I don't know if it was the greatest spiritual challenge, but about 4 years ago I was laid off and was out of work for 8 months.  After about 4 months I had gone through all my savings and the only income I had was unemployment, certainly not much to live on.  It paid my daily bills and enabled me to eat, but my mortgage went unpaid for 3 months.  With still no job in sight, I decided to go ahead and sell my condo in order to obtain some money as I did not want it to go into foreclosure.  I must say that making that decision was very difficult.  I had to totally rely on faith and the fact that God would see me through and surrender to the process.  Needless to say, I started a new job one week before the sale closed and was able to then go and buy another condo--not quite as large or upscale as the one I had sold, but still, comfortable and nice.  That really reinforced my faith that all is not as it seems at the time and we must have courage and certainty that things will turn out.

Definitely my father!  I can certainly relate to many other responses here of those who miss their dads as well.  My dad really was the one special person in my life.  He made his transition almost 12 years ago when he was 93!!  I still can't believe that it has been that long already.  He had such a beautiful spirit.  When I was a teenager, he and I used to stay up at night talking about the "world"--all the why questions.  He introduced me to metaphysics (back in the 60s) before it was fashionable or studied by many people.  He was in the advertising business and once told me that he had no interest in being president of a company, he just wanted a nice home for his family.  He loved meeting people and would always strike up a conversation with anyone he met.  He was generous, caring, debonaire (even at 90) and I really miss being able to go to him when I have questions about important things and seeing his smile.  I could go on for pages but you get the idea............

Well that is certainly a loaded question!  And there really is no easy answer.  I do not believe it is an either/or choice.  After studying various schools of metaphysical thought over the last 30 or so years, I have come to the conclusion that we really do not know the whole story.  Kabbalah  teaches that we are here to correct our "tikkune.,"   Many traditions speak about karma and reincarnating in order to learn specific lessons.  Although this physical life certainly has its grand moments, it is also definitely one of struggle, challenge and pain.  Supposedly, when we actually "finish" our tikkune or karma, we ascend to a higher level of consciousness and are free from bodily consciousness.  That sounds great to me.  I think that the body consciousness holds us back from really seeing the whole picture and that we are aware of such a small fraction of what "life" is about.  Kabbalah also teaches that there are five aspects to the soul, each one higher than the next.  So each of these aspects will not necessarily "reincarnate" together into the same body.  It is obviously much more complicated than that.  Then there are the schools that say we are in a sort of "resting place" or bardo before we move on either to heavenly realms or to reincarnate in a body.  Bottom line for me though is frankly, I would rather go on to a place of higher consciousness and reside in some sort of heavenly realm with the angels...:)