hese actions must be stopped and those committing atrocities against another human must have his or her freedom revoked!

The Declaration of Independence was originally only meant for white people. In 1776, although we were free from British control, black and brown slaves were
not free from the early white American’s control. On July 5th, 1852, abolitionist Frederick Douglass gave a significant keynote address at an event in Rochester,
New York. In his speech, Douglass also challenged the hypocrisy of Independence Day by asking “What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer;
a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim.”

From the Perspective of Black Americans

“The Declaration of Independence is probably the most hypocritical document,” said Dr. Rick Warren, President and Founder of the Black Expo
and RW Media Enterprises. “At one point, they’re declaring freedom and, at another point, they’re enslaving people. It’s an interesting dichotomy.
So many Black people in America have always had an interesting view on the Fourth of July. In our culture, it’s become one of those holidays used more
as a family get together. It’s an opportunity for us to come together rather than a celebration of freedom.”

“The Fourth of July is a national holiday to celebrate this country’s freedom from Britain,” said Rory Kaufman, Chair of the Black American Political Association
of California, Sacramento Chapter. “But, Black people were never free or equal. We were still Three-Fifths in the Constitution of the United States. We were not
considered whole.”
https://www.abc10.com/article/news/community/race-and-culture/what-is-the-fourth-of-july-to-black-americans/103-ef8477c0-66e1-44ad-b82f-1a470cc85b87

Although this may not be enough to compensate for the cruelty done to African Americans, the USA has declared Juneteenth a federal holiday because
on June 19, 1865, enslaved African Americans in Texas were told they were free. A century and a half later, people across the United States continue
to celebrate the day as Black Americans Independence Day.

From the Original People’s perspective.

“In the 1880s, the U.S. government developed what has come to be called the
Religious Crimes Code—regulations at the heart of the federal Office of Indian Affairs’ Code of Indian Offenses that prohibited American Indian ceremonial life.
Enforced on reservations, the code banned Indian dances and feasts, disrupted religious practices, and destroyed or confiscated sacred objects, under threat of
imprisonment and the withholding of treaty rations.
The Secretary of the Interior issued the regulations in 1884, 1894, and 1904, and Indian superintendents and agents implemented them until the mid-1930s. For
50 years, Indian spiritual ceremonies were held in secret or ceased to exist.”

“In response to this policy of cultural and religious suppression, some tribes saw in the 4th of July and the commemoration of American independence a chance
to continue their own important ceremonies. Indian superintendents and agents justified allowing reservations to conduct ceremonies on the 4th as way for Indians
to learn patriotism to the United States and to celebrate the country’s ideals.”

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/national-museum-american-indian/2020/07/01/do-american-indians-celebrate-4th-july/

Our United States of America has come along way and has a long way to go before ALL people are free of hate, prejudice and ill will towards black and brown people, immigrants, refugees, Asians, Native Americans, people of different religions, the LGTBQ+ community and any other group that “appears” different. For in reality we are ALL different and unique in our own way. Our spiritual journey is to REALIZE our ONENESS, CELEBRATE our UNIQUENESS and UNDERSTAND our CONNECTEDNESS in and as the WEB of GOD.

In Oneness, Abgail and Steve

Dear Friends,

Summer is here! Needless to say we finally have our warm weather in the San Diego/Poway area. Summer is also the time so many people are traveling to see friends, family or on an adventure vacation. Steve and I had a whirlwind trip to Omaha to visit family a week and a half ago. We had a great time! In four days we were on 4 planes, in two states with two families. There was so much laughter and so much fun! Although our trip was great, it could have taken a very different turn of events, unplanned and scattered. Have you seen the movie, “Sliding Doors?”

It is a story about “Helen who is fired from her position in a PR company. While returning home, she does not catch the train in the subway. But in another possibility of her life, she catches the train in the subway. The story shows two parallel lives of Helen… The story ponders the idea of the near-misses and what-ifs that occur in our lives and how easily it can change the course, for better or for worse, of our own.”

I believe Steve and I had a sliding door incident while traveling.

A few days before our trip I had this nagging feeling, intuition, that we might have trouble connecting with our plane in Phoenix, going to Omaha. There wasn’t a big window of time to get from one Gate to another. We only had 45 minutes. Needless to say our gates in San Diego kept getting switched and our plane was late in taking off. I thought, “Uh Oh…” What if we don’t make the plane, who knows when the next plane will go to Omaha? What will happen to our luggage? We may not have time to spend the day with our niece and family. Everyone’s plans would definitely change, be unplanned and scattered!

I believe the preferred sliding door scenario of “catching” the connecting flight was based on several things.

1.PRAYER

Before any trip, I always sit down and write out a Prayer Treatment for exactly how I wish the trip would go from the time the Uber arrives to the time we actually get home. I write it, I vision it, then I surrender it to God for the highest good of all

2.Purchasing Seats at the front of the San Diego flight

Steve and I have decided our plane trips will be comfortable so we opted to pay more to sit close to the front of the plane. When our letter and number were called, we were able to secure the very first two seats on the plane.

Best decision ever! We arrived late in Phoenix and once we got off the plane, we had maybe 10 minutes to get to the gate before it took off. I practically ran and kept watching Steve to be sure he could keep up. Since the connecting gate was 1/4 mile away I started to go faster and told Steve I would make then hold the plane!

3.Angel in a Captains uniform came in from nowhere.

God provides help exactly when we need it! On my way a pilot asked if he could help me. I said I am looking for B5 gate. He told me to take a right and all the way down. I started to sprint and heard the speaker say, “B5 gate is closing and all are on board.” Luckily when I got to the gate, the door was still open. I told the lady taking tickets, our San Diego plane was late and we are here. I told her my husband Steve was coming and cannot run due to a stroke. She was kind and we waited still Steve got there. We both went down the ramp and the door closed behind us. Needless to say                  WE MADE THE PLANE! All the “What ifs…” no longer mattered.

Helen in one scenario did not catch her train because a child delayed her by stepping in front of her. Our late flight almost stopped us from our connecting flight. What was the difference here?

FIRST and foremost was PRAYER!!!! I truly believe the Prayer, Vision, and Faith in God made our destiny’s outcome Good, good and very good.

Without the prayer, I do not believe we would have made it. Every step along the way was guidance. I believe God helped us with the decision to purchase better tickets. I believe the front 2 seats were meant for us. I believe the angel pilot helped me know exactly where to go and not waste time looking at Gate signs. ALL was in DIVINE ORDER and TIMING due to Prayer!

On your TRIPS and VACATIONS remember to PRAY and put GOD FIRST and in charge. Visualize what you want to happen, so the energy is out there waiting to manifest for your highest good!

Abigail and Steve

Dear Friends,

It is PRIDE month, celebrating the LGTBQ community, and I was asked to write an article for the Opinion Section of the San Diego Union Tribune.
I included how important it is for us to love, accept and stand up for ALL people, for we are all children of God.
Here is the article.

“I am the executive director of the Poway Interfaith Team (POINT), which has been a nonprofit since 2006.
POINT has individual and faith organization memberships, from all over the San Diego County. Members are people from many different faiths,
backgrounds and cultures. They are people of color, and people who are in the LGTBQ community. We are an interfaith organization which recognizes
the beauty and importance of a wide variety of people working, playing, and enjoying meals together. Our uniqueness is what benefits POINT and the
community as well as the programs we organize such as our annual Interfaith Thanksgiving Services, Interfaith Harmony Breakfasts, Interfaith Awareness Week,
and other events and symposiums co-hosted with different organizations. We all believe our differences and similarities are what make us strong,
compassionate, and effective. We honor each one’s strengths and help each other’s weaknesses.

Many POINT members show up to support faith groups that have been victimized by anti-Semitic actions, such as graffiti and/or harm to people’s lives.
We have formed prayer circles and prayer vigils for our Muslim, Sikh and Jewish brothers and sisters who were victimized in their homes and places of worship.
We have showed up at press conferences and marches for those who need our support. We are appalled by people who display such criminal behaviors.

I speak for myself and for many other people in POINT about how shocked and dismayed we are by the recent outlandish behaviors of people in political power
who are trying to de-evolve us as human beings. Human beings are not just White Anglo Saxon Protestant. Human beings are uniquely diverse in faith, culture,
ethnicity, race, nationality, gender and sexual preference. Those who are trying to stop diversity education, such as the Carlsbad council members and their
3-2 vote on flags at city hall, and the Texas leaders banning education on diversity equity and inclusion, is cruelly sending us back to the days of Nazi Germany.
Our children are suffering and do not feel safe in their skin, at home or at school. The White nationalist philosophy is infiltrating our country at all levels.

This has got to stop! We must open our eyes, and recognize this as an in-home terrorist activity.

As a New Thought minister, I believe in the unity of all life, and that the highest God and the innermost God is one God.
“Each person is an individualization of Spirit/God and that all people are individualizations of the one Spirit. God is Divinity made visible.”
(Quote from Dr. Ernest Holmes) Every man, woman, child regardless of faith, color, culture, ethnicity, transgender or gender identification are all
connected by the essence of God within. There is no other, there is only one (God) expressing in different forms.

I believe in a God of love, compassion, and nonjudgment. I believe God created us to be uniquely different for the purpose of our spiritual growth
to learn how to love and serve God, by loving and serving all people, all faiths, all nationalities, all cultures, all ethnicities, all races,
all genders and all people including the LGBTQ community. Love is love and who we choose to love is our choice on Earth. Let us judge not and condemn not; l
et us love with open hearts and minds. We are here to serve others, love others, find compassion and joy in life. It is time we devote our time to those values
and qualities.

Rev. Dr. Abigail Albert
Executive Director of the Poway Interfaith Team (POINT)”

Dear Friends,

Do you remember the nursery rhyme, “Humpty Dumpty”? It is a sad poem saying Humpty could not be put together again after falling off the wall.
I have a Positively Mother Goose nursery rhyme book by Dianne & Julia Loomans and Karen Kolberg. I plan to read these lovely rhymes to our granddaughter.
Many of the original nursery rhymes were scary and negative. This new book is delightful. Here is the Humpty Dumpty rhyme.

“Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall:
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men
Helped to put Humpty together again.”

In the book there is a cute picture of Humpty as a jigsaw puzzle. I thought of myself and all the pieces of my life and how with time and patience
every piece brought me to my understanding and purpose in life. I would not be who I am without the journey of all those jigsaw experiences. For example,
one puzzle piece of my life was a divorce. Although it was an emotional draining time, it was necessary to start me on my journey to discover New Thought.
Once the New Thought piece was in place, it brought be to an AGNT (Association for Global New Thought) conference where I met Steve.
Once the Steve piece was in place, our journey and purpose led us to the Interfaith Movement, and the founding of POINT Poway Interfaith Team.
There are more puzzle pieces to come, and I am excited for them to be in my life. Each part completes the whole. All glued together with love.❤

Humpty -Symbolizes you and me.
Fall – We all have fallen in faith, health, hope, dreams, crisis’s.
King’s horses and men – God as Love, in and though each of us and others, have brought us the guidance, the purpose, the answers, the hope, the health,
the solutions to all situations in our lives.
Each helped to put the pieces back together again as we recognize our original wholeness in, as and of God.

Life is like a jigsaw puzzle. Each piece, whether we label it good or bad, is necessary for our spiritual growth, understanding and contribution to the whole.
LOVE is the glue necessary for all the pieces to be in place. We can be grateful and value each piece of our life puzzle for each piece is GOD in action,
as we learn and become self realized in our lives.

Everything you have experienced has been necessary to bring you to where you are today!
Which puzzle pieces are in your life?
Can you recognize how each piece was important in your life journey?
What have you learned from each piece to create the Wonderful You?

All of God’s Love brought us together again,
Abigail and Steve

How many times have your heard the phrase, “Don’t rock the boat?”
It may have been when you challenged someone’s opinion or authority, or about to make another person mad and heard your mother, friend or colleague say,
“Don’t rock the boat!” We have all been in situations where something was unsettling or wrong. In fact we have a sacred duty to rock the boat if we see an
injustice happening. The waves will just get bigger and bigger if we do not stand up and say our truth and/or our peace.

When turmoil hits, where do we go to ease the waves of fear, devastation, crisis and/or sorrow? We go to GOD. We go to the still quiet voice and
presence within us that is our anchor in life. God within quiets us, brings us to a place of peace and understanding when everything around us is twirling.
God brings forth the words we need to say and the way we need to be in any situation.

Perhaps your life is steady right now. If so, you have the opportunity to be someone else’s anchor in prayer and meditation. We have several friends
who are going through a life and health challenge right now. Our prayers are anchored in God, in the Truth of their being. Each one is a child and a
Divine Spark of God endowed with all the innate and inherent attributes of God.
Each one is already whole, perfect, complete in their God being. We see this for them when they cannot see it for themselves. I understand this principle
because when I was going through a health challenge and terrible pain last year and landed in the hospital, I could not effectively pray for myself. I had to
allow others to anchor in GOD for me. And it worked!

BE the Anchor for someone else today at work, at home, with a friend or family member. Be the TRUTH SAYER. When you need an anchor,
allow others to be the anchor and truth sayer for you. Pray and know God as the ONE and only Truth in you, as you because God IS you.

Anchoring in God,
Abigail and Steve