Like any journey we undertake in this world, whether a physical journey to a foreign country or a spiritual journey, one of the most important keys is to have a heart attitude to enjoy the journey.
I write in my first book about a trip to India I went on in my mid sixties. I had never wanted to go to India as I hate hot weather and I have a number of mild physical disabilities that make a good bed and comfortable chairs a necessity. I had a friend who went to Indonesia and only stayed 3 days because she was required to sit on the ground and she physically could not do it. And my ex husband and I had been invited to Papua/New Guinea but we were told there was no accommodation and we would have to sleep on the beach. This trip did not eventuate thankfully. The three trips were of course missionary trips. On the trip to India, conditions were every bit as bad as I had expected and yet I enjoyed the trip so much I did not want to come home.
I find in the people I talk to about the Original Lie, there are many who start the journey with attitudes that prevent them from enjoying the trip. They do not want to do the simplest exercises to get well. We do not have heart attitudes that cause us to love suffering. That is a surprise isn’t it. Fancy anyone not enjoying suffering. But unfortunately we need to have a heart attitude that allows for suffering or we aren’t going to get well.
What we don’t understand is that just changing the heart attitude changes the suffering. As soon as we can come to the place of looking forward to the journey, the suffering changes and the pain is no longer the pain of a heart that expects instant healing from God. It is a different kind of pain. I tell people this but until they actually experience the fact, they do not believe me.
There is a saying that, when climbing a mountain, if you keep your eyes fixed on the top, the destination, you miss so much on the actual journey. And this applies very much to a spiritual journey. If you keep your eyes fixed on being fully free, you miss the gradual freedoms that come with every overcoming. It is really important to realise that wholeness comes partly from being willing to build character. The character we build here into our lives, by overcoming, is all we take into heaven with us. Numbers of those who are in church every Sunday will go into Heaven with little or no treasure as they have not realised it is vitally important to build godly character while here on earth.
Of course mountains are spiritual as well as physical. To say to a physical mountain, be thou removed and be cast into the sea, I have never seen done. But to say to a spiritual mountain of childhood hurts and dysfunction and addictive personalities and selfcentredness and sin, Be thou removed and be cast into the sea, I have seen many times. We need to enjoy every tiny achievement as we travel towards wholeness, as these are the encouragements to keep us climbing to the summit. Rejoice over each one and look forward to the next one.
This journey you are undertaking is the most exciting ever and the one where you will achieve more than if you make millions of dollars or write incredible books or do any number of wonderful things. To have achieved the degree of wholeness where someone to whom I have given way and above what they would normally have received from someone, can cut a friendship with me and never give me a reason, just to disappear out of my life, and yet I can wish them well and not have one single thought of negativity about myself or them. This is wholeness. No stinking thinking. No unforgiveness or anger or resentment. To keep loving always. This is wholeness. And it is not something I have to strive for. It is who I am because I have dared to walk through the hard stuff and build loving character. That is the summit of the mountain. To love always. This kind of love can change the world.