Enlisting trials won’t make them easy, but it will cut them down to manageable size.
As a Stage IV melanoma survivor, the purifying fires of pain have swept through my own heart. Struggles have the potential to revise values and refocus priorities, setting us free from the empty desires and tyrannous demands of life.
Step 8 gives me a chance to list those I have hurt and become willing or courageous to “love” them - whether they receive it or not. This step opens the door for me to see the pain I’ve caused others and set me free from making my pain master over my feelings and thoughts about myself.
So considering the ways of The Great Charter of Courses, I wonder if we spend too much time trying to change our journey and not enough time mastering its challenges. Don’t get me wrong, I think we should diligently and boldly seek course change – be it physical healing or deliverance from a rough situation. Even Jesus sought a Plan B route before His crucifixion in the Garden of Gethsemane! Yet there is a stumbling block in forgetting to move forward while we wait for circumstantial change.