I’ve been in Mexico for almost 4 months with many ACIM mighty companions. One of them, Beth, asked us to share stories about a “favorite” savior. What follows is an excerpt of the letter I sent her.
How would I identify a “favorite” savior? It feels like they appear every day now, even if at first the personal “I” doesn’t want to see the savior at first, yet somehow through grace there is a miracle.
One that comes to mind that feels helpful to share is a muslim man named Mamoud, who was selling guided tour trips. He lives in Jerusalem and I saw him almost every day that I was visiting the Garden Tomb– a very beautiful and miraculous place right outside of the Damascus Gate. Some feel this garden is where Jesus was entombed, with the crucifixion site viewable from the garden.
There was a lot of uncertainty in this trip to Jerusalem and a lot of trust building with Jesus. So many miracles– particularly in or right outside the Garden Tomb. Jesus was maximizing the symbols in form and showing me how much I deeply love Him as a symbol of myself.
I felt it in my heart to visit the Sea of Galilee (picture above) a second time and a travel companion, Jenny, who I meant in Jerusalem, wanted to swim in the Dead Sea. The hotel had a guided tour, yet somehow it felt directed by the Holy Spirit to go with Mamoud and when we asked he offered to do the next day on his day off at a discount.
The morning of the tour I awoke in such a fluster- a lot of fear arising. So much fear -“Is this the right thing?” and “I don’t know this man, he could take us anywhere.” Yet in my heart I finally had to say — I want love over this fear and I’m going to go- no matter what happens. So with some trepidation I shared these thoughts with Jenny and we both decided to go. Jenny also has a tremendous trust in following spirit- what a gift as a travel companion.
Mahmoud picked us up in a very nice Mercedes van, and we started driving toward Tel Aviv. Wow so many thoughts were flying- as I looked in my bag – I realized I forgot my map of the holy land. No map, no contact information, no idea exactly where we were going. I was in the front and Jenny in the back seat suddenly bursts out with my thought, ‘I thought you were going to take us somewhere to kill us.’ This is funny now, and at the time it really just cleared a lot of tension. Mamoud laughed and kept driving, past all the guns and security checkpoints between fenced areas of Israel as we headed north for a day tour of the holy land stopping at a beautiful overlook of the Mediterranean Sea near Tel Aviv/Haifa, the Sea of Galilee, Dead sea– many beautiful overlooks. I think I held my breath many times as we were driving as other thoughts of uncertainty arose, yet at the same time a love and appreciation arose for Mamoud. Mamoud seemed generally interested in what we wanted to see and brought us to many places. It was quite the adventure and we returned late in the afternoon to Jerusalem.
Mamoud expressed interest in a overnight trip to a hotel in the north, which I declined and there was a lot of healing around this this too. Even though I felt so much love and attraction it didn’t feel in purpose and perhaps there was still some fear of being alone with him…I suppose that is to be looked at for healing. I can hear the judgement thoughts ‘it felt risky/unsafe/unwise’.
This trip helped me see so many judgments still in the mind around traveling alone, ideas about being in “foreign countries”, “not knowing where I am going”, and Muslims (“seeming other races, “‘others’ different from myself” ) and at the same time I was feeling all this love for this man. How helpful to see how lovingly and safely we are carried when we follow the prompt, even when the wrong mind has other ideas.
It was so beautiful to look at this again to see the miracles– clearing any remaining judgement thoughts. It touches my heart. So much love and gratitude.
In gratitude and love always,
Cay
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