Some people expect that truly successful life implies absence of tests and challenges. When they encounter difficulties, their first reaction is, "what's wrong?" "What's wrong with God? What's wrong with the world? What's wrong with me?"

Such questions lead us away from the spiritual perspective which says that God is good, all is well with the world. Tests and challenges has to be an essential part of this universal goodness. They are not our enemies, but our friends. They serve the purpose of bringing the world to the new level of perfection.

"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil" (Matthew 6:13). Let us look carefully at these are well-known words from the Lord's Prayer. What did Jesus mean by evil - some mysterious forces which oppose us, painful and unpleasant conditions, or something else? The final analysis reveals that the only evil is ignorance, the state of mental darkness. So, we may paraphrase this line in such a way: "Deliver me from ignorance, so that I would not fall. Let the light of truth shines brightly in my heart and mind, so that I might clearly see the path before me, the path of ascension".

Mental clarity allows us to get rid of "enemies of our household", that is, our deep-seated negative thoughts and attitudes which could bring us troubles. Then, it allows us to use all circumstances where we find ourselves for the purpose of further personal development.

Negative experiences are lessons, brought to us by our conscious or unconscious desire for higher understanding. It is useless to reject those lessons or to ask to be delivered from them. There are no shortcuts on God's road. There is no possible way to ascend into another level of love, wisdom, and power without successfully passing the tests.

If we failed to learn our lessons, they will be repeated over and over until we finally learn. This simple idea explains much of human experience.

When we help others, we should be very careful lest our assistance would bring more harm than good. By delivering people from their challenges, we often prevent them from making the next step in their journey.

I would like to share with you some of deep and insightful thoughts of Brad Jensen on this subject:

"You can help people end their suffering in only one way. That is by teaching people that they are each the creator of their life, and then show them each how to recognize and use that power for good. Anything else you do to end suffering will only be temporary. Anyone who alleviates their own condition without learning the lesson of that condition, will create the condition again in a stronger and often more unpleasant form. If you pat yourself on the back for solving other peoples problems for them, you do not understand their power of creation. You are being misused by that person for temporary relief. Make the condition of your participation the fact that the other person recognize their power to create happiness...

As long as you are treating challenges as insults, you are hiding your creative power. You created the challenge, so it is no insult.

I created this. I will change it.

Why do people create unpleasant circumstances for themselves? For the same reason that they create every other kind of experience - so that they can experience themselves as creators, so they can remember who they really are...

No matter what happens in people's life, God always means it for good. Anyone can find the good in the parts of life that seem pleasant and easy. Find the good in what seems difficult and bad to those around you".