Walking with Jesus has made me realize that a significant part of spiritual transformation involves facing fear and enduring pain. The challenges often grow even bigger after the transformation.

From “Emotionally Healthy Spirituality,” I learned that going through deep waters allows God to enlarge our souls. In the Bible, we often read that we need to turn our faces away when God appears because His presence is too overwhelming for our eyes. We usually focus on how wonderfully almighty He is. However, this also means that the immense pain God endures is beyond our capacity to fully understand. A mere glimpse of the level of pain the Lord endures could destroy us.

Looking at Jesus’s journey confirmed this in my heart. I have to exercise my spiritual muscles throughout my life to be strong enough to face deep waters like Him. This is how the Lord purifies hearts and the world—by standing in the fire and enduring the darkness so that His presence purifies it.

I have always envisioned this process as the world being a clear ocean of holy water, darkened by sin like ink. A pure Christian heart is like a large amount of clear water being pumped into this polluted ocean, purifying it by absorbing the darkness into itself.

This is not an easy task, Jesus’s journey illustrates this perfectly. Am I ready to walk into the fire like Jesus? Probably not. But I want to be that brave, and I have a lifetime to prepare.