7/20/37 Tuesday morning GD's letter:
Dearest [
480] -
I'm so sorry your telephone call was wasted last night. When
the Reading was finished I realized I had failed to ask you
whether to phone it or not. However, I thought you would
call around seven if you were going to phone at all; so we
waited until about seven-twenty before leaving for Norfolk
to attend a Group meeting. I mailed your Reading Special
from Norfolk last night. If I had know Eckin (Edgar Evans)
was going to be home, I would have left the Reading out for
him, or left some message for you.
There doesn't seem to be anything special to wire, unless I
tell you a few more things to eat, and I imagine two or three
more meals won't make much difference. Everything seems to
be going along nicely.
Dear [
480]! You are certainly going through a purging period
physically, and necessarily it must be a mental and spiritual
purging as well - else the whole thing would be without
purpose. I can't imagine anything harder to meet than what
you are having to cope with, after having built up such high
hopes. But there is one consolation which I'm sure you must
feel, as I do, that this is only a passing experience - a
beginning really; something of what Job had to go through
with before he was ready for everything to be returned to
him manyfold.
We have been wondering, [
480], in our attempt to see the
bright side, if perhaps this experience isn't a blessing in
disguise, since this glandular condition which is being
worked out in such a drastic manner may have been transmitted
to the child. I mean, his little body may have been so
imbued with the glandular weakness that it would have been a
fight all his life to overcome it; while with your body well
and strong and perfectly free from this trouble you can build
him a new body without a single weak point. Of course, this
may be only imagination, but we have to find something to be
thankful for - else there is only despair, lack of hope, and
we become miserable instead of being channels of light as we
were intended. Then, too, I can't help but be thankful that
Jim's soul didn't come into the body - that is, if the body
had to pass - because now he can be ready for another body
which you can prepare for him; while if he had entered and
then passed, I don't believe he could have come back so
quickly and to the same parents. So, after all, it was only
his physical body that passed - which you and [
633] created,
with the God-given power from within, and which you can
recreate. I loved that part of the Reading where it said
that he had chosen to remain - for the present - with his
Maker. Of course, it seems such a pity to go through the
preparation period and all the suffering as you did without
apparently anything to show for it but disappointment.
However, as we have learned from the last two Readings, you
WILL have a perfect body to show for it, and the ability to
carry on and give Jim the undivided attention which he will
need in his training and development.
Please forgive me if I sound TOO optimistic. I know it is
impossible for me to fully comprehend just what you are going
through, but I also know that you are capable of rising to
the occasion and gaining soul development from it as no one
else of my acquaintance. It is only those who are
spiritually strong that can withstand the disappointments
with a smile and look to the mark of the Higher Calling as
set in Him. I know that it is only from Him that we can
receive consolation and peace, and courage to carry on. When
we look elsewhere we are indeed lost in the slough of
despair. So many we meet every day who are dwelling only in
their misfortunes and are miserable. If we can only realize
that there is a Divine Purpose back of everything that
happens to us, then the way becomes easier - no matter how
hard it may seem at first.
[
391] and [
934] have been so touched by this experience, more
than by anything which has happened outside of themselves
since I've known them. I think it is because they realize
what they would have missed if their baby [
1208] had not
lived. They realize it now more than they would have at the
time, because - not being spiritually strong as you are,
[
480] - I don't believe they would have developed under such
an experience. In fact, there was a time - when the baby was
so ill - that many of us thought it would perhaps be a
blessing for them not to have the privilege of keeping him;
but we were wrong in our surmise. God, in His Wisdom, knows
what we are capable of - and He looks on the heart rather
than the outward appearances. And, really, their lives have
been made over by this child; I've never seen such a change
in anyone! Of course, they're not ideal parents by a long
shot, but at least they are thinking about the child's good
instead of their own waywardness; and their life has a
constructive purpose whereas before it didn't. So, I can see
where we are ALL tried - as in a furnace - in the thing we
need or desire most. I give thanks every day that I am
privileged to be a witness of so many souls in the making;
because I truly believe that we are being made ourselves from
day to day; we either grow bigger or smaller in God's plan
each day, as we react to circumstances, to emotions, to
mental turmoils. And, as someone has said, "I am bigger than
anything that can happen to me." If we can just realize
that, and remain faithful as Job did, I'm sure everything
will come out RIGHT for us.
I'm glad you are planning a trip to the mountains. I thought
you would. Has the tonic come, and how does it taste? I
hope it isn't too awful tasting! You know, that's a funny
thing about the artichoke. The Readings have for years
recommended it in the diet for certain individuals, saying
it contained the necessary elements, etc., but never did
mention insulin till your Reading. Then two or three days
later we noticed in the newspaper (you may have seen it too)
that a large artichoke farm is being started in North
Carolina, because recent tests have proved that the soil
there yields an artichoke with a high glucose content, which
is valuable in treatment of diabetes. So many things like
that happen every day, when the Readings have been giving
such for years, that we have ceased to wonder; but we are
collecting such clippings to file with all the data we have
had on diabetes for years, or on any other ailment. You know
every Reading you have had mentioned the adrenal glands as
being the source of your trouble, and it is remarkable that
the condition can be worked off in this manner. It just
shows how little we - or the doctors - know about such
things. You had to go through the experience of pregnancy
to bring the condition to a head in that manner, so that it
could be gotten AT.
I'm wondering what you are going to do about the apartment;
I hope you will keep it and still prepare it for Jim - for
I am so certain he is waiting and will continue to wait for
another chance to come to you. That should make the delay
seem shorter, just knowing that he is ready and waiting.
There is no such thing as time or space in the spiritual
world, and what seems such a long time to us means nothing
there - he is still just as much a part of you.
Mr. Cayce is holding up fine, but he said yesterday that
he would soon have to take a rest; he would like to go on
a fishing trip for about a week. I hope a convenient time
will present itself. I believe this is the busiest summer
so far that we have had in many years. We're grateful for
being busy, but then again we can't overdo our "channel."
A heart full of love from all here to each one of you. May
God bless you and keep you.
As ever, Gladys
8/12/37 She submitted questions for
480-42, saying: "When
speaking with you tonight I meant to tell you what a great
comfort your letter was and how much we all appreciated it.
This has been a trying period and I don't have to tell you
what wonderful cooperation I've gotten from [
601], [
619]
and [
633]... I have no fear of going through it again, with
your aid."



Edgar Cayce Readings © 1971, 1993, 1994, 1995 by the Edgar Cayce Foundation