Hope
Life here on the earth plane is anything but easy. We are told that, while in the spirit world, we had a choice to come here or not. Some may wonder what kind of crazy soul would choose to endure the hardships, losses, adversities, and pain that this existence brings to us. Those of us on a spiritually directed path understand that the earth is a school, and an enormously difficult one as well. We come here to work through our suffering, learn our lessons, and then hopefully graduate, return home to spirit and move on to the next level of consciousness. That is the soul’s journey. Sometimes we wonder why some people have so much more pain than the average person. We also ponder a life where everything seems to go smoothly and how that person got so lucky. It has been my experience that no matter how carefree someone’s life seems; it is rarely without challenges. We may also think about how some people are able to endure their intense pain and heartache and never lose hope.
What is hope anyway? Well, the dictionary defines hope this way; to cherish a desire with anticipation: to want something to happen or be true: to desire accompanied by expectation of or belief in fulfillment. Yes, that definition sounds about right, and we all need hope in such an unpredictable and sometimes frightening world, but what if what we hope for doesn’t materialize again and again? What if our circumstances seem so hopeless that we can’t even conceptualize how things could possibly get better? That’s where spiritual faith and trust come in. When we look at our lives through spiritual eyes, everything changes. We know there is a reason for everything. We know that our soul had a plan in place before it entered the tiny body inside our mother’s womb. We were aware of the challenges that would be presented to us, and we said a firm, “Yes,” to them. Why? It is because these difficulties were perfect for the lessons that we came to learn and the purpose we chose to put forth. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how we look at it, a sort of amnesia falls over us the moment we incarnate here. We have a fresh start and a clean slate. We have an opportunity to do better than the last time we took this journey, and the very real possibility of remembering our soul’s plan for this life. Yet, we also face the possibility that, with no recollection of our past lives mistakes, we may make those same mistakes again in the this lifetime if we’re not awake and soulfully directed.
As a young woman, I was drawn to a man who caused me intense pain right from the start, but I stayed with him, married him, and had three children with him. Everyone around me tried to tell me it was a mistake to marry him, but I didn’t listen. I couldn’t escape the hold he had on me and didn’t understand why. Now, however, I do! The only reason I know is because of the intensity of the pain and hopelessness I felt in such an abusive, dysfunctional relationship. Had it been less intense I don’t think I would have obtained the understanding that I did or recognized the value it presented for my soul. With no hope in the outside physical world that I could find, and hardly any faith or trust in myself, I turned my attention inward. I began to seek guidance from something or someone greater than myself. I found hope in the remembrance of my incredible soul and the power it held in my life. I rediscovered the warrior woman within that fought with weapons of love, light, truth, peace. Self-love began to grow, and I discovered that, learning to love myself was the lesson within the pain. Authentic love, in all of the myriad of forms it takes, begins, and blossoms within. It is only then that we can give and receive genuine, authentic love during our physical lives.
As I began to follow a spiritually directed life, I started understanding that hope can be found no matter how difficult our adversities are. Why? It is because our lives are not defined by the adversities in our lives, but how we choose to respond to them. Seeking answers from a spiritual perspective means trying to understand why we have drawn a particular person or circumstance into our lives. When we ask the question, “What is it that I am to learn from this,” rather than cursing the situation and begging for it to go away, we embrace the opportunity for our souls to grow and evolve. If we simply ride it out and wait for it to dissolve without doing the inner work with our soul and our team of light , we will never find the treasures for our soul buried beneath our trials. We may also be destined to a life fraught with challenge after challenge that seem different but hold the same lesson we keep failing to learn.
Nothing we experience here is an accident. Nothing is either good or bad. It just is! We, as fallible, mortal humans find a need to judge our experiences as negative or positive. Our souls, on the other hand, see the opportunity in our challenges and that creates great hope. The hope is not that we predetermine the outcome, but to approach our adversity with presence, awareness, and with an intention to “be” love and discern what it came to teach us. It is a chance to pray for the divine design for our lives to be revealed to us, even while we are embroiled in the chaos and turmoil. We can be either be a victim or a hero or heroine. We can either cower in fear and run from the pain, or we can turn and face it with courage, faith, and infinite hope that it will help us to grow and move ever closer to the infinite light of our loving Creator.
My ex-husband was the greatest teacher I have ever had in my life. I am sincerely grateful for his presence during our turbulent time together. I believe he and I had a sacred contract that was set in motion during our time together in spirit. We both agreed to be part of each other’s lives in a particular way for a specific purpose. Through much deep and intensive inner work, I was able to revisit the moment when he agreed to be that particular person, as difficult as he was, in order to help me learn self-love. If I hadn’t learned to love myself, I don’t believe I would have remembered my life purpose, which was to teach what I have learned spiritually, through my work as a writer and as a massage therapist. I hope that his time spent with me also offered his soul great gifts of understanding as well.
Besides my difficult marriage, there have been other challenges and painful circumstances that continue to remind me to heed the lessons, and to never lose hope no matter what challenges I am facing. I may falter and fall at times under the weight of certain difficulties, but the underlying hope never abandons me. My faith and trust that the divine design for my life is unfolding each day, also reminds me that it is my job to embrace it all, the joys, and the sorrows, with gratitude and infinite love.
Let us all hold fast to hope, for this life is finite. Yet, the world to come is eternal, and the constant evolution of our soul is our reward for a physical life directed by the Infinite Light. We are not alone! Together we are one and together we will bask in the endless love and unity that is our birthright and our destiny. Together we will all return home to our Creator and everlasting peace.
[1] Our team of light consists of our Creator, our spirit guides, and our immortal soul