Finding The Miracles In Life's Struggles
Posts tagged miracles
Miracles and Angels
01 month
by Alice Lin
in Uncategorized
The Bible says that God only gives us two things – miracles and angels. Here I would like to share with you about a story that demonstrates how God gave us both of those things at the same time.
Skyler Lin
Here is my daughter-in-law’s post from Facebook at the end of January.
“Most people don’t know this, but a year and nine months ago, Jershi Lin and I were told after a series of tests at a fertility clinic that I couldn’t have a child. I fell to my knees when I got that phone call. My heart was torn in half that day. Seeing those test results crushed my soul. I had wanted to be a mom since I was a young girl. Jershi came straight home from work and held me as I sobbed. I saw the pain in his eyes, but he told me that we were a family and we would always be a family. We would adopt or do whatever necessary to be the family we wanted to be. I tried my best to make peace with that. The doctors might have told us it was impossible to conceive but God had other plans, and one week later Jershi and I became pregnant with little Sky. I know God gives blessings, but he really went out of his way this time. Skyler’s sweet nature, her spirit, soul, sense of humor and laughter lift me up every single day. She stole my heart.
Skyler Lin
Our little miracle baby Skyler Lin turns one year old today. Happy Birthday my beautiful little baby girl! Sky, you have been my inspiration, my joy, my hope and my peace. You are nothing but a pure blessing! I am so thankful for my little angel and everything you have taught me since you started to grow inside of me. You encouraged me to take steps in my life that I never knew I would be able to make. I will do my best to continue to grow as a person so that I can be the role model that you deserve. Words cannot describe the love you bring to my heart. On the day you were born I looked into your eyes and all my dreams came true. I couldn’t possibly count the hours I spent staring at you while you were sleeping this past year. You are truly the most infectiously happy baby and are such an amazingly unique little girl. You bring joy to everyone you come into contact with. I pray that I can guide you to be gentle, kind, compassionate and a free spirit able to embrace all that you are and to be all that you ever want to be. You will always have my blessing to be and will be loved “just as you are.” No matter what, I’ll always love you unconditionally. You are the sweetest part of my destiny, and I am eternally grateful to be able to love someone as precious as you. You are a gift. Our lives would not be complete without you. Thank you for the laughter, the lessons and changing me forever – you’re everything.
Skyler Lin and her pal, Gidget
Happy 1st Birthday, sweetheart.
This post is dedicated to Sky and to all women who struggle with infertility on a daily basis, my heart goes out to you as I know what it felt like to feel the devastating pain that all hope is lost… My prayers go out for you. Heaven has a plan for you and miracles do happen.”
Miracles Through Shifting (1)-B
02 years
by Alice Lin
in My Life Story
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Because we dared to shift our lives in a new direction, all of these little miracles started making themselves known. In fact, I discovered that perhaps the beauty of shifting isn’t its promise of a single miracle, but the promise of many. You see, the action required by a positive life shift acts like a stone that is thrown into a pond. When the stone hits the water, it creates a ripple effect, which in this case, represents the many miracles whose origins can be traced back to that single stone, or shift.
For example, one of the ripples that grew from this shift was so powerful that it helped a miracle reach into the life of a friend. After hearing of my house-selling miracle, she called me to pray for her house to sell as well. Her husband had already gone to San Francisco to begin a new job, leaving her and the kids behind to deal with the sale of the house. She told me she was getting anxious because the house had been for sale for several months, but no one expressed any interest in purchasing it. Upon her request, I prayed earnestly for her house to sell. A week later, her house sold. I do not know whether it was luck or prayer that helped her out, but I was so happy that she was finally able to move her family to San Francisco.
As a family, we “shifted” our way of thinking, such that we turned a missed opportunity into an opportunity to find something even better. We were brave enough to walk on the journey of uncertainty ahead, and return we were gifted a miracle. After we settled down in the city of Monterey Park, which is a small city adjacent to LA, my husband began looking for a job. Within a week, he was offered a position with an USC-affiliated hospital. The dean told my husband that the director just quit suddenly for no reason given, and she (the dean) was surprised to find my husband to fill the position so quickly.
And the miracles did not stop there. Instead, they trickled into our lives for years to come, each representing a ripple moving outward from that single shift – the decision to move to California. One of the biggest miracles for us was that with my husband on faculty at USC, we did not have to pay tuition for our children to attend this prominent private school. So not only did we get to save money that would instead go towards providing them with other life experiences, we were also able to provide them with a world-class education that will serve them for the rest of their lives.
Every time I think back what had transpired during the journey that we embarked upon simply by having the ability to shift perspectives and plans, I can’t help to render my gratitude to the almighty God or the Universe.
Recently I came across this quotation by a well-known preacher, Joel Osteen: “Bottom line: God will not allow any person to keep you from your destiny. They may be bigger, stronger, or more powerful, but God knows how to shift things around and get you to where you’re supposed to be.” Indeed, He shifts things around us in such a way that, if we are able to join him in the shift, we open ourselves up to receiving endless miracles.
Miracles through Taking Ownership Over Your Life
02 years
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Taking ownership over our own lives is perhaps the single most important thing we could do for ourselves, yet it’s often the most neglected aspect of our lives. Oftentimes we end up giving away ownership without even realizing it. If I were to write a second book, I would devote its entirety to the concept of ownership. But for now, I’m going to share with you an example of a time when I lost ownership in my own life and how once I was able to identify such a significant loss, I was able to mend parts of me that I thought were permanently broken.
Three years ago I was in a car accident that left my fifth, sixth and seventh disks in my neck completely collapsed. After the recovery, I thought I had healed completely, but then, three or four months ago, I began to suffer terrible nerve pains in my back. The pain was worse than even shingles, which believe me if you’ve never experienced them, are horrible. I spent months lying down, doing absolutely nothing. I found that, despite the boredom, lying down was best for me because it restricted the amount of pressure I placed on my back.
I went through a lot of treatments, such as physical therapy, chiropractic treatments, acupuncture and PRP treatment (Platelet Rich Plasma Phototherapy is used to treat acute or chronic musculoskeletal injury or pain). It seemed that, no matter what I tried, I still suffered huge amounts of pain. In May, I remembered that I had registered to attend a very important writer’s workshop. Attending this workshop would enter me for a chance to win a literary contract with a well-known and well-respected book publisher. The chances of winning were slim, but I still wanted to put forth a valiant effort. However, I did know whether or not I would be able to handle the flight and perhaps quite uncomfortable stay in the faraway land of Maui.
My daughter was worried that I would not be able to handle it, so she asked that I first spend some time resting at her house in Oahu before heading over to the workshop in Maui. I took her advice and flew to Oahu first. For four hours, I was having a hard time because I had to sit straight on the plane. When I arrived in Oahu, my son’s friend invited me to a meditation. Luckily I could lie down, so I was able to finish the meditation. As soon as I got back to my daughter’s house, I was overcome by an enlightening thought: I had to find a way to help myself, to get out of this situation and to set myself free. This pain had been with me for too long.
Although I had made it to Oahu, I now had to find a way to manage to attend the workshop in Maui, without needing to lie down during the classes. I once heard someone say that whatever you focus on is going to persist. I used these words as my mantra throughout the remainder of my time in Oahu, deciding that if were to successfully make it through the workshop, I would need to pay no more attention to the pain in my back and shoulder. From that moment on while staying at my daughter’s house in Oahu, I stopped focusing on the little things, and instead began to focus on the larger sense of self – that is, me as a whole. Every day I would walk for one hour early in the morning back and forth from the beach. In the evening, I would do the same. I added swimming on top of that in the evenings. And then, just like that, I experienced a miracle: all of a sudden, as I focused on the overall health of my body, my back pain began to bother me less and less.
It dawned on me that these two or three months I had been overcome by my pain and it was because I had completely lost ownership of my own body. For two months, I was lying and giving ownership to the pain. My children, all of my friends would call me every day and ask me how my pain was. “Pain” – this word just constantly rang in my ear. Little did I know, I had surrendered myself to this pain all these months. Fortunately, while I was in Hawaii, I started to quiet down and think about a solution. All of a sudden, I realized the only solution that would prove to be effective would require me to regain ownership of my health. When I went to Maui, I did the same thing that I did in Oahu. Every single break I could get, I would walk back to my room and relax to restore my health. Again and again, I focused on the health of my whole body – not just my back. Once I began to reclaim ownership of my health, I was able to sit through two full and a half days of the workshop. Some would call that, well…a miracle.
Miracles through Serving
03 years
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“I am realistic – I expect miracles.”
― Wayne W. Dyer
Whether or not we are aware of their presence, miracles are at work in our lives all the time. More often than not, miracles are born from a good deed that we’ve contributed to the world – either consciously or subconsciously. I call these “miracles through serving,” and I’m going to allow Dr. Wayne Dyer’s experiences illustrate these special miracles for you.
The late and sorely missed Dr. Wayne Dyer, who passed away on August 30, 2015, was my mentor of miracles. He opened my eyes to the wonderful workings of miracles through his literature, through his teachings and through the way he lived his life. I learned first-hand of how miracles impacted Dr. Dyer’s life during a writer’s workshop he lead that I attended last June.
Dr. Dyer and his wife were visiting the very castle in San Damiano, Italy where Saint Francis of Assisi first set up a home for Saint Clare of Assisi, the first female in the Franciscan order (1194-1253). During Dr. Dyer’s visit, there was a 22-year-old boy who, as Dr. Dyer put it; his body (and not he) had muscular dystrophy. As they climbed the staircase to see where Saint Clare had died so many years ago, the boy realized he could not go further because the staircase had started to narrow. At the same time, he could not go back down either because of the dense crowd of people behind him. Dr. Dyer immediately offered to carry him on his back, despite having serious ligament and cartilage damage in his knees. The pair was able to make it up a few steps until Dyer’s knees started to give out. But then, as he put it, “I had a vision of Saint Francis and suddenly my knees went from crumbling to becoming straight and erect and strong.” He ran up the stairs with the boy on his back the remainder of the way there.
When they reached the top, everyone was amazed at what had just happened. Dr. Dyer walked out to the balcony and prayed, thanking Saint Francis for his “miraculous healing.” After that, Dr. Dyer said that the damage in his knees had healed and he no longer needed the surgery he was anticipating to need on them. In his words, it was evident that “the divinely inspired energy of Saint Francis is still at work today.”
During the writers’ workshop in June, Dr. Dyer also talked about how he received a very important publishing deal. After the wife of a literary agent had noticed him, he was invited to a meeting with the head of a big publishing company to discuss a potential publishing contract. When he met with the man the very next day, Dr. Dyer noticed that he looked rather sad. Being a therapist, Dr. Dyer asked him why he looked so down. Initially he resisted, wanting to focus instead on the contract, but Dr. Dyer insisted that he talk about his problems. In time, he revealed his wife told him she wanted a divorce and was seeing someone else. At the end of the day, Dr. Dyer had spent their entire meeting counseling the head of publishing instead of talking about his contract. The day after, he received a phone call from his literary agent, saying that the publisher wanted Dr. Dyer on board no matter what he wrote.
In Dr. Wayne Dyer’s case, he put other people’s needs ahead of his own. He had such a loving heart that allowed him to help serve others. For example, he helped he carried the weight of the boy with muscular dystrophy on his back, despite his own knee problems, so the boy would not suffer. When he saw the publishing executive in distress and in need of help, he sacrificed his own opportunity for success by offering his professional psychological support.
Following his death, his publisher reduced the audiobooks of Dr. Dyer’s work to 80% off of the retail price. They also contacted Amazon, Apple and Nook asking them to reduce the price of his eBooks to $1.99. Through this, they were able to help others have an opportunity to be exposed to his work and honor his legacy. By making his messages available to everyone, his publisher helped Dr. Dyer’s literature reach the New York Time’s Bestseller list. Even after he has departed, miracles are still working through Dr. Dyer and all that he has left behind for the world.
The air that we breathe on a momentary basis is filled with miraculous possibility. When we do good for others, we in turn, may see tiny miracles awakening in our own lives. Some call this karma, others call this destiny or fate: I see this as receiving miracles through serving.
Conditioning for Miracles – Acting with Miracles(1)
03 years
by Alice Lin
in My Life Story
One day I received a text message from my acting agent informing me that there was an audition in Santa Monica for someone who knew Tai Chi. Being Chinese, Tai chi was a part of my ancestry; I felt its calming powers flow though my veins. The only problem was that I had never actually learned how to do it. So, naturally I did what anyone else in my position would have done: I consulted the oracle (YouTube). Full of confidence the next morning after having spent hours studying Tai chi videos, I thought I would ace the audition. But when I went in, I was shocked to see at least eight other decision-makers in the room – from casting directors to product representatives and more.
When the cameraperson asked me if I knew Tai chi, I knew I couldn’t say I didn’t know. My acting coach taught me that once I showed up to an audition, I couldn’t reveal any problems with anything they asked me to do. But deep inside, I knew that I was in trouble. Despite the fact that none of them were Asian, I suspected that at least one or two of them were skilled Tai chi practitioners.
During the audition, I tried to recreate what I had seen on YouTube but feelings of remorse for being dishonest about my skill level dominated my performance. They thanked me for my appearance, but I still left in embarrassment. I decided that night that I needed to learn Tai chi. I went to the park the next morning, where I knew I would find at least one group of people practicing. Ready to learn, I joined the first group I saw and began to imitate their movements. Luckily, a master teacher who would visit from time to time frequented the group I picked. We all benefited greatly from her teachings. Because of my strong desire to learn, I went there every day, seven days a week. I would never be ashamed of myself again for misrepresenting the truth. The only way I could fix things this time was to truly learn Tai chi. Over the last two years, not only have I practiced diligently, I’ve also learned many different styles.
What I learned through this experience is that life can be full of unpleasant circumstances. Yet, we have the ability to transform these small, otherwise insignificant moments of discomfort into large and lasting opportunities of personal growth. If I hadn’t been open to receiving the motivation that transpired from my own shame I probably would have never learned the many different styles of Tai chi. Now, it is one of my favorite activities. It has not only helped to improve my overall health, but it has also helped me learn how to relax and calm myself down. The benefits of mastering Tai chi are simply too numerous to count.
I enjoy acting so much, and it has provided me with a plethora of opportunities to step outside of my comfort zone and learn new things. Without acting, I never would have had such a desire to master Tai chi. But, acting has just been one of many a catalysts for growth and exploration in my life. Our environment constantly calls for us to learn new things all the time – we are simply tasked with recognizing these opportunities and welcoming them with open minds and hearts. Once we are able to do this, then we will be blessed with broadened perspective and endless miracles in our lives.
Here is the Yang Style 24 Forms beautifully executed.
The form was the result of an effort by the Chinese Sports Committee, which, in 1956, brought together by four t’ai chi teachers – to create a simplified form of t’ai chi as exercise for the masses. The creators truncated the traditional family style t’ai chi forms to 24 postures; taking about six minutes to perform and to give the beginner an introduction to the essential elements of t’ai chi ch’uan, yet retain the traditional flavor of traditional longer hand forms (in general, 88-108 postures). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/24-form_tai_chi_chuan
