A Contemplative Guide to Healing Presence

There Is Suffering, There Is Love, There Is Jesus

“Be still, and know that I am God.” — Psalm 46:10

For the part of me that is learning to rest as awareness.
— G. Ross Clark

 Introduction

One quiet day, despair descended like a heavy cloud. There was no clear reason, only the raw presence of sadness — deep, weighty, almost paralyzing. As you lay on the couch, something within whispered: do not resist, simply notice. So you began to breathe, softly noting each moment as it was: ‘sadness’… ‘suffering’… without story, without demand. And in that simplicity, something shifted — the movement from identification to awareness, from being the sadness to being the one who sees.

Then a deeper grace appeared. The words arose quietly within: ‘There is suffering. There is love. There is Jesus.’ And with them, the weight lifted. The emotional tide receded. Peace and Presence took its place. This small yet profound turning reveals a living doorway into healing — where Pure Mind and Christ Presence meet.

 

The Movement of Awareness

At first, the experience was entirely personal: ‘I am sad. I am despairing.’ In that identification, awareness was veiled. When you began to simply note — ‘sadness,’ ‘suffering’ — you stepped back into the witnessing consciousness. Awareness became aware of itself. This is the movement from ‘I am the pain’ to ‘I see the pain.’ From that shift, light begins to enter.

Each note was not an analysis but a blessing of presence. Nothing was forced, nothing denied. The mind quieted, and what remained was simple seeing — Pure Mind, open and still.

Contemplation:

Each time I name what is here without resistance, I return to the still knowing that is my true home.

 

The Alchemy of Suffering

When you said, ‘There is suffering,’ something sacred occurred. Ownership dissolved. You no longer said, ‘I am suffering,’ but ‘there is suffering.’ The ‘I’ loosened its grip. And into that open space, love flowed — not created, but revealed. Love is the natural fragrance of awareness once resistance fades.

And then came Jesus — not as an external figure descending from beyond, but as Presence itself, love embodied. This is the living Christ-consciousness that meets awareness in its most surrendered moment. It is grace finding itself in the mirror of your openness.

Prayer:

Beloved Jesus,
In my moments of suffering, help me to remember: it is not mine, it is simply life moving.
May I see all pain through Your eyes of compassion, and let love arise where resistance once lived.

 

The Simplicity of the Practice

The simplicity of this practice is its power. Nothing to analyze, fix, or transform — only awareness itself, breathing through the moment. To note what is happening without personal ownership is to open the door for grace. The practice requires no expectation, no outcome. Simply presence, breath, and love.

With each in-breath: ‘suffering’… ‘there is suffering.’
With each out-breath: ‘there is love’… ‘there is Jesus.’

This is prayer without words, mindfulness without effort, and communion without form.

Reflection:

When I cease trying to change the moment and simply notice it, I find that Love is already here.

 

The Grace of Impersonality

To not take suffering personally does not mean to avoid feeling it. It means allowing feeling to move through awareness freely — like wind through an open field. When experience is not owned, it becomes pure energy returning to stillness. Awareness holds all things in its compassionate gaze, untouched and unafraid.

Jesus said, ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’ That rest is found not by fixing the world, but by releasing the burden of ‘me.’ In surrender, you discover that all pain, when seen clearly, is a doorway to divine love.

 

The Living Prayer

There is a prayer that now lives quietly in your breath — born of experience, not imagination:

There is suffering.
There is love.
There is Jesus.

This is the mantra of transformation. Each line opens the heart further until only Presence remains. It is both a meditation and a communion — the merging of Pure Mind and Christ Heart.

 

Contemplative Practice:

Sit in silence each morning. Feel the rhythm of the breath.
As sensations, thoughts, or emotions arise, note gently:
‘There is suffering.’
When peace begins to emerge, note: ‘There is love.’
And as the heart softens, whisper inwardly: ‘There is Jesus.’

Do not strive to reach any state. Simply rest in awareness — the home of all healing.

 

Closing Blessing

Beloved Jesus,
Thank You for showing that even suffering can become the doorway to Love.
Thank You for teaching that awareness and compassion are one.
May I walk each day in this remembrance:

There is suffering.
There is love.
There is Jesus.

“Love is Everything.”
— G. Ross Clark