Problems Along Life's Path Are Stepping Stones to Wisdom and Inner-Peace

“When one finds his path, he cannot be afraid. 
He needs to have courage to go astray. 
Disappointments, defeats and despair are tools 
God uses to show us the path.”
Paulo Coelho, Life

Every day we face bumps and roadblocks along our path in life. There are days when we stub our toes every few feet, and there are days when we wander off the path into flowerful meadows or refreshing streams. Likewise, there are days when we come to a fork in the path and we aren’t sure whether to go east or west. And there are times when our path seems to end and we’d much rather go backward than find our way forward into newness of life.

People sometimes complain to me about the problems their paths produce. One day they learn they have diabetes. Another day their son is suspended from school. Still another day their spouse loses his job. And today they received a foreclosure notice. “Where is God in all of this?” they ask angrily. “Why is this happening to me? I go to church on Sundays. I tithe. I don‘t beat my children. I‘m a good person.” When they finish with their litany I usually ask “Why not you? Why shouldn’t these things happen to you?” At first they looked stunned. Then I explain that bad things happen to everyone. There are no exceptions. Everyone suffers. The “good” and the “bad” all suffer. When bad things happen to us we aren’t being singled-out by God. No one never promised us bad things wouldn’t happen to us if we attend church, or tithe or refrain from hitting our children.

Then I go on to offer the life of Jesus Christ as an example. Was Jesus promised a bed of roses? No. He was born onto a bed of hay. Did he live the high life? No. By today’s standards he was a street person. He had no home and he never knew where his next meal was coming from. Why would we ever think we should be exempt from suffering if even God himself isn‘t exempt?

When we are faced with problems along our paths, asking “why” is pointless. Even if we received an answer, it wouldn’t change anything. Asking “Why was my new car hit from behind?” and receiving an answer-- such as “the driver behind you was watching a video“-- doesn’t change the fact that we need a new bumper. Instead of asking “why?” we need to ask “What can I learn from this?” And we need to believe that God always wants what’s best for us.

When we ask “What can I learn from this foreclosure notice?” we are on our way to healing. First, if we’re honest, we can admit that we’ve learned not to fool ourselves. We probably knew we didn’t really have enough good credit or equity to afford a new home. Or maybe we knew the interest rate was variable and we could end up on the street. But either way, we still signed the papers. Next time, we’ll know better. Jesus never knew where he was going to lay his head at night, but he didn’t play the victim. He trusted God to help him. And we can do the same. Foreclosure isn’t the end of the world. We don’t have to be victims. We can move forward as long as we are honest with ourselves, learn from our mistakes and believe God is on our side.

Faith in God is simply believing God is leading us down our right path, even when we are faced with hurricanes. We will survive. We will be wiser for having asked the right questions and from having learned from them. And we will be stronger for having had faith in God and for persevering despite the roughness of the storms we’ve faced. When we stop being victims and move forward by the grace of God, we allow our souls to shine!

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