“God must be testing me.” You may have heard someone state those words. You may have said them yourself. I know I have. As we look around and witness the challenges we are going through in our world today, we may think that we're going through some test from God. We say or think things like, "God is testing my patience or my resolve, or God is putting me through this maze to test if I can withstand the blows of life.”
However, there is no God like that. What we may call a test is nothing more than an opportunity to demonstrate the Glory in our life, and/or the situations before us. Seen rightly, we can reframe what we call a test into an opportunity for a testimony. There’s a story that illustrates this point perfectly.
There once was a young man who had become an outstanding yoga instructor. He was an exceptional practitioner who could bend himself into intricate pretzel-like shapes. He also had one of the most perfect and clean diets you could imagine. He appeared to do everything right to live a highly evolved life.
One day, the young man came to see a minister. He sought spiritual counsel because despite living an immaculate life, he was manifesting cancer in his body. He told the minister that he couldn't understand it since everything he did was at such a pure and high level.
As he and the minister spoke and prayed together, the young man had a spiritual insight. He realized he had forgotten about “The Presence.” The young man had perfected his spiritual practice and diet, done the outer work, and had the intellectual knowledge. Still, there was no opening for the emergence of new awareness in his consciousness. He knew it all … or so he thought. He studied everything and was sure that he was right about everything too. Nevertheless, he began to manifest a raging disease.
Shortly after the minister visit, and after a great deal of self-reflection, he began to see where he made his mistake. He once again opened up to where he was at the beginning of his practice. He remembered he was childlike, available, accessible, awe-struck, and in wonder when he first started. He began to recall there was something continually emerging in him.
When he returned to the medical offices for a check-up, his disease had dissolved. Ultimately, the illness completely disappeared. He attributed it directly to humility and his ability to be devotional and aware. He recognized that he did not know everything, and that he was here to allow something to emerge in his awareness.
The young yoga instructor did not feel the universe was testing him. Instead, he came to the awareness that he was to be a testimony, and that something bigger was trying to emerge in him. He recognized that life's purpose transcended the human level. He discovered the divinity within. This divinity is present regardless of what is taking place around us or to us. In short, there is no test, only testimony.
Peace and Blessings,
James
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