One of the books that changed my life is,
Conversations with God - Book 2 by Neale Donald Walsch. He started his series in 1992 by writing an angry letter to God. After finishing his letter, Walsch says the words with answers came quickly - almost like dictation.
Walsch wrote his second book between 1993 and 1994. Here are some random excerpts that include his questions, but mostly contain answers by God.
Preface:
Neale: These words are being spoken not only to me, but to you, from me. You've been looking for God, to hear from God, for a very long time So have I.
_______
Neale: Tell me about time.
God: There is no time but this time. There is no moment like this moment. Now is all there is.
Neale: What about yesterday and tomorrow?
God: Figments of your imagination - instructions of your mind - non-existent. In ultimate reality, everything that is happening, is happening, and ever will happen, is happening right now.
God: Life is an ongoing process of creation. You are creating your reality every minute. The decision you make today is often not the choice you make tomorrow. Yet here is the decision of all masters. Keep choosing the same thing.
Neale: Over and over again? Once is not enough?
God: Over and over until your will is made manifest into your reality. For some that could take years. For masters, creation is instantaneous. You can tell you're on your way to mastering, when you can see the gap closing between willing and experiencing.
Neale: Are you saying we should never indulge in a change of mind?
God: Change your mind all you want. Yet remember that with each change of mind comes a change in the direction of the whole universe. When you make up your mind about something, you set the universe into motion. Forces beyond your ability to comprehend; far more subtle and complex than you can imagine, are engaged in a process; the intricate dynamics of which, you are only just now beginning to understand.
God: Be of one mind and single purpose about a thing. And don't take your mind off it until you have produced it in reality. Keep focused. Stay centered. This is what being single-minded means. If you choose something, choose it with all your might. With all your heart. Don't be faint hearted. Keep going. Keep moving toward it.. Be determined. Don't take no for an answer.
Neale: Why am I not aware of you, if you are always here?
God: Because you get caught up in your life. My dear and wonderful son, I am never not with you. You are just not aware. It's an irony of life that when you need our connection the most, you step away from it.
God: Do you see that you define who you are, by what you see as right and wrong?
Neal: To me it's always wrong to steal, it's always been wrong to kill. it's always been wrong to kill another. Most human beings agree on this.
God: Then why do you have war?
Neale: I know what's right and what's wrong and because some people don't, that doesn't make me crazy because I do. They’re the ones hat are crazy.
God: I'm sorry to say, that's exactly the attitude that starts wars.
God: Because you cannot understand that God does not act as humans do, you're lost in your theologies and your attempt to find yourself again.
God: The purpose of life is not to please God. The purpose of life is to know and to recreate who you are and in so doing, you do please God and glorify her well.
Neale: Why do you keep saying her. Are you a she?
God: I'm neither a he nor a she. Occasionally, I use the feminine pronoun to jar you out of your parochial thinking.
God: Yet, I tell you this. Love, love, love the things you desire. For your love of them draws them to you. These things are the stuff of life. When you love them, you love life. When you declare that you desire that.
So choose sex -- all the sex you can get. And choose power-- all the power you can muster. And choose fame -- all the fame you can attain. And choose success -- the success you can achieve. And choose winning -- all the winning you can experience
* Do not choose sex instead of love -- but as a celebration of it.
* Do not choose power over -- but power with
* Do not choose fame as an end in itself -- but as a means to a larger end.
* Do not choose success at the expense of others -- but as a tool with to assist others.
* Do not choose winning at any cost --but winning that cost others nothing. And even brings them gain as well.
God: Mine is the place where all there is, is love.
How did this book change my life? It is this book that helped me believe in a Higher Power, which in turn helped to keep me clean and sober these last 15 years. It confirmed that I was not crazy, or if I was, I was not alone. This was how I had been praying for two years prior to reading,
Conversations With God. I would ask God a question in writing -- any question, and then write what I think God would say. Though not as profound as those written by Walsch, the answers I wrote were loving, nurturing, forgiving, and encouraging. The words came from a place in me I never knew existed. Perhaps that is where God lives in me.