Struggle and Spiritual Growth
Every once in a while you hear of someone who experienced profound spiritual growth without having to go through any tough times. However, most of the time, spiritual growth is preceded by some type of struggle or suffering. There is some period of unhappiness, fear or even misery that opens the door for spiritual growth. Even after the door to something bigger is initially shown to us, we often find it difficult to push the door fully open and walk through.
Instead, we usually face another period of doubt, fear or the feeling of being lost or alone. If we stay the course, the door opens even wider and we find greater peace, an ability to get along better with others, and new possibilities entering our lives.
Something in us has to die before we can accept our divine connection. Virtually all religions speak of dying before we are reborn to the spirit. What we were must die for us to begin to live a new life. We need a new outlook, and for that to happen, we have to shed the old outlook.
For whatever reason, God seems to get our attention through struggle. We come to a point where we no longer want to live the same way. Enough is enough. We’re suffering and this leads us to invite something different into our lives.
We all know of countless people who turned their lives around and grew spiritually after suffering or going through adversity. The drug addict or alcoholic that has to hit “bottom” before making a spiritual breakthrough. The person sentenced to a long prison term who sees life in a new way after years in solitude. The individual who gets fired from a job or goes through a difficult divorce before finding happiness years later.
Of course, there are many who go through these same adversities and who grow more miserable and become more angry. They never experience the spiritual opening. Thus it is not guaranteed that suffering or setbacks will lead a person to a stronger spiritual connection.
If you are feeling fear or are suffering in some way, realize that this is part of the unfolding of your spiritual development. Nothing is going “wrong.” You may need to feel these emotions and to have certain experiences as your spirit reveals itself to you. I invite you to trust the divine plan.
The thought patterns and behaviors that brought you to your current level of awareness must be diminished or eliminated to allow you to experience another dimension of spiritual awareness.
What will make you change those thought patterns and behaviors? If things in your life are going relatively well, you have no incentive to change. Success and well-being often breed complacency. Complacent people tend to stick to the status quo.
However, when you experience turbulence in your life, you then become open to a new way of living. You recognize that something in the way you think and behave must change before you can experience peace and improved conditions in your life.
Suffering gets your attention. Fear gets your attention. Initially, you’re afraid to surrender to a new way of living, but you may reach the point where you overcome the fear of change because it is just too painful to let things stay as they are.
This principle is not limited to catastrophes. There are many who experience fear and suffering from lingering feelings throughout their lives that they aren’t good enough, or that they don’t fit in. There are those who always seek approval and have repressed anger from not speaking up and letting their true feelings be known. It doesn’t matter what causes your pain or struggle.
So, if you’re struggling, perhaps spiritual growth is unfolding for you. The soil is being prepared for the harvest. If you are earnest about wanting spiritual growth, you will experience that growth. There is no way to predict the timetable. That is God’s domain.
If you are not earnest and want to cling to your existing life in most respects, you are stifling your growth. You can’t demand that suffering end, or that conditions change, unless you are willing to embrace the unknown and allow your life to take a new direction. This can be very frightening.
Some people can travel this road on their own. For others, the struggle and pain are too much to sort out on their own. If you are unable to cope or feel overwhelmed, you should seek professional counseling. This is not a sign of weakness. You may need assistance to get to the next level of your development.
Fear, pain and struggle are not pleasant. We never ask for them. Yet they pave the way for our most significant spiritual advances.
– Jeff Keller
© 2008