more information on the inspiration

Open your eyes...why that title? So many reasons...but here is one.

A long long long time ago....when I was about 16, I had an experience where I am sure I had heard the voice of God. Yup...not just some voice in my head, not some schitzophrenic conjuring...the true voice of God. Totally different voice than the one that tells me I am fat, or sits in constant worry about how my kids are doing. No, this voice was Big....and by Big I mean it came from the heavens Big....but yet it was quiet and just for me. Sort of like the sound of the wind rustling thru the trees on a bright summer sunshiney day.

I had been a melancholy teen...who wasn't in the mid 90's? But I also prayed...more than usual...because I was so down. I journaled alot, and cried alot too. I really wanted something to happen, something to be a sign (I have always been big into "signs")

I was set to go to a language camp for a month that summer, to take French for credit for HS. I was driving to GF one day, and was very hung over....(some friends and I got into some shenanigans on the home front.) I clearly heard the voice, and it said, "Open your Eyes." So I am thinking what the heck does that mean? I kept my eyes on the road, just in case it was some sort of traffic type warning.

Got to camp, and I heard the voice again, same thing, "Open your Eyes." It was a resonating sound that made my whole body hum. So I sat out on this open wide futbol lawn that was surrounded by the most beautiful trees and above an oceanic umbrella of blue blue sky. I focused on the words....said them in my head (and yes that voice was clearly different, clearly my own in a pondering tone.) Then something shifted. That is the only way I can think to describe it....it was like everything just widened and expanded and moved slightly over....and things were more vibrant, things were more clear.....I noticed life all around me. I noticed Love all around me and it was everywhere!

It was like I had always had tunnel vision, but now I could CLEARLY see....this is the kind of see I think of when I watched the movie Avatar, and the characters said, "I see you." When you have experienced that, it is like touching heaven for a moment.

To live in this state of mind consistently would be amazing. It gets hard for me....but remembering that I have been there, I know I can find my way back.

I pray you all find that one day....there is alot out there, past the blinders, past the muddy goggles.....a whole bright and amazing world...even in 40 below zero with raging clipper winds. :)