All posts by Rainbow Johnson

counseling, FYI

Stop Those Negative Waves

He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.
— Proverbs 25:28

I Stopped!

How can a person be independent, autonomous, and in control of his or her own destiny? Several years ago, our two-year-old baby showed me the answer.

She didn’t want to go to bed and started to cry and fuss. I talked to her calmly and continued changing her into her pajamas. Her crying became louder and louder, rather like a Wagnerian opera. Then suddenly the crying stopped as though it had been cut off with a knife. She smiled through her tears and said, “Mommy, I stopped!”

“Is it possible,” I wondered, “to stop ourselves right in the middle of a self-destructive thought pattern?” Ernest Holmes tells us that our thoughts create our lives. I remembered reading that it is only possible to think one thought at a time. “So,” I silently told myself, “if our thoughts create our lives, and we can think only one thought at a time, if we deliberately change our thought, then our life situation has to change.”

The next day was Christmas and our daughter tripped over one of her toys and bumped her head on the bottom of the piano. She cried as though her heart would break. As I was holding her and kissing the red spot on her forehead, she said in the middle of her tears, “Mommy, remember how I stopped crying yesterday?” I nodded my head. “I stopped again!” And, indeed, she had stopped! The red spot disappeared in five minutes!

I am the master of my fate! I am the captain of my soul! At least once today I will stop when I am aware that a negative thought pattern is creeping in. I will deliberately affirm “God is Love” over and over until the negative thought pattern is forced to retire. And when I do so, I shall hear a small voice whispering gently in my ear, “I stopped!”

rainbow
Rev. Dr. Rainbow Johnson
ADAAP Outreach Minister

counseling, FYI

God’s Path to Fulfillment

“He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.”
– Proverbs 18:13

“Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment.”
– John 7:24

I Did It God’s Way

I used to teach in a Learning Center attended by high school dropouts who had decided to return to school to get their diplomas. How I admired them! They’ve been in gangs, gone to prison, ended up in the hospital with gunshot wounds, and had seen that the world is not what they thought. So they were back in school.

I shared the Lab at the Learning Center with another teacher who had classes at night, and I was meticulous about checking supplies in and out. The other teacher however, let the students take them home, and often they were not available when we needed them.

I decided to approach the other teacher on the matter. She was very defensive and ready to fight. I was distraught because some math books which had taken the school two years to acquire had vanished. We talked about the problem, but suddenly I realized that I was so busy trying to assert my point of view, I hadn’t been listening to her at all. I decided to “be still.” What I heard, then, astounded me! The other teacher was not lax as I had thought after all. She loved the students as much as I did and had just wanted to give them an extra opportunity to achieve their goal. And I wanted to make sure they had the books to do so.

The solution to our apparent conflict was in my attitude. Once I realized that we shared the same concern, we were able to begin cooperating for the highest good of all.

Today I am still. I judge not. I listen for the inner voice which guides and guards me, smoothing my path. My way is not the only way. I am traveling a street that has many surprising curves and turns.

The name of this street is: “God’s Way!”

rainbow
Rev. Dr. Rainbow Johnson
ADAAP Outreach Minister

FYI

I Forgive Myself

Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Til seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, until seven times: but until seventy times seven.
— Matthew 18:21-22

Janice, age 14, had a remarkable experience. She was miserable. She was unhappy with herself and criticized herself constantly. She disliked all the students in school, and guess what? They disliked her. She awoke each morning in tears, dreading to go to school that day.

Then one day, she heard someone mention the words Jesus spoke about forgiving until seventy times seven. She decided to take some paper and for seven days to write the following affirmation seventy times: “I love myself and I forgive myself. I love myself and I forgive myself.” When asked what she was forgiving herself, she answered, “I’m forgiving myself for all those negative thoughts I’ve been thinking about myself and others.”

After the seventh day, she awoke singing. In fact, she even felt like dancing out of bed. She began to like her classmates, and guess what? They began to like her.
I love myself and forgive myself. I love others and forgive others. I cease all condemnation. I am kind, compassionate, understanding, and loving to everyone, including myself. I am part of everyone and everyone is part of me. I feel great!

I Forgive Myself!
rainbow
Rev. Dr. Rainbow Johnson
ADAAP Outreach Minister

FYI

A Bunch of One-Minutes

This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
– Psalm 118:24

I live in an eternal now which is filled with good alone.
– The Science of Mind, page 264

A Bunch of “One-Minutes”

The Science of Mind teaches us to live in the present, for that’s where God’s Power is. This teaching was brought to my attention in a special way recently by our nine-year-old daughter, Rainbow-Shalom. She wasn’t feeling very well, so I took her to the local Minor Emergency Center. The doctor on duty there started telling us about his new spiritual life and how it was helping him to live in the present. Instead of always worrying about his family when he was at the clinic and worrying about the clinic when he was with his family, he was enjoying each moment more. Then we began talking about Barry Kaufman, who runs the Options Institute in Massachusetts with his wife Suzi. We talked about how Barry played with orphaned children in South America and enjoyed every moment of it instead of bemoaning their poverty. We decided that Barry Kaufman is definitely a person who gets the most out of each moment.

All at once, Rainbow-Shalom’s eyes lit up. “I just understood something,” she said. “Life is just a bunch of one-minutes. All we have is this one minute. And if it’s good, we can put it in our mind, but if it’s bad, we can throw it away and start over with the new one minute!”

Right this very minute I give my total attention to what is happening to me. I feel my breath going in and out. It is God’s breath. I totally enjoy looking around the room and savoring each object. They are God’s objects. I love and bless my thoughts and enjoy each one of them, for they are God’s thoughts. With each minute I am born anew. Thank You, God, for all the “one-minutes” of my life!

rainbow
Rev. Dr. Rainbow Johnson
ADAAP Outreach Minister

FYI

I’ve Gotta Be Me!

I had rather speak 5 words with my understanding,
that by my voice, I might teach others also,
than 10,000 words in an unknown tongue.
– I Corinthians 14:19

Believe in Yourself

“I wish I could be like…” Have you ever known people who constantly have their eyes focused on others, hoping to emulate those who are successful, famous, prosperous? If they only knew that they, themselves, hold the key to their own freedom. All they have to do is turn this key. However, what prevents them from doing so?

For instance, how many people live in mortal fear of what the neighbors will think or what impression they are creating? The greatest obstruction to being themselves is fear in one of its many forms, such as terror, anger, resentment or jealousy.

Fear is insidious and can be “caught” be merely sitting next to someone on the bus who is fraught with it. Humankind has been taking in fear with its mother’s milk for thousands of years.

What about you? Ask yourself honestly, “What is it I most fear?” Next … face it! This can be done in many ways. One woman actually stood out in the midst of a thunderstorm and was cured of her fear of lightning and thunder. Alternatively, you can confess your fear to someone close to you and then say, “I am fearless. I am right with the Universe and I am right with me.”

  • Divine harmony flows through me.
  • All of my obstructions have disintegrated.
  • I am unique and beautiful.
  • I am a lovely and wonderful flower in the Garden of God.
  • Only I can offer my special gifts.

I’ve Gotta Be Me!

rainbow
Rev. Dr. Rainbow Johnson
ADAAP Outreach Minister