From Chapter 2 of The Ripple Effect
I was always looking for the missing pieces in my life, not knowing what it was that was missing...
A great awakening has begun. People around the world are opening their eyes to their own spiritual natures. They are beginning to see who they truly are and what they have always been—beings with eternal pasts and glorious futures. In my near death experience I was told the Awakening would happen soon, and I am deeply grateful that Embraced By The Light and The Awakening Heart have played a part in it. Many readers have written suggesting that this was my mission in life—to help create this Awakening through my books and lectures. I can now accept this as part of my mission, but I know that my entire mission is not complete; Jesus promised me that I would be taken home as soon as it was done. As long as there is life, God wants us to do more.
Our individual missions are important, whether we are to reach out to millions or, like the drunken man I saw in my experience, to reach only one. God may make our missions known to us, or he may not. Regardless, they are still our works to be done—works we helped plan and agreed to perform before we came here.
Betty,
If we are here to love fully, to expand and to magnify our lives, what is the purpose? How will these things help or hinder us on the other side? Were we not content to stay in heaven with God and be near him? Why would we choose to be here when we could be safe and happy in heaven with God and all our friends?
Searching for meaning in this life is often painful, especially when experiencing a tragedy or crisis. I am often asked why, if we already had the answers in our prior existence, do we have to come to earth to search for them? The following letter provides a few answers to these universal questions.
I first read your book about a year ago, and I've referred to it frequently ever since. It has meant so much to me and my family. I am profoundly grateful to you and others who have been willing to be open and generous in sharing messages of comfort and hope from the "other side."
So many things in your book touch me deeply because of the specific trials and heartaches I have had. The things you were taught in the spirit world about the meaning and purposes of this school we call mortality have reinforced beliefs I already held. They opened the way for me to understand much more deeply how we exercised our free agency in designing our individual mortal courses of study. (I sometimes say, "Why didn't I just sign up for French?!") This fuller understanding is very sustaining as I struggle to meet my life's challenges. It helps me to be more truly patient and to appreciate the soul's progress—which is often unrelated to merely worldly or easily visible change and accomplishment.
I also feel less guarded about loving where there is risk of much pain. I remember you saying in a television interview that the rose you communed with in the heavenly garden grew when you loved it. You related that principle to each of us. The truth the heart knows—so much more readily than the mind!—is exquisitely simple, isn't it? And so beautiful! We only fear to trust that truth because we wish for pain-free lives. But in fact pain is a teacher without compare, when we will accept its lessons. I'm not suggesting we seek pain—heaven forbid! But if we suffer because we love, then the purpose is worth the sacrifice. Christ is our Great Example in this, isn't he?—as he is in all things good.
I can scarcely think about your loving reunion with our Savior, and your feelings of being home at last, without being filled with longing and homesickness myself. But your experience helps me feel confident of his perfect love. Your book also helps me know that I'm still here—in a place that isn't my home—because I have not yet completed my mortal mission, and I would want to go home without completing it.
Leaving the peace and security of heaven to come the earth was a willing sacrifice on our part. We agreed to the sacrifice for the same reasons we spend thousands of dollars and years of effort to graduate from college. And as long as we have life here, we are learning, our spirits are growing, and we are coming closer to the divine, even by the things we suffer. We may not always know what to do in our lives, we may be troubled and in pain, but be assured, we are here for divine purposes. And the greatest divine purpose of all is to love. Even when we are confused or imprisoned by choices we have made, we can always learn to love.
Although I cannot imagine what I am to do, I can love, and I will continue to think positively, and this may help me with my purpose. No longer does life look routine, but filled with great possibilities. I may never know if I accomplished my goal—like the drunken man in Embraced By The Light—but I understand that we are all here for a reason.
Yes, each one of us came to earth on a personal mission to be loved or to give love. We are to learn the value and price of love. Other parts of our mission include learning patience, self-discipline, and humility. These attributes are parts of love. I saw in heaven that those spirits who were to become slaves on earth knew it before coming. I understood that they may have chosen to teach compassion or to learn humility in this life, even though it would come in such a degrading way. They volunteered for their terrible stations in life, sacrificing much else they might have accomplished for the sake of a deeper spiritual growth born of the offenses they would suffer. I recall Christ's words in the New Testament: "Woe unto the world because of offenses! for it must needs be that offenses come; but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh!" (Matthew 18:7.) It is not God's will that we enslave one another, or beat or kill or hurt one another. But the facts of this life are known to God before they happen, and in his fore-knowledge he helps us plan those missions in life that best meet our needs. Surely there are more positive, more noble ways to teach compassion or to learn humility than through slavery, but slavery is what mankind made available to God to work with on earth. Children are born—some into slavery, some into wars, some into starvation—but all came with a mission to fulfill.
Our sufferings come not only with a price, but with a reward. How far will we grow in God's love through the benefit of our trials? Some may be here to break a family's cycle of addiction. Others, to support a family member or friend in their difficult mission. Some come to earth only briefly, but in their few minutes or hours may touch a life for eternity.
One reader writes:
If we all have a mission, why do some of us die through murder or accident at an early age? What mission could a six-month-old have fulfilled?
Babies and young children embody unconditional love. Having not yet been conditioned to fear, they trust absolutely, allowing themselves to be cared for, or hurt, by those with power over them. For some spirits, to surrender all their love unconditionally in the arms of a loving parent is all that is required. After sharing their innocence and pure love briefly, they are taken home. Other spirits may be here to assist another child at a particular point in its life. Some may come only to gain bodies in order to provide organs which allow other children to fulfill their missions. Our purposes are countless but always include serving one another and glorifying God.
I received a phone call from a bereaved mother of an eighteen-year-old son. After graduating from high school he had enthusiastically prepared for the ministry. She said he had often set an example for his peers, showing them how to behave as the Lord would want them to. He had told his mother his graduation would come and go quickly, that his remaining time with her would be short and they should treasure it. She had not realized how true his words were. Two weeks after his graduation, in an early-morning drive home from a friend's house, he was killed by a drunk driver. His mother now understood with a broken heart that the ministry he had prepared for was of a higher order—service to our Heavenly Father and to his children in the spirit world. A few months later, the mother learned that the man who had killed her son was seen clutching a Bible in his cell, crying in grief. It seemed God used the return of her son to Him to fill another purpose for Him as well.
Even in our finite awareness we can see how the young man completed his mission in his last few weeks. His spirit was in tune with God's as he prepared himself for his transfer into the spirit world. Then, being in tune, he helped prepare his mother for his departure. And, in giving of his life, he gave of himself two-fold. First, he gave himself back to his Heavenly Father, and two, he helped bring a soul, the drunken man, to his knees in humility before his Creator. Even as Christ gave of himself that others might live, this young man blessed another in his final moments on earth. We are entering a period of difficult but wonderful changes soon to take place in the world. During this time God will call home many elite spirits—such as this young man—to better serve us from there.
Here's a letter illustrating that we may never know who we are called to help in this life:
For many years I have struggled with low self-esteem. While I have made a lot of progress from time to time, I have episodes where I still feel very unlovable. One day, in terrible emotional pain I cried out to God in prayer. I asked him to take this cross from me and to help me to love myself. Prior to this cry for help, I had been invited to the wedding of a person I knew from high school We hadn't been real close in recent years, so I kind of wondered why I had been invited. I had a feeling, though, that there was a reason I should go. Well, that reason appeared in the form of two people who, quite out of the blue, shared with me the reasons why they felt I was a wonderful person. I was deeply touched by their comments, particularly from a person I had hardly seen or spoken to in twelve years. Suddenly I remembered my prayer! I truly believe God used these people as his "conduits." He spoke through them to remind me of my worth as a person and of his deep, abiding love for me. What is even more amazing is that he had all this planned out for me before I even asked for his help.
Every encounter we have, even if brief and seemingly unimportant, may have more significance than we know. A brief encounter may begin a greater ripple that reaches its intended purpose years later. Everyone who comes into our lives may be part of our mission, and we, a part of theirs. Understanding this can gives meaning to the common events of life. By being positive and helpful towards others, even in casual moments, we can make the most of our time on earth.
Occasionally we find people who seem to know the chief purposes for their lives. Some seem to know from childhood. Others discover it later. Here's a letter from a high school junior who knows her mission is to be an actress:
It makes me happy just thinking about it. I pray to God with all my heart and soul for his guidance to assist me in making people happy in my own little way. Nothing has happened yet, but I have a hopeful feeling that something is going to. Deep down I know my prayers are being answered.
She may be right. One way to discern if we are on the correct path is that it brings us great joy and fulfillment. This is how one third-grade teacher in a Catholic school came to realize the nature of her mission:
I truly believe that my mission on earth is teaching the young children about the path they need to follow to be with Jesus, how they need to treat others kindly and do good deeds for others, and how we need to love others with all of our hearts. I couldn't imagine living on this earth without teaching children about Jesus and God and the Holy Spirit. The gleam in the eyes of the children I teach is the reason for my mission. Carrying on the message of God to future generations is my gift to God.
For some, the knowledge of their mission, or one of their missions, is more intuitive. It comes to them as a "knowing" or a glimpse of the future. A man now retired from the air force wrote this about his mission:
I want to say thank you for putting my life in perspective. I was not sure what I was to accomplish upon my retirement. However, I felt that whatever it was, I knew it would be for God. This premonition was because of some deep-set knowledge of my destiny.
Because our spirits remember the plan we chose for this life, we are often drawn to people or situations that impact us in important ways. This is often the force behind "chance" encounters. I was told there are no coincidences. However, making the most of these opportunities is up to us as we exercise our free will.
There is nothing wrong with not knowing our missions. We are not always meant to know. Some people seem preoccupied with trying to figure out their mission and they waste valuable time. Instead, they should live into their purpose by following their hearts. I was told it is best to follow God's promptings, to be flexible and moldable. He can make better use of our lives that way. Each person's life is multi-faceted, and we should trust the power of God and his angels to give us every opportunity we need to succeed. Our part is to seek to improve ourselves and, above all, to love others more fully. By praying for guidance and letting love rule our hearts and minds each day, we will eventually accomplish our many purposes.
One woman shares her insights this way:
My life now has a sense of purpose, although I am unsure, as yet, what that is. My outlook has changed overnight. I have always believed God loved me. But even with this knowledge of his love, I have been focusing on negative things, like what I haven't accomplished. Someone recently told me to be more positive in my life and think about what good I have done, and you have reinforced this. I know it's a message from God. I am putting my energies into being a cheerful, giving and loving person, and asking for his direction in my life. My children are grown—they've turned out wonderfully—and now it's time to move into another capacity. Hopefully, I will know what it is when the time comes.
God desires that we accomplish our missions and return to him spiritually stronger than when we left. But freewill causes many people to spend their lives missing the very opportunities they chose in the pre-mortal life. Some are distracted by materialism and other worldly appetites. Some let themselves be ruled by fear or negativity—two of Satan's greatest tools. And if we fail to love as we should, we will certainly fail in our greatest mission—to mature into beings who are more like God. But who hasn't failed in some way? We all fail in some way every day.
One reader from Chicago asked:
Betty,
If a person fails at his earthly mission and dies, will the spirit receive another chance to grow? And where? With all the struggles on earth, I would imagine that there are many, many humans who never realize their potential or actualize their life mission.
Even failing is a part of our mission. It brings valuable experience and knowledge that facilitates our growth. We need to be careful in judging whether or not someone has fulfilled his mission. A person who appears to be failing may in fact be learning more quickly than a person who appears successful. Jesus knows which weaknesses we come with and which experiences we require for spiritual growth. The young man who sent the following letter faced obstacles most will never see. Some may judge him as "failing" in life. But as we read, we may set judgment aside when we see his enormous progress. We may also reevaluate our feelings about how difficult our own lives have been.
Betty,
Let me tell you a little bit about myself and why your book interested me so much. I was thirteen before I realized we were the poorest people in the ghetto. I watched my father and mother use drugs every day and listen to them tell me how I'd never amount to anything. I was the oldest of four children. After the drugs, my parents would fight everyday. My father would beat my mother, and then he'd get on his motorcycle and leave. My mother would run outside yelling, "I hope you get on your motorcycle and die!"
Over the next three years I got tired of the verbal and physical abuse. At the age of sixteen, I ran away from home. I went to a nearby park and slept. I remember my mother laughing as I walked out the door, saying, "You'll be back. You don't have anywhere else to go." The park was dark and scary. I'd never prayed in my life, but I prayed then. I was one of the top athletes in the state and was too ashamed to ask for anyone's help. I went to school every day. That's where I got my meals and my showers.
Before I knew it, school was out and it was summertime. The first couple weeks were hard because I had no money. My little brothers and sisters would sneak me food down to the park, but when my parents found out they put a stop to it. I had never stolen anything in my life, but I was starving. I went into a store and put a box of Little Debbies in my shirt. A security guard grabbed my arm and took the cakes out of my shirt. He yelled, "Get out of here, you thief!" I was so embarrassed I walked out trying to pretend he was speaking to someone else. I went for two days without eating, but I was still praying. After the third day, I decided to steal again. I was so hungry I didn't care if I got caught. I just prayed to God that I wouldn't. I was almost to the store when I looked down and saw a book of food stamps. I ate good the whole summer, but I didn't thank God.
School started again and I was still too ashamed to tell my basketball coach I was sleeping in the park. When it was real cold outside I'd sleep in the restroom. I eventually caught pneumonia and spent three days in the hospital. On another occasion a bad storm came up with freezing rain, and I decided to walk to try to stay warm. I was praying that it would stop raining when a car pulled up beside me. A young lady was driving. She said, "Get in, Steve." My name wasn't Steve but I got in anyway. She said, "Steve, what are you doing out here in the rain? You'll get sick." I said, "I got mad at my mother and ran away from home." She asked me if I was hungry, and I said yes, so we went to a pancake house. After we ate she said, "My parents are out of town for a week. You can stay at our house." Being young, you know the first thing I thought of, but it wasn't like that at all. I ate and slept good for the next week, and then it was time to go. I thanked her but I felt an obligation to tell her who I was, that I wasn't Steve. She just stood there as I spilled my guts. She smiled and said, "I know you're not Steve. I knew that when you sat in the car, but God said you needed my help." Still, I continued to ignore God's presence.
I didn't attend my high school graduation, although I graduated with honors. I got a football scholarship to a university. My first month there my thirteen-year-old sister called me and said she was pregnant. I told her I'd get the money for her to have an abortion so my parents wouldn't find out. It took me two weeks to get it, and I planned to leave that Friday to take my sister to get it done. But on Wednesday, I received a phone call from her saying, "Daddy was killed in a motorcycle accident after he and Momma had their usual fight. He lost control of his motorcycle and ran into a tree." After that, I told my sister if she'd have the baby, I'd take care of it. I quit school and came back home and got a job.
My two little brothers always wanted to follow me. I'd always tell them no and they would cry. One brother was fourteen and the other was eleven. They were too young to be with, and I was busy chasing girls. Over the next few years everything went well. I noticed all of my brother's friends around, but I didn't pay any attention to the clothing they were wearing. I realized not long after that one of my brothers was in a gang. I stopped speaking to him completely. I'd just go see my youngest brother. He was my baby.
At this time I was working at a mental health facility in the adolescent department. I was on my way home when I got a call on my car phone. It was my sister, and she told me that my bother had just got shot. I kept driving, thinking that's what he gets for being in a gang. Then my phone rang again. This time it was my brother on the phone. He told me it was my baby brother who had been shot. I drove home hoping he would be all right. When I got there the paramedics were pumping his heart. He was a fifteen-year-old victim of a drive-by shooting.
For the next three years I blamed my other brother for our baby brother's death. Now I was working in the sheriff's department and making good money, legally and illegally. I was talking to a kid one day about why he joined a gang. He said, "My big brother never wanted to spend any time with me, so I picked my friends. They were just into the wrong things." That night I prayed because I knew it was just as much my fault about my baby brother's death as it was my other brother's. I called my brother the next day and told him to come over to my house. I told him I felt it was just as much my fault and I didn't blame him. We cried together and he told me how he had prayed for the day I could forgive him. Through my family's adversities, we are as close as ever. And my little niece is now ten and I love her to death. I'm glad we made the decision against abortion.
I've never used drugs, but I've sold plenty. I left the sheriff's department and started working at a treatment center, and that's where I was arrested. In the two years I've been locked up, all my buddies who were involved in selling drugs have received life in prison. And many are dead from drug-related violence. I wonder where I'd be if God hadn't saved me. I thought God punished me when I was sent to jail, but actually he saved my life. Thank you and God bless you.
The well-known saying comes to mind: "There, but for the grace of God, go I." Who can say they would have done differently if they had been born into this young man's family? What if God had placed your spirit into his body? Would you have run away from home? Would you have stolen? Would you have sold drugs? As we seek our purpose in life, I pray that we do it in the Lord. That we are very careful in judging the hearts of others. No one knows what God wills for each of his children. No one can judge character or intent but him.
If we could glimpse the mind of God, the truth about some people's missions would absolutely amaze us. For years a renowned scientist named Charles Camp debated religious leaders on the radio. He advocated the facts of science as opposed to the concepts of Creationism. Over the years he lost faith in God and became known as an outspoken and articulate atheist. Then, as he lay dying in a hospital, all that changed. He discovered the beauty and intricacy of God's plan for him. He was astounded that—despite his atheism—God had been using him all along for His loving purposes.
Here, Charles Camp's widow, Joanna Camp, shares the story:
Dear Mrs. Eadie:
My husband died in 1975. Before his actual death, his doctors pronounced him dead three times. They were astonished to witness his return to life each time with a clear mind and filled with energy, even though he was dying of terminal cancer and old age. At the hospital, the nurses began to call him among themselves "the man who wouldn't die." All this is recorded in the hospital records.
During the times he was dead, my husband experienced things, some of which were exactly as you wrote about in your book.
Charles was a professor at the University of California at Berkeley and was written up as the "father of paleontology." For years he taught medical students. When the subject of near-death experiences would come up in class, Charles would explain that there is no life beyond the grave, that everything ends there, that the body gradually changes to become nourishment for other forms of life. The experience of going through a dark tunnel to see "God" at the end as a bright light was just an illusion. For when the body is undergoing the hard stress of dying, he said, certain chemical reactions are triggered in the brain, and this is nature's way of providing ease from the stress, nothing more. So imagine his great surprise when he found himself separated from his physical body at the hospital. He told me that he began to analyze everything carefully, taking nothing for granted. But soon he had to admit to himself, that this was certainly not an illusion. He'd never felt more alive! All of his many senses seemed to surface, to come alive in him, he said.
Next he found himself in the dark tunnel, before the bright light and God! God received him with the same unconditional love that you experienced, Mrs. Eadie. He said his entire body vibrated with God's wonderful love. From head to toe, God's love flooded him, and once you have experienced God's love, he said, you'll want to remain forever by his side, never to be far from his love ever again. He learned that though he had not believed in God on earth, God believed in him! God had loved him tremendously, since the very beginning.
Charles had been an atheist on earth, but he was not a person who fought good, nor was he against humanity. He was known for his genuine humility, gentleness of spirit and his great love for people. His goal in life had been to aid humanity in any way possible, to help mankind evolve and get on the right path mentally. He dedicated his life to help remove some of the ugly racial and religious prejudices. For seventeen years Charles was a spokesman for the university and a radio debater. His job was to deal with the radical preachers who were constantly challenging the science departments of the nations' universities, demanding that they shut down or teach science only according to the Bible—or according to their own interpretations of it.
Charles was well prepared for this. He had studied the Bible for many years in the original languages. He said his aim was to make the church leaders realize how far they had strayed from the true master that they claimed to follow: Jesus Christ. Charles soon gained great fame for this, but because of the dark works found in the Christian churches then, he turned further and further away from the Bible—and he eventually wanted no part of the God that these churches followed.
Then, when he died and stood before God's bright light in heaven, he learned this had been his major mission on earth—to debate with religious leaders who were taking the world into a dark path. He learned that the only way he could do this was as a scientist! He was reminded that Jesus Christ came to earth to chastise the religious leaders of his time, who were also leading their people in the wrong path.
Who would ever have believed that Berkeley's famous atheist would be the person to teach me about God! And who would have believed I would look deeply into the eyes of an atheist to see the spirit of Christ in those eyes! Life has never ceased to amaze me.
It can take a lifetime of following our own hearts before learning that we've indeed been doing what God sent us to do in the first place. Charles Camp reminds me of Saul in the Bible. What passionate men! They knew what they believed, and they taught it with all their hearts. God can especially use people who throw themselves passionately into what they love, who walk forward confidently committed to a cause.
Our life is like a river. The destination is set, but the method of our journeying is up to us. We can cruise down the middle of the river at top speed, or we can hug the shore and spin around in eddies. We can crash over rapids or chart a safer path between obstacles. We can slum along the bottom in the mire and slime of sediment, or we can glide along the sparkling surface where the air is clean. The river is ours from birth to death. How we'll navigate it is determined by the hundreds of small choices we make each day.
To discover our mission in life we must see challenges as opportunities for growth and then face them head on. Each challenge measures our strengths and progress. Even when trials cause pain or sorrow, we must look for new lessons in the pain and ask God for the power to learn and to grow from it. Suffering focuses our attention on what matters most, and with God's help, we can strengthen our spirits by learning patience, tolerance and love. These lessons learned, we become co-navigators with God. But when unlearned, we go into the eddies, spinning around, making little progress, even blaming God for our unremitting suffering.
One reader wrote:
Betty,
Life just seems so hard—so demanding—I can't keep up. Is this it? Can I not expect any more? Is my total existence here just to complete a mission? I'm not to have any happiness, just wait for the job to be up so I can "check out?"
This person despairs of ever finding joy. He's in a whirlpool, sinking to the troubled bottom where frigid darkness clutches him. He can wait there in misery until his air runs out, or, like the young man in prison, he can swim up to the surface and enjoy the warmth and light of the sun. As he views the sky, he may decide to reach for it, to expend some energy, make new decisions, and seek a swifter current.
Some people believe that the circumstances of youth set an unchangeable course for their river. But, life is dynamic, and the river stretches and bends as we go. A bad beginning does not inevitably lead to a bad ending. In fact a bad beginning can give us strength to create a good ending.
I love the message in this letter:
Betty,
I own a drug and alcohol treatment center, and this is a gift I cherish, for it's given me joy beyond words. Six years ago, God led me into sobriety from a life of heroin addiction, homelessness, prostitution, two failed marriages—one husband shot and killed—many close friends dead, and I was abused in all ways as a child. In my sobriety, I've thanked God many times for these experiences. I know the pain of my clients. God gave me the gift to open the door to his love. For 39 years God was preparing me for this. I know this today because I have peace and serenity I did not know was possible.
For 39 years this woman was forced into the mud. Having been "abused in all ways as a child," she got to know the bottom of the river—the seamy, murky side of life that swallows victims whole and never lets them see the light of day. But through unfathomable effort this woman looked up and found God. With his help she kicked addictions and self-defeating habits out of her life. She fought the undercurrents, disentangled herself, broke the surface of her troubled life and got to a place where pure air and light could provide new energy. She grew strong and rescued others from the depths. Her beginnings then became the basis for a greater good she would do in life. Her wounds became muscles. Her fears became faith. Her mistakes became experience used to benefit mankind. Like her, anyone can choose either to drown in past troubles or to fight to live. The past can be a springboard and a resource for accomplishment and the betterment of others.
Each soul will attain a different level of accomplishment here. But whatever the size of the ripples we make, one thing we must learn is to be grateful for whatever trials and gifts our Father gives us in the journey. There is magic in gratitude. It frees us from worry and competition in life. It opens our hearts and hands to genuine love, ironically allowing our hearts and hands to be filled again. Let us be grateful for our childhoods, even for the negative ones. Let us recognize that life is what it is, and that we are all doing our best. Let us especially be grateful for whatever love we have received. Love is always a gift. We are to praise God for all things.
Betty,
I am a thirty-two-year-old Native American and was raised by alcoholic parents. I too became an alcoholic. I am sober two and a half years now and am in a program of recovery.
For years I thought I was a victim of circumstances and questioned my existence. A few precious words in your book changed that. When you said, "We all volunteer for our positions and stations in the world, and that each of us is receiving more help than we know," I was given hope, and my faith in my higher power was intensified.
During those years when I didn't think I could go on, I didn't acknowledge the powerful force that helped me through it all. I see it now. A few times I remember being told I'm not through here. It wasn't time for me to leave. I cry tears of joy at the love I was given, and for what I'm given now. It's powerful. Thank you.
Our Father knew that, in trying to find and follow our life's mission, we would make mistakes. He knew we would hurt ourselves and others, that we would follow false ideas instead of truth. So he prepared a way for us to return—each having learned from our experiences and grown from the things we suffered. I was shown that Jesus Christ is that way. When he came he did more than teach about love. He demonstrated the full measure of love when he laid down his life for us, for our failings and mistakes—for our sins. This was part of his mission, part of the entire plan for mankind. We may not understand completely what he did or why he did it, but I know with certainty that he is the way back to light and truth, the way back to heaven. If you could feel his love for you, his fairness and compassion, you wouldn't want it any other way. Life on earth is our opportunity to learn to love unconditionally as he loved, to serve and sacrifice personal welfare in behalf of others. If Jesus' mission was to die for us, ours is to live for him. —The Ripple Effect, pages 14-3
