Hill Country News, 2016-02-10

By Chuck Robison

One of the real privileges of being a Pastor is the opportunity that some people afford me to see into their hearts and souls.

This usually happens during times of crisis or pain. Quite often people present themselves to me as the poor victim of some serious wrong or terrible occurrence that has brought them only sorrow. It is my opportunity to help that person grow from the experience, and I grow too. Having given this service over a period of 49 years, I observe something important that happens in these times of true crisis.

Like most people, I think of myself as a human being with a body and a history of hard lessons. Many times it seemed like every time I turned around something else painful and destructive would happen to me. And I saw the same pattern in others.

So I asked why and here is the answer that currently works for me. The problem is in who we believe we are. As long as we continue to believe we are human beings living in a human body, often believing we are sinners first, and living almost on probation, praying that we make it under the wire into heaven, then life is full of traps and snares. Bad stuff happens to us a lot of the time. And there is very little we can do about it, one way or another.

So if that has been your experience recently, you may be saying to yourself. ‘Surely, there must be a better way!’ And there is!

The better way is to re-define how you describe yourself. There is a world of difference between being a human being and being an eternal soul. God didn’t make no junk and each of us is carefully crafted to be an eternal being and we need never worry about going to heaven…..we’re already there. God did not make us to throw us away, and he will forever work to help us grow and surpass all our prior mistakes.

As souls, we come to this life to learn eternal spiritual lessons that can only be experienced here on earth. Our purpose for living is to learn the lessons our souls need in order to progress in the upward spiral of God’s Universe.

Now if you can entertain this idea of who you really are and why you are here, you are ready to learn the big secret about your life. On the soul level things do not happen to us, they happen for us.

Look back on your life, at some of the toughest times, and you will see whatever was so painful, was also the moment when you grew and became wiser than you had ever been.

These things, and some have been terrible beyond belief, have been the very things that caused you to grow in the most powerful lessons of your life.

God is not cruel, but he does craft individual lessons for each of us that will help us grow to the next level.

So, of course, like everything else, it’s your choice, and no one can make it for you. But I can promise you one thing. When you give up being a victim to whom things keep happening and discover you are a soul who the whole universe is supporting in your growth, your life will change.

It’s called the Big Picture and as it comes into focus life begins to make more sense, and fear has less and less room to affect you.

Try it. What If It Really Works?