Today I read this chapter: “Journey Through the Wall – Letting Go of Power and Control.” Scazzero states that every follower of Christ at some point will confront the Wall or as some of the ancients called it “the dark night of the soul”. In this chapter, Scazzero seeks to show how “emotional healthy spirituality helps provide a (partial) roadmap of both how one goes through the Wall and what it means to begin living on the other side” (pg. 117).
Scazzero pictures the Christian life as a journey – a journey with its ups and downs. He presents six stages in the journey:
Stage 1: Life-Changing Awareness of God – This is the beginning of our journey with Christ.
Stage 2: Discipleship – This is where we are beginning to grow in our relationship with Christ. Stage 3: The Active Life – This is the “doing” stage – we get involved in serving God and others.
Stage 4: The Wall and the Journey Inward – The wall compels us into an inward journey and even sometimes the inward journey leads us to the Wall.
Stage 5: The Journey Outward – After passing through the wall we have now rediscovered God’s profound, deep, accepting love for us and a deep, inner stillness now begins to characterize our work for God.
Stage 6: Transformed by Love – By this stage the perfect love of God has driven out all fear. And the whole of our spiritual lives is finally about surrender and obedience to God’s perfect will.
Scazzero points out that we will all come to the Wall at some point in our journey with Christ and more than likely we will return to the Wall several times as well. The encouragement is that we can make it through the Wall the first time and the next time we find ourselves there. He gives four dynamics to help determine if we are progressing through the wall:
- A Greater Level of Brokenness – We are freed from the tendency to judge others and we recognize who we REALLY are before God and His love for us anyway.
- A Greater Appreciation for Holy Unknowing (Mystery) – We can rest more easily and live more freely, knowing that God is in control and worthy of our trust.
- A Deeper Ability to Wait for God- Going through the Wall breaks something deep within us – that driving, grasping, fearful self-will that must produce, that must make something happen, that must get it done for God (just in case He doesn’t).
- A Greater Detachment – We can live our lives free from attachments – like who we think we ought to be, or who we falsely think we are. Something truer, that is Christ in and through us, slowly emerges.
I hit my Wall last year. At the time I did not know that was what I had hit, but looking back I see it very clearly now. God has taken me through an incredible process of healing and restoration the last eight months. As painful as my “Wall” was, I am thankful for the end result. My journey toward an emotional healthy spirituality is slowing moving forward. I want to encourage you if you are facing your Wall right now to NOT give up. The light at the end of the tunnel WILL come – even if it doesn’t feel like it right now.
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