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17: The Manifesto
437 Plays3 years ago
Laura sums up the quest of seeking the still in this powerful manifesto. Let her words wash over you and allow the truth to settle deep in your soul. Each time you listen, you'll hear something different. And it will be exactly what you needed to know.
Sign up for Guided Prayer & Meditation with Laura at:
https://www.facebook.com/SeekTheStill/events/
To learn more about the products Laura mentions in this episode, visit podcast sponsor, Cindy Jenks, an ambassador with QSciences at myqwellness.com or email her questions at cindy@myqwellness.com.
Seeking The Still Website: Seekingthestill.com
Seeking The Still Instagram: Instagram.com/seekingthestill
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Transcript
Introduction to Seeking the Still Podcast
00:00:01
Speaker
Seeking the Still is produced by Jill Devine Media. Welcome to the Seeking the Still podcast with me, your host, Laura Fleetwood.
00:00:14
Speaker
In this safe space, we come together to seek the still amid chaotic lives, to get honest about what overwhelms us, to become connected to one another and to the divine, to step into who we were created to be. Always real, never perfect, and forever on your side.
Laura's Experience with Q Sciences
00:00:37
Speaker
This episode is brought to you today by Cindy Jenks, ambassador with Q Sciences. Cindy has introduced me to this company and it has changed my life. I do not lie to you guys ever. I do not inflate things that
00:00:55
Speaker
are not true. And I can tell you that I have not felt this good health wise and mind clarity wise and anxiety wise in a very, very long time. So I would love to introduce you to Q Sciences. I'd love to tell you more about it. I am actually an ambassador now as well because the more I used it, the more I talked about it, the more I just wanted to be part of this amazing company.
00:01:23
Speaker
So, it is a line of all-natural supplements, supplements that help all kinds of medical issues. For me, it's mostly helped my brain fog. My clarity of thinking has just become so clear, and that brain fog that came on with my anxiety is now completely gone.
00:01:46
Speaker
And the stress levels that I feel in my body have also significantly decreased. So I can acknowledge that 100% to Q Sciences because nothing else has changed. And I've been taking the daily
00:02:01
Speaker
Qmax supplements, as well as some of their hemp and CBD products. And you can now purchase those from a link right on my website, seekingthestill.com. Just scroll down to the nutritional supplements link and send me or Cindy any questions you have. Her email is Cindy
00:02:22
Speaker
at myqwellness.com. Mine is Laura at seekingthestill.com. And we would love to help you try these supplements so that you can also experience the difference that supplements made by people who know what they're doing, a naturopath, can make in your life. They make a huge difference.
Purpose of the Manifesto
00:02:44
Speaker
I'm looking forward to this episode because I am going to share with you my manifesto. Now, a manifesto is a statement of belief. And I wrote this piece several years ago when I wanted to document everything that I was learning about this quest to seek the still and the chaos of life. I had learned so much and I was afraid that I was going to forget it.
00:03:11
Speaker
that it would lose its impact on me and that I would not be able to fully explain it to other people. So I wrote it down and now I would like to share it with you. Here is the seeking the still manifesto. See striving to control your life restless soul. You're missing so much.
00:03:34
Speaker
With eyes narrow and hands clenched, you're asleep to inspiration around you. Your control keeps you stuck, rooted only in this chaotic world and so you struggle. You worry. Your life is consumed with worst case scenarios and what ifs. This is no way to live. Let me show you a better way.
00:04:00
Speaker
I am broken, hear me roar. I see it in your eyes. I hear it in your words. You are tired, anxious, busy, worn. There is not enough time in the day, you say. Hustle defines you, comparison defeats you, results matter and relationships suffer.
00:04:21
Speaker
You live your life fighting a future that never comes. Life is something you wade through, not enjoy. I have been there. I am there.
00:04:35
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What if there was a better way? The ultimate artist, the creator of every wonder is offering you so much more, a life so full and so free. You know this deep within. The call beckons you, but also unsettles you because it's risky to trust someone you cannot see, to depend on a God you cannot touch. And yet you need him. You know.
00:05:05
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You need a way to see truth, to breathe, to rest. A way to let go and trust. The divine is swirling around you and wants to be within you. Lose the chains. Stake the claim.
Invitation to Seek Stillness
00:05:21
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It's time to seek the still. Bondage.
00:05:26
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I felt it early, even as a child, this bone-deep desire for something more. Do the right thing. Get the good grades. Don't cause waves. Control is my addiction and approval, my vice. I'm chasing, always chasing, trying, yearning, wanting, numbing. I live in bondage.
00:05:48
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To myself. The fatal flaw of humanity is a chasm of need I cannot fill. But I try. Oh, how I try. Much of the striving is good. On the outside. It is a mask. A charade. A sneaky thief. Lose the weight. Kick the habit. Get the job. Buy the home. Earn the money.
00:06:13
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Seek the praise. Have the child. Be the best. In blindness and captivity, I try again and again and again. I am hostage to the illusion of my own control. But it's never enough. My health suffers. My mind twists. My soul withers dry.
00:06:33
Speaker
Yet I keep trying, insane, to expect a different result. Breaking. The bondage of my humanity comes with staggering costs. At times, a lightning bolt breaks me open. More often, tiny pebbles bring the avalanche tumbling down. I find myself broken and bleeding.
00:06:57
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No amount of striving, searching, or doing makes me whole. The shattered pieces are painful in this delicate vessel that is me. The darkness is thick. The blackness consuming. I am empty. My efforts work only for a while.
00:07:16
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Then the revelation comes slowly, but it comes. I cannot fix myself. I need a healer. Hero.
True Hero and Surrender
00:07:27
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Every story must have a hero, and you've been trying to make that hero you.
00:07:32
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But you are not the hero of your story, darling. No, you are the wanderer, the broken. You are unable to work your way out of your life's web of hurt, pain, lies, and heartache. It's true. You are the one who needs to be rescued.
00:07:50
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Oh, how your soul longs to be rescued. They call him Jesus and say he's God's own son. I heard about him as a babe in my mother's arms. She sang of him. He is there in the fabric of my ears. I prayed to him and learned of him. I believe he died and rose for me. I knew I would see him in heaven one day, but here's what I didn't know.
00:08:16
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I didn't know that he was the answer to my longing, my need, my everything. He is the hero you've been waiting for. It is not a church or religion or doctrine that finally sets you free. It is a person.
00:08:32
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And his name is Jesus Christ. And Christ, the true hero, sees you here hurting. And he is so good and so true and so full of light and love that he cannot bear to leave even one broken soul separated from him.
00:08:52
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Not one, not you. This hero doesn't do what you expect. He does not flex his muscles or call in an army. No, this hero does something much more radical, something so shocking, so undeserved. The hero takes your place.
00:09:12
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He takes your darkness and gives you his light for yesterday, for today, for tomorrow and forever. And you, with the weight of being a hero off of your shoulders and your darkness resting squarely on his shoulders, you now have a way to dance with one foot in this world and the other in eternity.
00:09:38
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Your future beyond this human body rests securely in the loving arms of God. The hero gave you that gift. And now you live the rest of your limited days in this world, responding to that great sacrifice of love until you fall asleep and wake to see your hero face to face.
00:10:01
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Surrender. There's no dramatic moment of revelation, rather a journey that continues still. In the darkest pit of fear and longing, I called to him. I begged him. I screamed at him. I came clean of my pain, my wrongs, and my shame.
00:10:20
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He met me there and he loved me still. So I keep bringing the darkness to him minute by minute, day by day. It is messy and hard, so hard, but he is always there waiting for me to come. Little by little, light shines through. A shedding begins. Layers of my life fall, and I see them clearly for the first time.
00:10:49
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In the ray of his light, the truth comes forth. I fight battles, but he wins the war. I raise my white flag and surrender into the arms of his great love. Trust. My life is my witness. In every valley, every shadow, he is faithful. Answers come not as I ask, but they do come. The darkest days are the sacred ground where he meets me.
00:11:19
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In a million little waves, he's weaved the tapestry of my life. Goals and threads crisscross and lives intersect. He provides, he saves, he restores. Time proves his power and might. My puny plans hold no weight against his perfect will. Receive.
Embracing the Present Moment
00:11:45
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Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow never comes. But today, today is a gift unfolding. I don't know how I missed it before. The miracles are everywhere. His love a fountain washing over the world. The trees hint at his majesty. The butterflies promise rebirth. People walk the earth as his hands and feet.
00:12:10
Speaker
Ideas and opportunities appear as whispers of His will. Creation cries out, receive, seek the miracles and you will find them. The divine is swirling around you and in you. Open your eyes and you will see. Release, receive, rejoice, the sacred dance.
00:12:35
Speaker
I surrender my life to take it back again. I worship and adore him only to betray and reject him. The struggle is great, but his grace is greater. Faith trumps fear. Life triumphs over death. Joy overwhelms mourning. I will forever dance between the tension of my will and his. I feel him whisper, do you want to feel peace and joy again?
00:13:04
Speaker
You can't work your way out of this one on your own. Be still and know that I am God. So to seek the still, I do what does not come naturally to me, what I cannot do on my own.
00:13:18
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I let things drop. I face my fears. I search for answers, not in my own capabilities, but in the loving hands of my Heavenly Father. I share what I have learned and the mistakes I've made. I'm honest, raw, real. I take off my mask because real is the only way to help others, to tell my story, to let love.
00:13:48
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When? It seems so simple. So strange and wonderful and simple. And yet you can feel the truth pressing into the fiber of your being. You are a spiritual soul having a temporary human experience, dear one. That truth changes everything.
00:14:11
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Even in the midst of this messy, chaotic human life, you are free to float as a feather in the divine wind of love. It is not random the places you are carried and the people you touch. It's the next part of your story. And if you try to take back the role of the hero, you will miss it.
00:14:36
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Please don't miss it. Seek the still with me. Let's dance. Be still.