Welcome to Everyday Miracle Stories!

I am very pleased to introduce this series and am grateful to Amy Speach, who is writing the stories. Amy drove from Syracuse, New York to attend a retreat in October 2008 and instantly became an integral part of James and my life and our Course Oasis community. Amy is a gifted writer and, inspired by the students’ stories she heard that day, she suggested that we make them available on our website. We thought it was a great idea; she went to work interviewing and writing; and here we are. We hope that you will be inspired by the stories, by the people you will meet through them, and by A Course in Miracles, this powerful path of transformation, healing, and awakening.

Mary Anne

From Amy:

I first came to Course Oasis in October 2008, when I attended a mini-retreat on the holy instant. At the time, I had been studying the Course on my own for about six years. I met Mary Anne through the Circle of Atonement’s online Circle Course Community, which I joined as a founding member in January 2008. Other than the support materials from the Circle, I hadn’t yet worked with a teacher in my Course studies, so I was blown away when I saw the ways Mary Anne makes the Course come alive for her students. I was amazed by the depth of understanding demonstrated by the people I met at Course Oasis that day, and the ways they were internalizing the Course, applying its lessons in very practical ways, and experiencing healing in their everyday lives-even people who had been working with the Course for only a few months. That first experience inspired me to collaborate with Mary Anne on this series of miracle stories-personal accounts of healing that beautifully illustrate the power of A Course in Miracles to transform our relationships and our lives in this world. I dedicate them with deep gratitude to Mary Anne and James for the work they do at Course Oasis to honor the life of the Course, and with love and appreciation to those whose stories appear here-for their openness, honesty, and willingness to share their personal experiences of working with the Course.

-Amy Speach
Syracuse, New York

Just one look at Kathy Chomitz makes it clear that she’s blessed with an inner tranquility that comes from beyond this world. But it hasn’t always been that way. Having grown up in an abusive home, Kathy long struggled with trying to feel “normal,” eventually experiencing a sense of despair so debilitating that she literally wanted to die. “I had contemplated ending my life almost my whole life,” says Kathy, a registered nurse with 19 years’ experience in the ICU and almost 4 years in palliative care. “But something–God–kept me plugging along, trying the best I could to find a reason for staying in this life.” Nine years ago, however, Kathy’s mental health hit bottom. “I couldn’t do anything but sleep, eat, and contemplate taking my life,” she says. “The only thing that kept me from acting on it was my children. I had worked so hard to become the parent to them that my parents had not been for me, and had come so far in my crusade to end the family abuse in my lifetime, that I was not about to cause them the trauma of losing their mother at her own hand. I did not even want them to know I was hurting. Their lives had to be innocent and untouched. So I struggled to become well, and slowly crawled out of my hole.” Continue reading →

Truly Helpful

For many of us, our work with the Course begins from a place of sorrow. Something in this world is making us crazy or breaking our hearts, sending us in search of a higher wisdom and a gentler way. So we come to the Course’s teachings with great longing and high hopes. But because our lives feel chaotic and our hearts are breaking, we may also come cautiously–warily–and armed with a fair amount of doubt about whether forgiveness really can heal our suffering and bring us peace. Continue reading →