Have you ever had your belief system shattered?

Recently in our community, there have been things happening that would shake the very core of even the most devoted spiritual person. Terminal illnesses and deaths rate high on the scale of things that can throw us into a tailspin. First, we feel for the person. Then we feel for ourselves. Our own vulnerability comes to the surface as we try to make sense out of a seemingly senseless occurrence. It brings us face to face with our own core beliefs and especially with our own mortality.

Support systems are very helpful at times like these. Being able to talk it out with someone you trust in a completely safe space is one of the best ways to help process and to come to some resolution. Also, and even more important, is taking some time to talk to your Higher Power. Now more than ever is the time to turn to your inner strength, your Inner Voice, or however you term your Source. This is where the true comfort, healing – and peace – lies.

There are multitudes of writings and teachings on how to deal with anger, fear and grief. Many competent counselors are also ready and available to assist you in moving past things that shatter your world. And they all have their appropriate place in the overall scheme of things.

Yet when it’s all said and done, the sessions are complete, the books are read, the lectures and workshops are over... you still have to go home with you. Ultimately, we are all doing this dance on the planet alone. We have people from time to time that join us in our dance, but mostly it’s a solitary journey. So, if we want to find permanent solutions and true peace about any negative and poignantly dramatic things that are happening in our lives, we need to – scratch that – we MUST rely on our connection with God to not only pull us through, but to unconditionally love and sustain us. Even though we are expressing temporarily through a human vehicle, that’s not who we really are. As Teilhard de Chardin said centuries ago, “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.”

So, when our world gets rocked by something tragic that seems to make no sense at all, we want to reach out for comfort, understanding, and, most of all, peace. While we can receive a certain amount of these qualities from outside sources, the lasting comfort and peace comes from a power greater than all of us.

There is a safe, sacred sanctuary that you have created for yourself with your Divine Source. The way to gain access to this place is to turn inward and connect up. It is then that we receive the blessing of peace, a knowing that “all is well.” Once you receive this “knowingness,” through this connection to your Source, you have touched into the unshakable solid foundation of the truth of who you really are. A very wise prison chaplain once said, “You don’t know God is all you need until He’s all you’ve got!”

You are never given more than you can handle is an old saying that still rings true. The rocky roads in life serve to show us that we are strong, we are capable and that we can withstand any and all adversities and challenges that come our way.

The way out is always within.