The Purpose For Life’s Difficult Seasons

Are you going through a difficult season in life right now? Maybe one where it feels like nothing is working out for you, or where success seems in doubt or hopeless?

What I want for you, is to trust that you are being guided and that there is a plan unfolding for you.

Here’s what I’ve learned about life. When you put an intention out into the world, God (or the Universe, the Creator, the Spirit, Energy, or whatever your highest conception of goodness is) answers your intention with, ‘‘Sure…Here it comes!’’ and starts orchestrating things for you in your favour. The Universe begins lining up the exact kind of people, places, events, and circumstances that you need in order to manifest your heart’s desires.

But here’s the thing. God does not always answer our intentions in the way we think or assume he will. He doesn’t give us what we want right away or all at once. What he does give us, is what we need for our growth and betterment.

Allow me to explain what I mean. God is always slowly giving you exactly what you have asked him for. But the journey he gives you towards that destination, is designed to facilitate your personal evolution, above all else. It’s meant to force you to become a grander version of yourself; for you to come face to face with your deepest and darkest fears and inner demons so that you can break thru them, and shed your limiting beliefs about who you really are and what you are truly capable of.

That is what God is interested in. The attainment of the goal itself is secondary. Who you become along the way is what is most important to the Creator. That’s why he paves the journey with tests of your character, fortitude, inner will, and resilience. There is a purpose for life’s difficult seasons.

The problem is that we tend to get impatient. We get stuck, fixated, and hung up on the way we think things should be happening. We get angry and frustrated and throw our hands up when things aren’t matching up with how we thought or assumed they would. Sometimes this even causes us to give up the thing we want the most.

That’s why the big part about finding peace along the journey of life comes from learning to trust. Trusting that you are being guided and that there is a plan unfolding for you. Trusting that God is giving you a journey not so much with the thought or concern of whether or not it will be to your immediate liking, but whether it will facilitate your growth and betterment.

That is what it means to ‘‘Surrender’’ and ‘‘Let go and let God.’’ The way life becomes effortless, is when we learn to let go of the way think things need to be or should be working out, and simply allow them to unfold instead. As many great spiritual teachers have said, ‘‘In my world, nothing ever goes wrong.’’ That way more moments of our day are filled with peace, contentment, and inner joy, instead of suffering and resistance towards life.

Here is the beautiful thing about life. Not only is God going to answer your intention, but he is also going to help you become a grander, more confident, more fearless version of yourself in the process. He gives you all that you want and more. All of your struggles and challenges need to be viewed in this light.

What you want is slowly being revealed to you. It’s just, because of your fears, doubts, insecurities, and false identities about who you are, you just take a really long time to accomplish your goals. But that’s okay. That’s how it’s meant to be. God wants you to work through the process so you can shed your limited perceptions about yourself, and so you can remember who you really are. Because once you shed them, you will realise that you are powerful beyond all measure and that there is nothing you cannot be or do in this life.

So, you have to let go of your attachment to any particular outcome. To timeframes. You have to let go of your need for things to work out in a certain way or in a certain amount of time. Allow destiny to takes its course instead. Everything is unfolding perfectly for you.

Life is a journey. Success is a process. Sometimes we forget that all great things take time. It may take many years or decades to realise a lifelong dream. That’s okay. It about the journey not the destination of accomplishing our goals. It’s the journey that excites us. What is important to God is that we learn to be patient along that journey, and that we develop the faith to trust in him and in ourselves.

‘‘When you start pursuing your dreams in life, it’s like a train that has left the station. It travels at a slow and steady speed. It eventually will reach its destination. You running around inside the train is not going to make your future happen or arrive any faster than its going to. Find a way to enjoy your journey instead.’’ ~ Corey Wayne.

Let me put this to you. How would you think, how would you feel, and how would you act, if you knew that things were going to work out in your favour, eventually?

You would remain very at-ease. Very peaceful, very relaxed. Always the sense that ‘‘All is well.’’ You would remain outcome-focused. You would take action in line with your intentions and heart’s desires. You would meet any failure or setback with a sense of humour and a smile on your face, because you know and expect that things always work out for you in the end.

And when you arrive at your destination, you would chuckle to yourself and realise that the outcome you wanted…it was never in doubt. It was simply a matter of trusting the process and taking the required actions day in and day out.

As the late great visionary Steve Jobs said, ‘‘You can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards. So, you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.’’

The more you let go and trust that God will catch you, the quicker you will move forward, and the more you will enjoy your life and its journey.

And of that much, I am sure

You can learn more by reading Corey Wayne’s book, ‘‘Mastering Yourself.’’