Heaven is Now
Heaven is Now An excerpt including The essay Heaven is Now The poem The Truth The meditation One Life
by
Bernette Sherman
ISBN: 978-1539602033
Copyright © 2016 Bernette Sherman Published by Wonder Works Services, LLC Atlanta, GA All rights reserved by Bernette Sherman www.BernetteSherman.com
These works are published in the book Heaven is Now: Enough Excuses. You ARE Worth Living For!
Contents
Introduction....................................................... 7 Heaven is Now ................................................ 11 One Life .......................................................... 23 The Truth ........................................................ 25 Other Works.................................................... 27 About the Author ............................................ 28
5
Introduction
If you had asked me at twenty-four or twenty-five years old whether I thought that Heaven is happening right now or whether I could once again feel like I did just a few years earlier, I would have smiled weakly and given the safe lie, that I didn't know and it didn’t matter. I would've rationalized that I was happy enough and had no reason to complain. I would’ve conveniently forgotten who I used to be, so I didn't have to acknowledge how far I had drifted. I would’ve done that because I was someone who no longer acted or thought like the young woman who’d once been crowned Miss Black Georgia Metroplex and Miss Black
7
B ern ette S her ma n
International. I’d started my career, gotten married, and dutifully packed her away. No, I wouldn't have been able to tell you that Heaven is happening now because I didn't see it in my own life anymore. I was in a difficult marriage that was heading towards bad and in a job where every day I questioned my purpose and my value. Oh the questioning. I didn’t know it at the time but my life began to change when I started questioning what I wanted and where I wanted to go. Sometimes the answers I got weren't comfortable. Sometimes they didn't seem right. Sometimes I didn’t realize that I had even brought forth the answers because they didn't feel like they had me moving in the right direction. Between 2000 and 2001 I was moved out of my job and out of a limiting belief system and that opened up the space that allowed me to keep moving. And in my moving, I am okay, even when my life didn't look like it. Back then, I was learning this – to trust that I would be taken care of as long as I did what I was meant to do. Now, I know that am always taken care of when I walk in the right direction.
8
H ea ve n i s No w – A n Ex cerp t
So what do I want for you? I want you to know that as long as you are moving in alignment with your truth and with your purpose, it is gonna be alright. In fact, it already is. I want for you to be inspired and motivated to get up and say yes to your life. For you to show up in your life and realize it is happening right now. It is for you to realize that you deserve to be happy and to experience joy and success. That it is okay to want and to dream and to fall and to cry. But you get back off your butt and start living again. We do this step by step with intention. Some of the talks, essays, and meditations will hopefully tug at you to get up and move forward from wherever you might be. Ultimately, I hope you will be inspired to begin creating your own heaven now. The full Heaven is Now book is a compilation of inspirational talks, essays, meditations, and poetry. They are meant to provide inspiration so that you can begin creating your heaven now. This excerpt includes the essay Heaven is Now and the poem The Truth. This excerpt was created
9
B ern ette S her ma n
particularly for women who need a gentle reminder of their power and their truth.
10
Heaven is Now
We spend too much time waiting. Waiting to live, waiting to love, waiting to be happy, waiting to be fulfilled, and waiting to die. Why? Why do we waste the precious time we have on this planet, waiting for things that, if we decided to, we could have now? We can have life now. We can have love now. We can be happy now. We can be fulfilled now. But we have to want it and we have to act like we want it. Most of the essays, writings, and talks in this book are meant to inspire you and remind you of your truth. This essay takes it a step further and is meant to drive you to action. You want a better
11
B ern ette S her ma n
life? Act like it. You want love? Act like it. You want happiness? Act like it. You want to be fulfilled? Act like it. When I competed in my very first pageant at twenty years old, I didn’t know what I was doing. I’d never done a pageant before and what I knew of them was only from what you see on television. Aside from the practices we all had as a group, I hadn’t been coached before. I’d been on stage before but usually for singing and I decided that I wouldn’t sing for my talent portion. I wasn’t the smartest, I wasn’t the prettiest, I certainly wasn’t the best dressed. But when it came time to compete, you know what? I acted like I was all that and more. Before the competition, when I was soliciting supporters I told them I planned to win. They’d smile nicely and nod their head, but I meant it. When I approached them, I acted like the queen I planned to become. If nothing else, they thought I had a good chance too. I sold the most ads in the pageant book. That night, when everyone got into their pageant gowns, I felt the knot in my stomach grow. My simple red lace gown from the discount mall was all that I could afford. The silver strappy shoes
12
H ea ve n i s No w – A n Ex cerp t
weren’t name brand or particularly special. It was in that moment I had the passing thought that maybe this girl who’d always been poor couldn’t possibly be a queen. I had to think about it for a moment and try to call on everything else I’d ever done that defined me more than where I came from. We’ve all done something in our lives at some point, even if it seems small, which gives us a clue to our character, to our strength, to our potential. I had to find that. For me, it was the modeling I’d done as a teen. It reminded me that I could act like it. I hadn’t won the title yet, but I was gonna act like a queen when it was my turn to take the stage, answer the final question, and leave my last impression on the judges. Up to that point, I’d been acting like a winner, and even when I had moments of doubt I couldn’t let those cloud my possibility. I couldn’t shrink back and say, “You know what? It doesn’t matter if I win or lose.” I didn’t give into the whatever like I’d done as a teen. I had to woman up, suck it in, lengthen my spine, and walk out onto that stage and act like the queen I know myself to be. I had to act like a winner.
13
B ern ette S her ma n
I wanted to win the title of Miss Black Georgia Metroplex 1996-1997. I really wanted it. I acted like I wanted it when I talked to people about the pageant before it took place. I made them believe, along with me, that I had a great chance. And when it came time, I had to act like what I wanted to be. I wanted to be the first pageant queen and so I acted like it. I acted like a queen, because that is what I wanted. Acting must go two ways. Yes, act like you want to experience whatever it is you say you want, but more importantly ACT LIKE what it is you want. Like attracts like. So before you tell me or anyone else you want to have a vibrant life ask yourself whether you are doing what you can to act vibrantly. The same goes for love. Do you want it? Act lovingly towards others. Do you want to be happy? Act with happiness in dealing with others and in doing your day to day activities. Do you want to be fulfilled? Help someone else find fulfillment and appreciate the things you already have. You don’t have to be satisfied with what you have, but you do need to appreciate the benefit it gives, because what we celebrate and give thanks for – we get more of.
14
H ea ve n i s No w – A n Ex cerp t
Do you want to experience heaven now? Act like it is here. If there is something you want there is no excuse big enough to justify a lifetime of waiting for it to come to you. Not unless what you want goes against the physical laws of nature. Then, maybe that would be a valid excuse, but only so far as your use of common sense knowledge of physical law. Otherwise, you’ve only used an impossible dream as an excuse to avoid your possible dream. Anything outside of this is a choice. It is a choice to excuse away your life and to excuse away your lack of having what you want in your life. It’s easy to make up reasons why something hasn’t happened. You need to come up with reasons why they will. If you want it enough, if you’re tired and fed up with the way it is, don’t look outside of you, but look at yourself. Decide that you deserve the life you want and do what it takes. Make the choice. Heaven is now. It’s not waiting for you in some great beyond AFTER you die. Jesus knew this, but people seem to miss his point. Instead, many people waste their lives, waiting on someone else to come and rescue them from a meager existence,
15
B ern ette S her ma n
to lift them up from troubles that surround them, and whisk them away to a castle they get through no active effort. This type of life, this type of mindset is an easy out. It’s an easy excuse to not be personally responsible and to not hold ourselves personally accountable for our lives. Enough Excuses! Stop with the excuses. Stop with the blaming. Stop with the finger pointing. Stop with the waiting. Just stop. Because until you can stop all of that other stuff, you can’t start creating your own heaven now. You have to stop making excuses about why you can’t have or don’t have. You have to stop blaming people, things, and situations that seem outside of you and start looking in the mirror at the one thing everything in your life has in common. You. You have to stop pointing fingers at others, deflecting where the power behind your life lies. It isn’t out there. It’s in you. And it’s time for you to stop waiting. There is something you can do now to start living the life you want. It may be a small step or a giant leap, but standing still will get you right where you are.
16
H ea ve n i s No w – A n Ex cerp t
You are meant for greatness. You are meant to be a human expression of the divine. Do you know what that means? God, source, spirit – by whatever name you want to call that divine power, it desires you. It desires you as a vehicle of divine expression on Earth. That’s an awesome calling and we each have it. There is a unique and special way that the divine wants to express through our lives – to create, love, share, and expand. However, too many of us, through our actions, tell God no. We feel the nudge and even the pull to do something new and different but we say no and stay where we are, doing what we’ve been doing. Why? Because we’re afraid. We’re afraid we might fail. We’re afraid we might succeed. We’re afraid we might not be good enough. We’re afraid we might stand out too much. We’re afraid our family and friends won’t accept us. We’re afraid that others might judge us. We’re afraid. We’re afraid it won’t work because on some level, admitted or not, we don’t think we’ve earned it. We don’t think we deserve it. We don’t think we are worthy of the dreams we carry in our hearts. What you think becomes your reality so think
17
B ern ette S her ma n
you’ve earned. Think you deserve it. Think you are worthy of your dreams - because you are. Imagine for a moment that you’re speaking to a child. You start asking them what they want to be when they grow up. You see a glimmer in their eyes and a smile light up their face. They tell you all about their amazing dram. Then the child looks off into the distance and her head lowers. She says, “But I can’t do that.” And you say, “Of course, you can. You can do whatever you put your mind to.” She says, “No. I’m not good enough.” She goes on to say how undeserving she is, why it can’t happen for her, and how family and friends don’t think she’s good enough. Maybe she describes how they tease her for thinking she’s so special and can be what she dreams of being. You tell her, “It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks or says. It doesn’t matter that it seems big right now. If you believe in yourself and work for it, you can do it.”
18
H ea ve n i s No w – A n Ex cerp t
She smiles a little bit. You go on to say, “Hey, I believe in you. I know you can do it.” She walks off; a seed planted that maybe she can. And you would have been right. She can do it. Perhaps you’d also be scratching your head that this child would ever think that way about herself. Who’s doing that for you? Who’s telling you that same truth? Because everything you might tell that child who is feeling insecure and doubtful are the same things you need to tell yourself. You can have whatever you dream if you really want it and are willing to work for it. If anyone else can do it, you can do it. And I’ll add that if no one has ever done it, you can be the first. I believe in you and I know you can do it. This is the truth. My mother was finally able to return to school for her associates when I was ten years old. My older brother was twelve and my younger brother was around seven. She had to wait for us to be old enough to before she could take that step. She moved nearly one thousand miles back to her home town and despite having only a fraction of the support she thought she’d have, she finished the spring I turned twelve.
19
B ern ette S her ma n
She was single, parenting three kids, working lowpaying jobs so she could both go to school and continue to parent us. I didn’t appreciate her sacrifice and belief in herself and her goal until many years later, but I look back and can see how easy it would have been for her to use her situation as an excuse rather than as a compelling reason to reach for a better life. So whatever it is you’ve been holding onto inside your heart. Whatever dreams steal your whispered thoughts. Whatever wishful tomorrows you find yourself longing for – they can be yours. Do what you need to do to have what you want to have. Prepare yourself now so that when the time comes, you are ready. Perhaps it means returning to school for more education or retraining. Maybe you need to develop new skills or practice skills that haven’t been used in a while. You may need to reach out to old friends and associates to rekindle relationships that aren’t as strong. Perhaps you need to make a plan and then work it. If you want something different, if you want something better, if you want to experience a life you love now, ACT like it.
20
H ea ve n i s No w – A n Ex cerp t
No one else can do it for you. That’s right no one. You can only get out of this life what you put into it. There is no way around it and in the end, everything balances and evens out, so you can’t game the universe. It doesn’t work that way. Oh, but how much sweeter your heaven will be when you know you planned it, designed it, and created it. You are most certainly worth living for, so go ahead and get started.
21
One Life A Meditation
There is only one life. That life is God’s life. That life is perfect. That life is my life now. In this moment I recognize that everything around me is spirit. That ultimate divine spirit is love. All is love and therefore I am love. I am love. That divine spirit is perfect. I have that seed of perfection. The universe wants the highest good for me. I want the highest good for myself. I am worthy of that good. I sow good seeds in good soil and reap good rewards. I sow seeds of joy. I sow seeds of
23
B ern ette S her ma n
prosperity. I sow seeds of love. I reap joy. I reap prosperity. I reap love. There is only one life. That life is God’s life. That life is perfect. That life is my life now
24
The Truth
The truth is…I’ve been broken Heart bound hands open Drowning on the inside Smiling through the dark nights The truth is….I’d been in hiding Burying the truth behind the lies From beauty queen to broken dreams Who I was, was no more The truth is…I’d been ashamed How could I end up in this place Surely I was the one to blame As I so skillfully hid my tears
25
B ern ette S her ma n
The truth is…I’d forgotten I’d given my power away I left it all to someone else To the hunter I was prey The truth is…I am truth From my inner crown to my reaching roots My broken self I had to mend I had to learn who I am again I am woman, strong, and smart Full of freedom and possibilities My mind is clear My heart is open I have reclaimed my power And in this truth I live In this truth, I am I Am Truth
26
Other Works
The Fall and Rise of Faith: Leaving Religion and Finding God is available on Amazon Kindle at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LWWRP6Y. Heaven is Now: Enough Excuses. You ARE Worth Living For! – Available on Amazon Kindle at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M1HEQ4E and in paperback.
Stay Connected: http://www.BernetteSherman.com FB: www.facebook.com/groups/HeavenisNow/ Twitter Handle: BernetteSherman
27
About the Author Bernette Sherman believes life is what you make it and that Heaven really is happening right now. She decided to begin creating the reality she wanted after setbacks and has no plans to stop following her passions. After years of writing, she decided to take herself seriously doing something she is passionate about and good at it, rather than doing what others thought she should be doing. Now, she is an Amazon best-selling inspirational (as Bernette Sherman) and sci-fi/fantasy author (under pen name A. Bernette), motivational speaker, and transformational coach. Bernette believes we can all live lives we love and be happy now, not in some distant hereafter that requires the sacrifice of physical death to partake of it. She is a spiritual teacher who sings and loves to dance. In between writing, pondering life’s big questions, and being involved in her spiritual community, she is actively mothering two amazing kids and enjoying her wonderful husband. Bernette has lived in the metro Atlanta, Georgia area for more than twenty years.
28
by
Bernette Sherman
ISBN: 978-1539602033
Copyright © 2016 Bernette Sherman Published by Wonder Works Services, LLC Atlanta, GA All rights reserved by Bernette Sherman www.BernetteSherman.com
These works are published in the book Heaven is Now: Enough Excuses. You ARE Worth Living For!
Contents
Introduction....................................................... 7 Heaven is Now ................................................ 11 One Life .......................................................... 23 The Truth ........................................................ 25 Other Works.................................................... 27 About the Author ............................................ 28
5
Introduction
If you had asked me at twenty-four or twenty-five years old whether I thought that Heaven is happening right now or whether I could once again feel like I did just a few years earlier, I would have smiled weakly and given the safe lie, that I didn't know and it didn’t matter. I would've rationalized that I was happy enough and had no reason to complain. I would’ve conveniently forgotten who I used to be, so I didn't have to acknowledge how far I had drifted. I would’ve done that because I was someone who no longer acted or thought like the young woman who’d once been crowned Miss Black Georgia Metroplex and Miss Black
7
B ern ette S her ma n
International. I’d started my career, gotten married, and dutifully packed her away. No, I wouldn't have been able to tell you that Heaven is happening now because I didn't see it in my own life anymore. I was in a difficult marriage that was heading towards bad and in a job where every day I questioned my purpose and my value. Oh the questioning. I didn’t know it at the time but my life began to change when I started questioning what I wanted and where I wanted to go. Sometimes the answers I got weren't comfortable. Sometimes they didn't seem right. Sometimes I didn’t realize that I had even brought forth the answers because they didn't feel like they had me moving in the right direction. Between 2000 and 2001 I was moved out of my job and out of a limiting belief system and that opened up the space that allowed me to keep moving. And in my moving, I am okay, even when my life didn't look like it. Back then, I was learning this – to trust that I would be taken care of as long as I did what I was meant to do. Now, I know that am always taken care of when I walk in the right direction.
8
H ea ve n i s No w – A n Ex cerp t
So what do I want for you? I want you to know that as long as you are moving in alignment with your truth and with your purpose, it is gonna be alright. In fact, it already is. I want for you to be inspired and motivated to get up and say yes to your life. For you to show up in your life and realize it is happening right now. It is for you to realize that you deserve to be happy and to experience joy and success. That it is okay to want and to dream and to fall and to cry. But you get back off your butt and start living again. We do this step by step with intention. Some of the talks, essays, and meditations will hopefully tug at you to get up and move forward from wherever you might be. Ultimately, I hope you will be inspired to begin creating your own heaven now. The full Heaven is Now book is a compilation of inspirational talks, essays, meditations, and poetry. They are meant to provide inspiration so that you can begin creating your heaven now. This excerpt includes the essay Heaven is Now and the poem The Truth. This excerpt was created
9
B ern ette S her ma n
particularly for women who need a gentle reminder of their power and their truth.
10
Heaven is Now
We spend too much time waiting. Waiting to live, waiting to love, waiting to be happy, waiting to be fulfilled, and waiting to die. Why? Why do we waste the precious time we have on this planet, waiting for things that, if we decided to, we could have now? We can have life now. We can have love now. We can be happy now. We can be fulfilled now. But we have to want it and we have to act like we want it. Most of the essays, writings, and talks in this book are meant to inspire you and remind you of your truth. This essay takes it a step further and is meant to drive you to action. You want a better
11
B ern ette S her ma n
life? Act like it. You want love? Act like it. You want happiness? Act like it. You want to be fulfilled? Act like it. When I competed in my very first pageant at twenty years old, I didn’t know what I was doing. I’d never done a pageant before and what I knew of them was only from what you see on television. Aside from the practices we all had as a group, I hadn’t been coached before. I’d been on stage before but usually for singing and I decided that I wouldn’t sing for my talent portion. I wasn’t the smartest, I wasn’t the prettiest, I certainly wasn’t the best dressed. But when it came time to compete, you know what? I acted like I was all that and more. Before the competition, when I was soliciting supporters I told them I planned to win. They’d smile nicely and nod their head, but I meant it. When I approached them, I acted like the queen I planned to become. If nothing else, they thought I had a good chance too. I sold the most ads in the pageant book. That night, when everyone got into their pageant gowns, I felt the knot in my stomach grow. My simple red lace gown from the discount mall was all that I could afford. The silver strappy shoes
12
H ea ve n i s No w – A n Ex cerp t
weren’t name brand or particularly special. It was in that moment I had the passing thought that maybe this girl who’d always been poor couldn’t possibly be a queen. I had to think about it for a moment and try to call on everything else I’d ever done that defined me more than where I came from. We’ve all done something in our lives at some point, even if it seems small, which gives us a clue to our character, to our strength, to our potential. I had to find that. For me, it was the modeling I’d done as a teen. It reminded me that I could act like it. I hadn’t won the title yet, but I was gonna act like a queen when it was my turn to take the stage, answer the final question, and leave my last impression on the judges. Up to that point, I’d been acting like a winner, and even when I had moments of doubt I couldn’t let those cloud my possibility. I couldn’t shrink back and say, “You know what? It doesn’t matter if I win or lose.” I didn’t give into the whatever like I’d done as a teen. I had to woman up, suck it in, lengthen my spine, and walk out onto that stage and act like the queen I know myself to be. I had to act like a winner.
13
B ern ette S her ma n
I wanted to win the title of Miss Black Georgia Metroplex 1996-1997. I really wanted it. I acted like I wanted it when I talked to people about the pageant before it took place. I made them believe, along with me, that I had a great chance. And when it came time, I had to act like what I wanted to be. I wanted to be the first pageant queen and so I acted like it. I acted like a queen, because that is what I wanted. Acting must go two ways. Yes, act like you want to experience whatever it is you say you want, but more importantly ACT LIKE what it is you want. Like attracts like. So before you tell me or anyone else you want to have a vibrant life ask yourself whether you are doing what you can to act vibrantly. The same goes for love. Do you want it? Act lovingly towards others. Do you want to be happy? Act with happiness in dealing with others and in doing your day to day activities. Do you want to be fulfilled? Help someone else find fulfillment and appreciate the things you already have. You don’t have to be satisfied with what you have, but you do need to appreciate the benefit it gives, because what we celebrate and give thanks for – we get more of.
14
H ea ve n i s No w – A n Ex cerp t
Do you want to experience heaven now? Act like it is here. If there is something you want there is no excuse big enough to justify a lifetime of waiting for it to come to you. Not unless what you want goes against the physical laws of nature. Then, maybe that would be a valid excuse, but only so far as your use of common sense knowledge of physical law. Otherwise, you’ve only used an impossible dream as an excuse to avoid your possible dream. Anything outside of this is a choice. It is a choice to excuse away your life and to excuse away your lack of having what you want in your life. It’s easy to make up reasons why something hasn’t happened. You need to come up with reasons why they will. If you want it enough, if you’re tired and fed up with the way it is, don’t look outside of you, but look at yourself. Decide that you deserve the life you want and do what it takes. Make the choice. Heaven is now. It’s not waiting for you in some great beyond AFTER you die. Jesus knew this, but people seem to miss his point. Instead, many people waste their lives, waiting on someone else to come and rescue them from a meager existence,
15
B ern ette S her ma n
to lift them up from troubles that surround them, and whisk them away to a castle they get through no active effort. This type of life, this type of mindset is an easy out. It’s an easy excuse to not be personally responsible and to not hold ourselves personally accountable for our lives. Enough Excuses! Stop with the excuses. Stop with the blaming. Stop with the finger pointing. Stop with the waiting. Just stop. Because until you can stop all of that other stuff, you can’t start creating your own heaven now. You have to stop making excuses about why you can’t have or don’t have. You have to stop blaming people, things, and situations that seem outside of you and start looking in the mirror at the one thing everything in your life has in common. You. You have to stop pointing fingers at others, deflecting where the power behind your life lies. It isn’t out there. It’s in you. And it’s time for you to stop waiting. There is something you can do now to start living the life you want. It may be a small step or a giant leap, but standing still will get you right where you are.
16
H ea ve n i s No w – A n Ex cerp t
You are meant for greatness. You are meant to be a human expression of the divine. Do you know what that means? God, source, spirit – by whatever name you want to call that divine power, it desires you. It desires you as a vehicle of divine expression on Earth. That’s an awesome calling and we each have it. There is a unique and special way that the divine wants to express through our lives – to create, love, share, and expand. However, too many of us, through our actions, tell God no. We feel the nudge and even the pull to do something new and different but we say no and stay where we are, doing what we’ve been doing. Why? Because we’re afraid. We’re afraid we might fail. We’re afraid we might succeed. We’re afraid we might not be good enough. We’re afraid we might stand out too much. We’re afraid our family and friends won’t accept us. We’re afraid that others might judge us. We’re afraid. We’re afraid it won’t work because on some level, admitted or not, we don’t think we’ve earned it. We don’t think we deserve it. We don’t think we are worthy of the dreams we carry in our hearts. What you think becomes your reality so think
17
B ern ette S her ma n
you’ve earned. Think you deserve it. Think you are worthy of your dreams - because you are. Imagine for a moment that you’re speaking to a child. You start asking them what they want to be when they grow up. You see a glimmer in their eyes and a smile light up their face. They tell you all about their amazing dram. Then the child looks off into the distance and her head lowers. She says, “But I can’t do that.” And you say, “Of course, you can. You can do whatever you put your mind to.” She says, “No. I’m not good enough.” She goes on to say how undeserving she is, why it can’t happen for her, and how family and friends don’t think she’s good enough. Maybe she describes how they tease her for thinking she’s so special and can be what she dreams of being. You tell her, “It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks or says. It doesn’t matter that it seems big right now. If you believe in yourself and work for it, you can do it.”
18
H ea ve n i s No w – A n Ex cerp t
She smiles a little bit. You go on to say, “Hey, I believe in you. I know you can do it.” She walks off; a seed planted that maybe she can. And you would have been right. She can do it. Perhaps you’d also be scratching your head that this child would ever think that way about herself. Who’s doing that for you? Who’s telling you that same truth? Because everything you might tell that child who is feeling insecure and doubtful are the same things you need to tell yourself. You can have whatever you dream if you really want it and are willing to work for it. If anyone else can do it, you can do it. And I’ll add that if no one has ever done it, you can be the first. I believe in you and I know you can do it. This is the truth. My mother was finally able to return to school for her associates when I was ten years old. My older brother was twelve and my younger brother was around seven. She had to wait for us to be old enough to before she could take that step. She moved nearly one thousand miles back to her home town and despite having only a fraction of the support she thought she’d have, she finished the spring I turned twelve.
19
B ern ette S her ma n
She was single, parenting three kids, working lowpaying jobs so she could both go to school and continue to parent us. I didn’t appreciate her sacrifice and belief in herself and her goal until many years later, but I look back and can see how easy it would have been for her to use her situation as an excuse rather than as a compelling reason to reach for a better life. So whatever it is you’ve been holding onto inside your heart. Whatever dreams steal your whispered thoughts. Whatever wishful tomorrows you find yourself longing for – they can be yours. Do what you need to do to have what you want to have. Prepare yourself now so that when the time comes, you are ready. Perhaps it means returning to school for more education or retraining. Maybe you need to develop new skills or practice skills that haven’t been used in a while. You may need to reach out to old friends and associates to rekindle relationships that aren’t as strong. Perhaps you need to make a plan and then work it. If you want something different, if you want something better, if you want to experience a life you love now, ACT like it.
20
H ea ve n i s No w – A n Ex cerp t
No one else can do it for you. That’s right no one. You can only get out of this life what you put into it. There is no way around it and in the end, everything balances and evens out, so you can’t game the universe. It doesn’t work that way. Oh, but how much sweeter your heaven will be when you know you planned it, designed it, and created it. You are most certainly worth living for, so go ahead and get started.
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One Life A Meditation
There is only one life. That life is God’s life. That life is perfect. That life is my life now. In this moment I recognize that everything around me is spirit. That ultimate divine spirit is love. All is love and therefore I am love. I am love. That divine spirit is perfect. I have that seed of perfection. The universe wants the highest good for me. I want the highest good for myself. I am worthy of that good. I sow good seeds in good soil and reap good rewards. I sow seeds of joy. I sow seeds of
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B ern ette S her ma n
prosperity. I sow seeds of love. I reap joy. I reap prosperity. I reap love. There is only one life. That life is God’s life. That life is perfect. That life is my life now
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The Truth
The truth is…I’ve been broken Heart bound hands open Drowning on the inside Smiling through the dark nights The truth is….I’d been in hiding Burying the truth behind the lies From beauty queen to broken dreams Who I was, was no more The truth is…I’d been ashamed How could I end up in this place Surely I was the one to blame As I so skillfully hid my tears
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B ern ette S her ma n
The truth is…I’d forgotten I’d given my power away I left it all to someone else To the hunter I was prey The truth is…I am truth From my inner crown to my reaching roots My broken self I had to mend I had to learn who I am again I am woman, strong, and smart Full of freedom and possibilities My mind is clear My heart is open I have reclaimed my power And in this truth I live In this truth, I am I Am Truth
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Other Works
The Fall and Rise of Faith: Leaving Religion and Finding God is available on Amazon Kindle at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LWWRP6Y. Heaven is Now: Enough Excuses. You ARE Worth Living For! – Available on Amazon Kindle at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M1HEQ4E and in paperback.
Stay Connected: http://www.BernetteSherman.com FB: www.facebook.com/groups/HeavenisNow/ Twitter Handle: BernetteSherman
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About the Author Bernette Sherman believes life is what you make it and that Heaven really is happening right now. She decided to begin creating the reality she wanted after setbacks and has no plans to stop following her passions. After years of writing, she decided to take herself seriously doing something she is passionate about and good at it, rather than doing what others thought she should be doing. Now, she is an Amazon best-selling inspirational (as Bernette Sherman) and sci-fi/fantasy author (under pen name A. Bernette), motivational speaker, and transformational coach. Bernette believes we can all live lives we love and be happy now, not in some distant hereafter that requires the sacrifice of physical death to partake of it. She is a spiritual teacher who sings and loves to dance. In between writing, pondering life’s big questions, and being involved in her spiritual community, she is actively mothering two amazing kids and enjoying her wonderful husband. Bernette has lived in the metro Atlanta, Georgia area for more than twenty years.
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