Two weeks ago I started this series with a preface, laying the groundwork and where we’re heading. Last week was all about recognizing when you are on the ledge to take that leap or embark on a spiritual journey. As I thought about what to dive into this week, I was led to focus more on what one must be aware of when they set out on this path.
One thing I have learned, looking back on many of my walks by faith and not sight is that all of these seasons serve a couple purposes: 1, is the growth and evolution of your soul, 2, to bring you closer to or in alignment with the life you are destined for, 3, refinement, and 4, to lead you back to the truth of who you are.
Now I mention all this because today is about the second item, how a leap of faith or season of growing in your spirit serves to bring you into alignment with the life you desire or are destined for. Because, when you choose this path, it is going to involve stripping away of some or all of the things you currently may think are really important. This can include relationships, homes, jobs, other material items, money, even who you think you are, your ego.
These last two weeks I shared the various leaps of faith or seasons of spiritual growth that I’ve moved through over the past decade. But the two most recent of these, when I moved from my lifelong home to another state and when I took a leap of faith to leave my previous job to go all in on my business really stand out in regard to today’s focus, which is around being prepared for what’s ahead.
I don’t know if there really is a way to fully prepare someone for what this path entails, but it is my intention to do that today. I can say that if someone had prepared me for what I would go through, it probably wouldn’t have stopped me, but it would have been helpful to know. There have definitely been times I have questioned myself, God, my intuition, all of it. So, let’s get into it.
The key takeaway is simple. Be prepared to lose a lot and be prepared for it to be painful. This might sound alarming, but that’s not my intention. It is necessary. Because as you grow in the spirit, you must die to your flesh. There’s a saying, you can start a new life but it is going to cost you your old one. What we might not realize is it might cost every aspect of that old one, down to the penny.
This was the case for me with these last two seasons I mentioned a moment ago. I was stripped of everything of my “old life” over the space of these past two years or so. Some of it was surrendered, right, like my home of 10 years that I loved, but obviously had to sell to move. Or roughly half of our things in said home. The career I’d spent 20 years building and working for.
Then there was also a lot that was stripped. People and relationships. Essentially all of my ego and identity. Ego death is intense. And literally every penny I’d saved over those 20+ years. I realize that hearing this, it sounds horrible and who would want to do this. However, being on the other side of all of it now, I can see why it is necessary.
See, while I was moving in faith these times, I was growing spiritually and my inner world was changing completely. When you understand that our outer world is a reflection of the inner, it makes sense that it would also change as the inner does. When you become more and more aligned with your spiritual self, who you truly are and less aligned with the physical self, and thus the “things of the world,” whatever is no longer aligned with that new version of you must fall away.
If you think about it like a house and you are redecorating or renovating. You have to clear out all the old stuff in order to have room for the new stuff. This part of the journey is very challenging. It can be downright terrifying at times. But having gone through this at least 3 times now, I can tell you it is worth it and you will be ok. You will be restored. You will be caught.
I have learned the biggest reason this part is so challenging, painful, scary, is because we resist. God is trying to clear the way and we are clinging on to the very things in our way. We can’t see there is better ahead because we don’t yet know it’s available for us.
Like I said, there is no good way to prepare you for this phase, not completely. I can only tell you that I have learned that even when it feels like you’re free falling down toward the earth, God is still with you and you will not hit that ground. It’s just that part of the path must be journeyed in the dark. Otherwise, you wouldn’t learn how to move by faith and not sight and you wouldn’t be ready to receive what you truly desire.
It’s also a process of healing. You must heal the parts of you that don’t believe you can have it or that fear actually, receiving it. So, I am going to leave this chapter at that. I will continue going deeper into the various stages of moving in faith and spiritual growth and ascension in the weeks ahead.
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