“God allows us to experience the low points of life in order to teach us lessons that we could learn in no other way.”
This quote by British scholar and author C.S. Lewis is yet another way to express the presence of God in our lives and also the truth that life naturally includes times of difficulty. And that it’s essential to remember that those times of difficulty have the purpose of teaching us vital lessons.
Being in my older years, I have had many experiences. They include being with and assisting my elderly parents in their last years and witnessing their abilities diminish, feeling the loss of a sibling who chose to estrange herself from me, having feelings of deep disappointment when things did not work out as I’d hoped they would, and missing loved ones who passed away. As is the case with most people, I’ve also had many pleasant experiences, times when things worked out as I hoped they would, and loving relationships. I’ve also been blessed with having a sense of purpose and meaning in my life, thanks in large part to learning about the concepts of Jungian psychology.
Even though I definitely agree with Lewis’ words, when life presents me with a challenge I still need to remind myself that difficult experiences have a purpose. And that our Creator has given all of us the abilities that help us to go through whatever the experience is and to learn from it. To broaden that idea a bit more, our dealing with life’s low points helps us to grow in consciousness, to have empathy and compassion for others when they are dealing with challenges, and to make positive changes.
An example from my life is when I was a victim of a carjacking and purse stealing incident a few years ago. It was unexpected because it happened in a residential neighborhood in the early afternoon on a Sunday as I was getting out of my car to visit friends. I say unexpected because it seemed to me that such a crime was more likely to happen when it was dark and in an area where crime was more common. Even though it was frightening, caused a lot of inconvenience, and caused me to feel a sense of loss, with the help of my adult daughter, I made the calls to the police, my insurance company, the credit card company, etc., and I stayed with her a couple of days. Thankfully, I was not injured and the car was found two days later after it had been abandoned. My purse and its contents were never recovered.
Some things I learned from the incident are that I can go through an unexpected and frightening experience and be OK. I also learned (once again) that my daughter and I have a special relationship for which I’m very thankful, and I’ve found that the experience has helped me to have more empathy for other people who are victims of crime and other hurtful situations.
I believe I also grew in faith because it was as if our Creator helped me after it happened—worked through my daughter to give me the assistance she did and helped me to feel minimal trauma. In fact, just a few weeks earlier I’d completed reading an excellent book about trauma and what I had read helped me.
We all should be thankful for the many positive aspects of our lives. And when difficult or challenging times arrive, to remind ourselves of Lewis’ words. They will help us take the steps we need to take.