This week on podcast 115, we are talking about life changing moments that make your faith stronger. Jump in here.
I have always had a faith but there have been spiritual moments in my life that have shaken me up and blown me away. It was lovely to hear my guest, Marie Claire, share deeply in terms of the catalyst for writing her first book, it is what it is.
You can also access the discussion at the video link below.
Marie Claire shared with me how, before an extreme spiritual experience in Rome, she felt ashamed to talk about her faith. I can relate. When I was at primary school, saying I went to church seemed very ‘uncool’. Just like getting piano lessons, which is why I stopped them. Damn you ego. It takes me much longer to learn the keys these days, if only I had kept them up. As I got older, my shame at times came down to dogma, there were certain things I struggled with in my teenage years, such as accepting the loving God I felt connected with would send some of the nicest people I had met to ‘hell’. We are all capable of both divine and demonic qualities and I certainly didn’t feel like I was worthy of being ‘saved by grace’ and others were not. I believe at the heart of everything, we are all equal. Then I started to interpret the scriptures in a more mindful and compassionate way. A way that is in line with my personal values. I’m not one for debates round the table about who is ‘right or wrong’. But I do believe that God is pure love and I have had many experiences in terms of feeling this love deeply over the years. It would be too hard to put those experiences into words because they blew me away. A bit like a full on heart opening. If you have been through something like this, you will understand. There is nothing quite as euphoric as a full blown spiritual encounter. As we discuss, it can strip you down and spiral you into either a breakthrough, a breakdown or perhaps a combination of the two. As I often say, like love, faith is a personal thing. It’s a feeling. Have you ever met a person who instantly felt like home? Sometimes a calm stillness, other times an exciting buzz.
I often feel most at home with my faith when in nature, when the sun shines brightly on my face or in church, especially when music is playing. Last week, I was in the car driving with the kids. A song came on my playlist that we used to sing in church pre lockdown. You can imagine the buzz, with hundreds of people all in and singing together, the band playing and nailing the music. In the car, I was taken back to those amazing times we took for granted. The ability to sing together in public, what a joy. I attended a funeral recently via zoom and boy did I miss the singing. We are not even allowed to sing happy birthday these days, very sad times.
That moment in the car, I felt a peace and divine energy, so much that I played the song twice. The kids were in the back of the car, calm and taking it all in. The following day I received a text from my Sister in law with a link to that same song, saying it had been helping them through lockdown. The timing of this was pretty significant. I’ve put the song below.
I hope you enjoy our podcast discussion this week and it challenges you and gives you some good vibes.
Marie-Claire is the creator of Dream Magic Superfood Powders. She is also a Quantum Energy Coach and runs Dream Fitness with her sister Joanna. She is super passionate about all things related to improving Health, Fitness and Mental Wellbeing and loves helping her clients to look and feel their best – mentally and physically. Her first book, It Is What It Is, comes out in March. The book details the many valuable lessons she leant during lockdown. Lessons of acceptance, forgiveness, love and hope. It is about her toolkit which she has accumulated over the last 20 years of studying personal development and how this toolkit helped her navigate the storm. It is also about her deep faith in God and how this faith has helped her overcome so much.
Rather than despair over the restrictions and drastic changes to day-to-day life, Marie-Claire Donnelly chose to view lockdown as a learning experience, to go deep within and find the silver lining in such an unexpected situation. The result of that experience is a book full of both laughter and vulnerability, as well as journal prompts, affirmations, and heaps of love.
Contact her here
Follow her popular podcast here, which is dubbed by her global listeners as ‘free therapy’.
Tune into her daily stories on Instagram @jojofrasermojo and Facebook @jojofrasermojo.
You can purchase her first book here.
