The Power of Forgiveness by Sandy Levey-Lundén, Miracle Network 2012
How I Came to Study the Course and the prayer that changed the life of Sandy Levey-Lunden
In 1990, I received an answer to my desperate
request to God for a way to heal pain and suffering and
end separation in relationships, after my husband fell
in love with another woman, 25 years younger than me. I
told God in a prayer that I could live for 30 days more
while my husband was seeing this woman and
while I felt so much confusion, pain and
suffering about it. I had given God 31 days for an answer.
On the 31st day of my prayer, which went on day and night, a
man came into my life, whose wife had fallen in love with
another man at the same place and time as my husband. He
had been my student and promoter of my courses in Sweden.
The love affairs of our partners took place at an International
Peace Conference in Sweden. This man, Mats, joined with me
in my purpose: to find a way out of suffering in relationship.
Mats came carrying A Course in Miracles under his arm and
saying that he wanted to study it. I had seen this book before.
In fact, I had received copies, in the 1980s, from two of my
students. Over the years, I had looked into it and felt that, if I
was to study it, I would have to change everything I thought
and believed. In fact, it seemed that studying these books
would change my whole life. I was not prepared to do that
then. Now, because I was suffering so much, I was ready to
study ACIM. I had also been teaching seminars for ten years
and I needed a deeper way to support people in their
breakthroughs during the crises of relationship break-up.
While I was in Sweden, and Mats and I were in relationship in
a joint purpose, I received the answer to my prayer in the form
of the ‘Clearing Process’. The process matches the principles
of A Course in Miracles and I began to study the Course with
my new partner, as a way of freeing myself and others. In fact,
we left Sweden for four months and went to Hawaii to study
ACIM, night and day, and to apply the learning in a practical
way to our thinking and our lives. ACIM became a passion and
a joining force in our lives.
Forgiveness, in the Course, is not like traditional forgiveness. In
the old way, we forgive by seeing something that we believe
actually happened and attempt to overlook it. In Course-based
forgiveness, we recognize that it is our thoughts about the
situation that we need to forgive. We give everything the
meaning it has for us (W 4) and, therefore, it is our interpretation
of any situation that needs to be released. So, it is about having
“a little willingness” (T 383) to look at our unconscious, limiting
thoughts, feelings and beliefs in order to release them.
The Clearing assists us in removing unconscious and
conscious guilt from the past, changing the way we view
everything — our relationships, finances and success. It is the
most useful tool I have seen for releasing the limiting beliefs
that run our lives, send us into harmful cycles and motivate
self-destructive attitudes and behaviors. The Clearing
Process is a simple, yet profound, tool for speaking our truth
and releasing our ego thoughts, feelings and beliefs. In the
Clearing, we confirm the Holy Spirit’s truth in every
communication. We forgive ourselves, with the Holy Spirit as
witness and guide, for believing what our egos tell us.
Our upsets are simply doorways into old thoughts and old
memories that are in the ‘basement’ of our ego mind. By
releasing them, we can choose a life of joy, instead of suffering.
Choice is the most powerful tool we have in the mind. Our
power to choose determines our experience of the world we
see. Our thoughts, beliefs, feelings and behaviour are the
result of choices we make. Bringing this to awareness allows
us to continue to make better choices.
A Testimonial
The following is a testimonial, in her own words, from Krista, a
woman who has taken my classes. It is an example of how
unconscious beliefs can affect current relationships and how
forgiving those beliefs is the biggest step towards peace.
“When I was eight, I started menstruating and was devastated
when my mother failed to tell me what was happening to my
body. When I was 14, she found out that a teenager at my
school was pregnant and went into a rage, telling me that if I
got pregnant, “over her dead body”” would she let me keep it.
“I will make you have an abortion.” I was not even sexually
active, but had always known I wanted to have a family. Later
in life, I realized I was emotionally and physically paralyzed by
these experiences. I felt that it wasn’t safe for me to bring a
baby into the world, it was bad to be a woman and that I
should reject what was feminine and motherly in me. In my
logical mind, I knew this was not true but, deep down, I felt
unworthy of what I wanted most.
“When I was 30, I was diagnosed with endometriosis, a
condition that causes cells to grow outside the uterus. It
causes internal bleeding, pain and infertility. I scheduled
surgery to have the cells excised, but changed my mind. I
decided to explore my beliefs and childhood experiences first,
to heal those and to see where it would take me. By working
with Sandy Levey-Lunden and ACIM, I forgave my mother for
her behaviour and influence. But, more importantly, I stopped
blaming her and forgave myself for believing — for a decade
— that I was unworthy, damaged and infertile. I freed myself
from learned helplessness and embraced the truth that I am
worthy and lovable and that it was safe for me to have a baby.
Within three months, my husband and I conceived and our
miracle baby, Xavier, was born in 2004.”
Through teaching the ‘Clearing Process’, I have had the joy
and honour of seeing sicknesses healed, marriages saved and
families reunited. Forgiveness lifts the fog from the mirror and we see
our True Selves looking back at us, with the Holy Spirit at our side
— and, thus, we see the world clearer than before. The ‘Clearing
Process’ is True forgiveness. Forgiveness takes diligence and
the will to be happy, rather than to be right about what you
believe about the world and yourself. It ends separation. It is
our most important job — and we get ‘paid’ in rewards of
freedom, peace, joy and love.
Sandy is an Internationally Acclaimed Workshop Leader, Life Coach, Counselor, Creator of The Clearing Process(™), ACIM-Based Real World Results Achiever, Matchmaker, Networking Maven, Proud Grandma, and Dog Lover.
Copyright Sandy Levey Lunden
Office: (360) 527-2796
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