Conclusion

One morning, I got an email that shocked me to my core. One of my team members had decided to fire another team member.

My first reaction was: "What on Earth just happened?" We were a young nonprofit dedicated to producing spiritual experiences. This was not how we did things.

I simply got up from the computer and asked internally, "God, what is it that I have to learn from this? Show me the truth of this matter, please."

And God did. Over the next forty-eight hours, I prayed and wrote my lessons. I was able to see many layers of truth. After an unexpected sequence of events, which included a very dramatic written "memorandum" sent to the entire executive team indicating the alleged insubordination of one team member, the person who "fired" the other could not really face ego and simply and abruptly quit and left us. We have not heard from him since.

During those tense forty-eight hours, I felt peace. I felt guided. I knew that even if I did not have all the answers, even if I really did not know what to do, as long as I stayed patient, prayed, and asked for guidance, the answers would come. And so it was. So it is.

That is a taste of my experience of living with God. Life keeps happening to me no matter what. It is not that I am spared any of the challenges—quite the opposite, actually. But this deep inner knowing, that I am always taken care of and can always lean on my divine parent, is a game-changer.

"Life is like a box of chocolates," said Forrest Gump. "You never know what you're gonna get."

How true, Forrest!

When life is not going our way, we may be able to temporarily fix some aspects by manipulating our external environment and our internal thinking process and attitude. These tactics will always result in limited success simply because the cause of life's "problems," if you want to call them that, is all within us. Only when we go back to the roots can the fruit change. And change it will!

So inward we go. And what we find is ego. But ego is certainly not the highest reality we embody. Far from it. At the center of our being, we will find what has been there all along. We will find that God lives within us. As soon as we start the search, He-She has already found us.

Finding God within is the single most important thing one can do to live a life of meaning and purpose. The life we all want is one of peace, joy, happiness, and fulfillment. It is the life we will examine in retrospect from our deathbed and say, "I am and always have been the best version of myself I could be."

That life can only be lived with God. And we start by finding God within.

In Chapter 1 of this book, we were miserable beyond hope, and we felt we'd reached a dead end. In Chapter 2, we realized we needed help and learned both how to ask for it and how to be open to receiving it. Chapter 3 helped us see that the only place to look for answers is within. In Chapter 4, we talked about the specific type of help that works best when journeying inward. We asked for a who, a guide, and not for a how. In Chapter 5, we delved deeper into what to look for in a guide and how to choose the right person for us. Chapter 6 is a treat. We learned about ego, the "terrain" of the inward journey. In Chapter 7, we talked about what we do on the inward journey. Chapter 8 was about ego surrender. Then, in Chapter 9, we talked about identifying common issues in our relationships with our guides and when it is time to move on. Chapter 10 found us talking about the ultimate teacher we will ever find—God within. We also talked about the next steps. What does it mean to live a life with God within? Finally, in Chapter 11 we described many of the aspects of God, our inner guide.

Now that you have read this book to its completion, would you like to join a community of travelers? We all have experiences and challenges to share, and we can all guide each other.

I am personally available to help you in any way I can. And I am not alone. There is a large group of seasoned travelers, children of God, your sisters and brothers, who would love to enjoy your company and share their experiences with you.

The highest joy and utmost fulfillment in this life is to be found in exploring what it is to live a life with God!