I wrote a few weeks ago that I have been struggling. Now is no different. There is a lot stirring in my heart, and I understand very little of it. But, I am a lot less unsettled by it. God has taught me to embrace this vague place, because it is vague for a good reason.
But there has been something on my heart ever since I got back from Spain, and God has given me some insight into it lately. It took root when I was in Spain, but it has been growing ever since I got back. It's the idea of discomfort. Of intentionally pursuing the things that make us uncomfortable. Because there is a good reason that things make us uncomfortable, and if we would just press into them instead of walking away, I think we'd learn a lot. I know I always have.
The things that make us uncomfortable, like people who are different than us, things we have simply never done before, or whatever it is that makes you uncomfortable... They so often blind us to the people we could have the chance to meet, or the big things we could have the chance to do, and the big God we could have the chance to experience. We are frozen by fear. And we often don't think twice about it. And sometimes there are good reasons for that. But more often than not, I think it is our love of comfort that makes us fear the new, the unpredictable, the intimidating.
I've never looked back and been sorry that I had walked towards something unfamiliar and uncomfortable. But I definitely have looked back and been sorry that I walked away.
I have seen the depth of God to be found in the uncomfortable and intimidating. It's really amazing. He truly is bigger and more faithful than we realize.
Have you ever been put out of your comfort zone enough to see it?
I saw it when I was traveling all over Europe by myself. I had to rely on God like never before, because there really wasn't anyone else. I had to rely on him, not my circumstance, to be my comfort because I was scared most of the time. But he met me there. He taught me just how faithful he is, and how he will always come through for us when we need him to. He began to teach me just how big he is, and how BIG the things are that he can and will do through me.
But he had to strip away all my comfort first. Because it is in comfort that I begin to think I don't need him, that I can do it on my own, and my view begins to shrink. My view of God, of the world, of my own ability to impact the world. It all shrinks to the size of comfortable.
The truth about how big God is and about the big ways we really can impact the world? They begin at the edge of comfortable. And they grow the further you walk into discomfort. When you stop giving God an out. When you stop relying on a backup, the plan B, the 'just in case.' We have become comfortable and unwilling to give it up. We are incredibly unwilling to follow God's voice into the unknown. We are unwilling to follow the sound of his voice when it calls us to things that would be devastating if he didn't come through. But how big is our God then, really? If we never do anything that we couldn't do without him?
I'm tired of comfortable. I'm tired of predictable. I have no idea what this looks like in the context of right now. Because I don't think this unease is just to pursue after May. I think God has just as much intention for it right now. No idea what that means, but I know that I'll know it when I see it. And as for May?
This rebellion against comfortable, and the strong, steady voice of God both call me to ask one simple question: What is the most uncomfortable thing in the world for me?
And whatever the answer to that is... Well, by the grace of God, I'm going to pursue whatever that is.
Which, I think, is exactly the answer to the 'right now,' too.
What would it look like if you did the same?
But there has been something on my heart ever since I got back from Spain, and God has given me some insight into it lately. It took root when I was in Spain, but it has been growing ever since I got back. It's the idea of discomfort. Of intentionally pursuing the things that make us uncomfortable. Because there is a good reason that things make us uncomfortable, and if we would just press into them instead of walking away, I think we'd learn a lot. I know I always have.
The things that make us uncomfortable, like people who are different than us, things we have simply never done before, or whatever it is that makes you uncomfortable... They so often blind us to the people we could have the chance to meet, or the big things we could have the chance to do, and the big God we could have the chance to experience. We are frozen by fear. And we often don't think twice about it. And sometimes there are good reasons for that. But more often than not, I think it is our love of comfort that makes us fear the new, the unpredictable, the intimidating.
I've never looked back and been sorry that I had walked towards something unfamiliar and uncomfortable. But I definitely have looked back and been sorry that I walked away.
I have seen the depth of God to be found in the uncomfortable and intimidating. It's really amazing. He truly is bigger and more faithful than we realize.
Have you ever been put out of your comfort zone enough to see it?
I saw it when I was traveling all over Europe by myself. I had to rely on God like never before, because there really wasn't anyone else. I had to rely on him, not my circumstance, to be my comfort because I was scared most of the time. But he met me there. He taught me just how faithful he is, and how he will always come through for us when we need him to. He began to teach me just how big he is, and how BIG the things are that he can and will do through me.
But he had to strip away all my comfort first. Because it is in comfort that I begin to think I don't need him, that I can do it on my own, and my view begins to shrink. My view of God, of the world, of my own ability to impact the world. It all shrinks to the size of comfortable.
The truth about how big God is and about the big ways we really can impact the world? They begin at the edge of comfortable. And they grow the further you walk into discomfort. When you stop giving God an out. When you stop relying on a backup, the plan B, the 'just in case.' We have become comfortable and unwilling to give it up. We are incredibly unwilling to follow God's voice into the unknown. We are unwilling to follow the sound of his voice when it calls us to things that would be devastating if he didn't come through. But how big is our God then, really? If we never do anything that we couldn't do without him?
I'm tired of comfortable. I'm tired of predictable. I have no idea what this looks like in the context of right now. Because I don't think this unease is just to pursue after May. I think God has just as much intention for it right now. No idea what that means, but I know that I'll know it when I see it. And as for May?
This rebellion against comfortable, and the strong, steady voice of God both call me to ask one simple question: What is the most uncomfortable thing in the world for me?
And whatever the answer to that is... Well, by the grace of God, I'm going to pursue whatever that is.
Which, I think, is exactly the answer to the 'right now,' too.
What would it look like if you did the same?
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