SusannaBarlow.com

I read something the other day I want to share with you.

“People can only love you to the capacity that they are able to love themselves. They can only forgive and embrace you to the capacity that they are able to forgive and embrace themselves. They can only give [...]]]> Hello my dear friend,

I read something the other day I want to share with you.

“People can only love you to the capacity that they are able to love themselves. They can only forgive and embrace you to the capacity that they are able to forgive and embrace themselves. They can only give you what they have the capacity to give.”

“It’s not your responsibility to grow other people. Your responsibility is to love them right where they are.”

I couldn’t feel more strongly about those words if I’d written them myself.
They were written by my friend Lisa Nichols. I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know her over the past few years. Lisa is one of those wonderful people who lives what she teaches.

Much like me, Lisa grew up in very difficult circumstances. She was raised in a very poor and dangerous community, often in fear for her life. She could easily have become a bitter, angry and resentful person. It didn’t happen overnight, but she became just the opposite.

It was qigong that transformed my life in an instant. Lisa’s journey has been different than mine but we’ve come to the same understanding of the power of love.

Lisa discovered how to transform her life by opening her heart. The work she has done with teenagers growing up in similar circumstances to hers is truly a blessing.

In her new book, No Matter What, Lisa tells her story of transformation and gives us the steps she discovered that led her to opening her heart.

“Understanding is an inner shift that brings about huge returns in the external world. It frees you from anger and pain and allows you to move through life with more energy, purpose and joy–no matter what!”

Learn more about Lisa and her new book.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this email. I hope it will bring blessings to your life.

With love,

Chunyi

(Be prepared to get watery eyes!)

Like any good mother, when Karen found out that another baby was on the way, she did what she could to help her 3-year-old son, Michael, prepare for a new sibling.

They found out that [...]]]> You are My Sunshine, My only Sunshine’

(Be prepared to get watery eyes!)

Like any good mother, when Karen found out that another baby was on the way, she did what she could to help her 3-year-old son, Michael, prepare for a new sibling.

They found out that the new baby was going be a girl, and day after day, night after night, Michael sang to his sister in mommy’s tummy.

He was building a bond of love with his little sister before he even met her.

The pregnancy progressed normally for Karen, an active member of the Panther Creek United Methodist Church in Morristown , Tennessee

In time, the labor pains came. Soon it was every five minutes, every three, every minute. But serious complications arose during delivery and Karen found herself in hours of labor.

Would a C-section be required? Finally, after a long struggle, Michael’s little sister was born. But she was in very serious condition.

With a siren howling in the night, the ambulance rushed the infant to the neonatal intensive care unit at St. Mary’s Hospital, Knoxville ,Tennessee. The days inched by. The little girl got worse. The pediatrician had to tell the parents there is very little hope. Be prepared for the worst.

Karen and her husband contacted a local cemetery about a burial plot. They had fixed up a special room in their house for their new baby but now they found themselves having to plan for a funeral. Michael, however, kept begging his parents to let him see his sister. I want to sing to her, he kept saying.

Week two in intensive care looked as if a funeral would come before the week was over.

Michael kept nagging about singing to his sister, but kids are never allowed in Intensive Care. Karen decided to take Michael whether they liked it or not.

If he didn’t see his sister right then, he may never see her alive.  She dressed him in an oversized scrub suit and marched him into ICU.

He looked like a walking laundry basket.

The head nurse recognized him as a child and bellowed,

‘Get that kid out of here now. No children are allowed..’

The mother rose up strong in Karen, and the usually mild-mannered lady glared steel-eyed right into the head nurse’s face, her lips a firm line.

‘He is not leaving until he sings to his sister’ she stated.

Then Karen towed Michael to his sister’s bedside. He gazed at the tiny infant losing the battle to live. After a moment, he began to sing.

In the pure-hearted voice of a 3-year-old, Michael sang:

‘You are my sunshine, my only sunshine,

you make me happy when skies are gray.’

Instantly the baby girl seemed to respond.

The pulse rate began to calm down and become steady.

‘Keep on singing, Michael,’ encouraged Karen with tears in her eyes.

‘You never know, dear, how much I love you,

please don’t take my sunshine away.’

As Michael sang to his sister, the baby’s ragged, strained breathing became as smooth as a kitten’s purr

‘Keep on singing, sweetheart.’

‘The other night, dear, as I lay sleeping, I dreamed I held you in my arms’

Michael’s little sister began to relax as rest, healing rest, seemed to sweep over her.

‘Keep on singing, Michael.’

Tears had now conquered the face of the bossy head nurse. Karen glowed.

‘You are my sunshine, my only sunshine.

Please don’t take my sunshine away.’

The next day…the very next day, the little girl was well enough to go home.

Woman’s Day Magazine called it The Miracle of a Brother’s Song.

The medical staff just called it a miracle.

Karen called it a miracle of God’s love.

NEVER GIVE UP ON THE PEOPLE YOU LOVE.

LOVE IS SO INCREDIBLY POWERFUL.

Life is good.

Have a Wonderful Day!

In God We Trust!