Today, is my 21st Anniversary. I married an amazing person, Patrick Feren, my soulmate, in 2001. We’d known each other since 1997 and moved in together in 1998. So, in reality, we’ve been together in a committed loving relationship for 24 years.

As we woke up this morning, we talked about our life. We reminisced all we had been through – the challenges that we had overcome. These challenges included living in poverty to erasing debt to September 11, 2001 to hospitalizations to losing our parents to family struggles, etc., etc., etc. We’d been through a lot and we’d overcome it all. These challenges didn’t even include those that we’d experienced before meeting each other.

Why is this important to remember? Because on some days, I think that in the moment, we think we are not going to get through a particular hardship. We think it’s worse than it’s ever been. We ask ourselves questions like, “Why am I here again?” or “Am I failing?” or we just want to give up. When this happens to any of us, I believe we have to think a little bit deeper, look at our life and celebrate it like one big triumph.

“We see the abundance in the Universe. We cannot count the grains of sand on a single beach. The earth contains untold riches and the very air is vibrant with power. Why then, is man weak, poor and afraid. The Science of Mind deals with these questions.” (Ernest Holmes as quoted in “What Do I Need to KNOW? 101 Thoughts That Changed My Life.”

This is what I am thinking about today, on my anniversary, as I reflect on my own life with my husband, Patrick. Why did we experience any of those challenges I spoke of if, indeed, the above quote is Truth? There is only one answer: We did not KNOW who we were or are; or, maybe we know it, but we did not totally live it. Again, we did not KNOW, which is a huge difference. When we KNOW that we KNOW, we’ve embodied the Truth and are living it.

Who are we? The Power and Presence of Source Energy with all the capabilities to move mountains by realizing that they are not really there. When I look back on all that I have been through and realize that I moved through the experiences and am here to remember and talk about them, I realize that I’ve been fooling myself by acting small and saying I do not know who I am. I do KNOW, and not only do I KNOW, those experiences prove that I have used the Power.

Those experiences also point to why I am here on earth, why we are all find ourselves here on earth. We are here to “prove that spiritual thought force is greater than material resistance.” (Ernest Holmes) Can we prove this in some way today? Can we look back at our individual lives and see how strong we truly are? How brave we truly are?

I invite us to look at our pasts as triumphs and to bring ourselves here to this moment in celebration for a job well done no matter how it turned out. We can turn it all into wisdom right now. We are here and we get to start over again and again. And, the clearer we get on who we are, and the more we take responsibility for what is right now, the easier it is to be present in a powerful life. Let us claim that we KNOW that we KNOW.

Love and Aloha and Happy Anniversary to All of us,

Rev. Rita Andriello-Feren, Co-Spiritual Director CSL Kaua`i, Spiritual Coach and Author