Spiritual Courage

Am I really put on this earth to grow spiritually and mature my soul? Well, if that is the case, I guess spiritual growth is important. It may be even more important than the physical, emotional, social and intellectual.

These are the questions that popped up for me when I was deciding whether I wanted to tap into this so-called spiritual courage growth thing.

• Who am I beyond my physical?
• Do I really want to find out? My authentic self?
• If so, how do I connect to the spiritual part of me?
• Do I want to seek this wisdom on my own or humble my spirit to connect to the divine spirit and the divine wisdom of the creator, (God)?
• Am I connected or disconnected from my spirit and soul?
• If I choose to pursue and seek this wisdom, what are the blockages that are preventing me from making this path of spiritual and soul growth a priority in my life?

Hello everyone: If this soul part of me is the only part that moves on after I die, I guess I should definitely give this some credence. I don’t want to miss being prepared for the soul train…

I have to be aware of my spirit in order to connect to my spirit thus having access to my spirit. If am disconnected from my spirit or soul, spiritual growth cannot and will not happen. I guess this is important….

I made a conscious decision years ago, when I was rescued out of the darkness, to be willing to seek spiritual growth by developing a habit of practice, practice, practice, to be Open, Honest and Willing to grow spiritually and take the necessary action to change. It is a wonder I learned anything with my stubborn self will making most of the decisions. How did that work out for you? Not too well. I bumped into a lot of walls and suffered whiplash from the harsh words spoken with the wrong tone. Thank God I grew. It was a pretty bumpy road back then.

As life unfolded, asking myself, “What is the spiritual lesson I am to learn in this situation”. In order to change my behaviors (which are part of the soul) I had to first accept the lesson and then use it to change my behaviors.

My favorite saying: “When I know better, I will do better” helps me to keep perfectionism from sabotaging my spiritual growth. I used to beat up on myself when I missed the mark. Experiencing life as learning instead of failing, has helped me to keep practicing until I get it.

I am not ready to jump on the soul train to my eternal destination just yet, I still need more time to grow and learn and pass those lessons learned on to others.

Since I made the decision to learn my spiritual lessons, life has become an adventure, a spiritual pilgrimage. Oh no, here it is, that revelation again.

I am not just going on a spiritual pilgrimage to El Camino de Santiago. The revelation and awareness is that I have been on a spiritual journey for over 31 years. I will be celebrating 32 years of this spiritual pilgrimage September 9th on the Santiago trail. Sometimes my life journey in the past was enduring and painful. Sometimes I got a chance to rest and refresh myself and then get back up on the saddle, as John Wayne, would say, and be ready for life’s challenges to continue to forge along the path no matter how much opposition I had to face.

Most times, hindsight gave light to the spiritual growth. Most times, the trusted few, I allowed to walk with me, on my spiritual journey, were kind enough, loving and merciful enough to help me realize how much I had grown. We need people in our lives who encourage us, validate us and are honest with us on our spiritual progress. I had a select few in my past and I now have a select few in my present.

In my present, Joe, Gift, Pat R, Audrea, Linda, Eileen, Elizabeth, Renee, Ann are the special few I allow into my sacred inner circle. It is amazing, as I am writing down these names, I realize that I am not alone.

Living alone, sometimes I can start getting the “pity me” mentality and I just have to snap out of it by listing the names of those who have come along side of me and walked with me in the past and now in the present. I anticipate and open my spirit for more souls to walk with me either for a short time or for long term. I choose very carefully.

I have learned to choose encouragers and individuals who are also seeking spiritual growth. I try to stay away from choosing those individuals who I call “the dream crushers” or “nay sayers”. Life is hard enough without criticism, judgment and condemnation.

My advice to all of you, choose wisely…Your peace and happiness depend on it. Be tolerant of those who are not, but that doesn’t mean you include them in your inner circle. Do not allow others to dull your sparkle… Forgive them and move on … life is too short to fester a resentment.

No man or woman is an island. I have been there and and don’t want to slip into that again. I keep showing up for life, one day at a time, to learn and grow spiritually. I am like a little child getting ready to go to the park to play, I am excited to see what adventures my Higher Power, whom I choose to call God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, has prepared and will opened up for me to experience, to have fun and to learn spiritually on this physical pilgrimage. The physical will always be available for me to experience. The spiritual will only be available, if I connect to my spirit and to God’s Spirit. I also have a chance to experience God’s love shining and eminating from the words and actions of other pilgrims, from all over the world. I need to prepare myself to give and receive the love and acceptance along the way. Giving is easy. Receiving is a little harder for me. I am aware and will work on that.

With that being said, I now understand why you need spiritual courage. It takes spiritual courage to just be willing to connect and grow because this involves faith. Faith has a hurdle to jump over which is “fear of the unknown”. Fear is not surfacing for me, which is a good thing. Preparation has a lot to do with that. Faith and Trust in God gives me peace. I am not alone on this journey. God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are walking with me.

Wow, here we go again, it is getting deeper.

Spiritual growth only comes through practice, practice, practice of connection with our own spirit and our own soul. In order to consciously connect, I need to gain knowledge on what exactly is my soul and spirit, so I know how to develop a relationship with my spirit and soul. Just like any other relationship, I need to become intimate with my spirit and soul.

How do I connect to my spirit? Knowledge is power, so I guess I can start with my research into definitions that might apply to this discussion.

Remember, in my courage post, I defined courage as the ability to overcome fear. So I have to first own the fear of the unknown. ” I will feel the fear and do it anyway”. Then go into faith mode.

Ok let’s find out what spiritual courage is? First of all, I will go to the dictionary to find the definitions relative to this subject:

Spirit

• Of, relating to, consisting of, or having the nature of spirit, not material, supernatural
• Of, concerned with or affecting the soul
• Not concerned with material or worldy things.
• Any being made in the image of God, who is a spirit and thus having the nature of spirit, is a spiritual being
• Spiritual is a deeper connection with God

Soul

• Part of humans regarded as immaterial, immortal, separate from the body at death, capable of moral judgment, and susceptible to happiness or misery in a future state
• This part of human when disembodied after death
• Soul is our humanity that makes us feel emotions
• Spirit is our deeper connection
• Soul is who we are, our personality, and is comprised of our mind, emotion and will
• God’s purpose in creating human beings with a spirit and a soul was that they would recieve Him in their spirit and express Him through their soul and learn and develop a good moral character

Faith

• Assurance of things hoped for
• conviction of things not seen
• great trust or confidence in something or someone or God
• strong belief
• There is more to life than we see with our eyes
• Faith drives action
• Faith drives our values, decisions and actions to align with our belief

Moral judgement

• judgment of what is right or wrong of human action or character
• Teaching or exhibiting goodness or correctness of character and behavior
• Confirming to standards of what is right or just in behavior; virtuous

Spiritual courage quotes:

“One has to beckon the spiritual warrior inside oneself whenever it is deemed necessary for the task at hand. Courage is the fuel, Healing is the direction, Forgiveness is the balm, Love is the atmosphere Divine.” Donna Goddard

“Truth has a power only the courageous can handle. Anthon St Maarten

“Life is worth living with a fearless heart”. Lailah Gifty Akita

“Here is a test to find whether your purpose in life is finished: if you are alive, it isn’t.”— Richard Bach

The two hardest tests on the spiritual road are the patience to wait for the right moment and the courage not to be disappointed with what we encounter.”― Paulo Coelho 

It takes a tremendous amount of spiritual courage to accept the concept of faith with our mind because our minds want facts. Therefore, it becomes necessary to accept faith with our spirits. Take the risk. It is well worth it.

Free Will vs God’s Will (attribute of the soul)

Every human being was given free will, which we learned from our definitions, is part of the soul. There is God’s will for our lives. There is our self will for our lives. We are not puppets, we are given the freedom to choose and make our own decisions. This is the only way we can learn. Sometimes we align our wills with God’s Will and do the right things and other times we let our egos get in the way and we try to do it on our own. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. Through trial and error, I have learned that connecting to my Higher Power first, consistently gives better outcomes.

Moral Judgment (attribute of the soul)

I will never forget this one person, call Steve, who keep repeating this statement: “Just do the next right thing”. I heard that statement early on in my spiritual journey and I realized at that time that I, sometimes, did not know how to do the next right thing. Notice he said do the next right thing, not to do the next wrong thing. Most of us know deep down in our spirit, heart and soul what is right or wrong. We always have a choice to do the right thing. I have learned that doing or saying the wrong things bring negative consequences to others and to myself.

Breaking my moral codes brings on guilt and condemnation, which surfaces and takes away my happiness, peace and serenity. Embrace guilt when it surfaces. Guilt can be a good thing. Guilt can be a motivator to point out “wrong actions or words” so we can take action and change them or make amends. This is part of our soul work, developing character.

Remember, the soul, is the part of us that leaves the dead body and goes on to eternal life, back to our creator. If you don’t believe that read true stories of people that have had out of body experiences and near death experiences. Read about the doctors who bring people back to life and can witness the life force come back into that person’s body. This is serious folks. Don’t let that stubborn spirit rob you of your eternal happiness and peace. We have have a lot of lessons to learn.

That is all for today… hope some part or all of this encourage you in some way. Sending love and peace your way…. by Esther Mae