I turned back to the water as longing deep inside of me roared to life. Without another thought, I dipped my hand into the water. The power of the water tingled on my fingers and palm.

Daughter, light of the world, there is nothing to fear. Drink of my love. Let go of your whole life and become who you’ve always been.

Daughter? A lump gathered in my throat. Daughter of whom? The name came from beyond my memories and learned behaviors. Beyond my past and hopes for the future. I knew that name not with my mind but with my heart.

Father.

Without hesitation I brought my hand to my lips and drank the water. The moment it hit my mouth, everything around me shifted. There was no longer a waterfall, or a boy, or a pool, or Grace. The waters of love and light engulfed all I thought there should be and left me with only what was.

Father. The source of my being. Love. Pure light that filled every corner and cell of my body yet reached beyond me because it couldn’t be limited. It couldn’t be contained. And I was in it, fully braided with the light that held me in perfect love, free from all fear and trouble and darkness. Because in my Father there was no darkness.

In that moment, I knew who I was. Knew beyond understanding. I was experiencing love all around me and in me. I was awakening to who I always had been.

I closed my eyes, tilted my head back, and began to shake with the power of it all.

My Father is light, and in him there is no darkness. I am the light of the world.

My Father is love, and as I experience true love I experience him, he in me and I in him, as one. There is no fear in true love, the love that holds no record of wrong. That love is the evidence of being in the light.

Overwhelmed, I hung my head and wept like a child. It was so simple. Tears of gratefulness and wonder fell from my eyes. I felt like I was being reborn into a whole new perception of all that existed. How could I have missed this?

For a long time all I heard was the thundering waterfall, which to me was like the thundering of love through my mind, my veins, my bones. I knew that love. I experienced it. I was it.

How long I knelt there, I don’t know. Maybe an eternity. And then my weeping turned to sniffles and I gave a huge sigh.

Eli, I thought. Where is Eli?

I opened my eyes, and the moment I did, the thundering waterfall was gone. I blinked in the dim light of the cell.

I was back!

I started to stand, but my legs were too weak and I collapsed back on my heels, twisting to see the cell.