As salaam alikum Reader,

I pray this message finds you well.

The solar calendar year is coming to an end, and around this time people tend to think about how to make their lives better for the coming year.. The word 'alignment' is an interesting one that we often use when thinking about self-devolpment. We want to be in alignment, or we are feeling out of alignment...and what does that all mean, and how do we fix this feeling.

There is something about alignment that doesn't quite hit the mark for me. Instead of alignment, I want you to consider that the only place to be is in complete submission to God. The reality of that submission is that it brings us to a state of witnessing the oneness of Allah, al-Ahad, al-Waahid, and in that witnessing of His oneness, we cease to be.

It may sounds all clouds in the sky, and what does this have to do with alignment, but I'll get there insha'Allah.

If Allah is One, and He is the only Do-er, and all are coming from and returning to Him, then our alignment is to be found only in being completely submitted to His will. The extent to which our hearts reamin prostrated to Our Lord, is the extent to which we will have a sound, aligned, submitted heart, and our minds and bodies and our entire lives will follow, God wiling.

I invite you to let go of alignment in favor of submission. A submitted heart is a heart that can recieve from the Divine the guidance, wisdom, direction and insights that it needs, and more than it could ever imagine on its own. A submitted heart approaches Allah in all you do and experiences the world as His servant, happy to be moved in the direction of the One he has complete trust and relliance on.

Submission does not mean ease, or constant happinness. Submission comes with facilitation, contentmmet, and pleasure with the Divine deccree for His sake.

So what am I saying...its not about you aligning with God, Reader , it's about you submitting to Him.

Don't worry, there will still be things to do. Doors will open, others will close. Some paths will widen with facilitation, others will narrow with obstacles. You will change. You will be changed. You will be molded and shaped into a better, more expansive version of yourself by His grace. The more you submit to Allah, the more He will show you the gem you truly are. A unique gem, that He has entrusted with unique responsibilities, and a unique relationship with Him as a pathway to fulfill all that He has made posssible for you.

The more you get comfrotable with your servitude to Him for His sake the higher in rank He will raise you.

Your Love for your Creator will increase, and then, your obeying His messenger will increase, and then, your Creators love for you increaeses, and repeat. What a beautiful pathway.

So as the new year is on the horizon start thinking about how you can get deeper into submission to your Lord. Perfect the obligatory acts you are doing, add on the superogatory acts, lean hard into acts of worshop that are easy for you....these are your personal golden tickets. Watch what Allah unfolds for you when you seek not to be His partner, but to have Him as complete Lord over your Life.

Wa salaam alaikum

PS-The Muhsinah Himma Circle is starting up this December insha'Allah. It is a Spiritual Mastermind for women dedicated to expanind and deepening their relationship with their Creator. For the woman on a steady path to grow her intuition, servitude, and insight for the sake of Allah. The group coaching & mastermind is a space where we magnetically energize our sisters on this path towards Spiritual Excellence that we are being pulled to and called to for the sake of Allah. If you are a woman committed to her growth and expansion in dunya & akhira i invite you to join us. This year our theme is 'Allah loves: taqi, ghani, khafee' (Allah loves the one who is pious, free of wants, inconspicuous) Find out more and register here.

PPS-