Boring or Breath-taking!

Routinely abandoning my comfort zone – this seems to be the phrase that best describes the current season of my life. I even added it to my Twitter profile – because it seems that every time I settle into a comfortable place – I sense God’s loving hand stirring things up and hear His voice challenging me to believe Him for something new.

Our oldest daughter is moving to Portland next month to attend Multnomah University. Although she doesn’t know where she will live and is still waiting on funding, she is confident that God is calling her to move twenty-two hours away to pursue a Master’s Degree that will prepare her for ministry. She has a heart to bring hope to those who are dismissed and devalued by our society and we have joined with her in prayer as she sought God’s guidance.

This move is filled with more uncertainty and unknowns than you can imagine and yet Kayla remains undaunted. Even the knowledge that her car has a whopping 155,000 miles on it and her service dog is still very much “in training” does nothing to shake her settled assurance that God will faithfully provide for all of her needs. She felt embraced by everyone she met at Multnomah and encouraged by those in charge of disability services who seemed willing to provide whatever was necessary for her to be successful.

Her courage to put herself out there in the face of countless unknowns stands in stark contrast to my “comfort zone” mentality. As I have frequently admitted, I long for things to be settled and solved and find a great deal of peace in situations that are safe and controlled.

So my less-than-courageous prayers have sounded something like this: “Lord, how in the world is all this going to work out for her?” “Why can’t you accomplish what you want in her life right there in Colorado Springs – (a mere 45 minutes from us)?”

Each time God wants to rescue me from “boring and comfortable” and gift me with the breath-taking faith adventure my soul really desires, He reminds me of the following verse:

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine,

according to his power that is at work within us …”

(Ephesians 3:20)

Do you hear the challenge?

Our all-powerful God – who is ALWAYS up to something big – invites us … challenges us … even DARES us to allow the Holy Spirit to stir our hearts with some God-inspired, faith-filled imagination!

Are you sensing the Lord calling you to abandon your comfort-zone? Is there a conversation you need to have? Or a relationship that requires prayerful engagement? Is God inviting you to grab hold of a Biblical promise with fresh, invigorated faith? Is He calling you to “GO” or to “Let Go”? Is He challenging you to “stay put” and “push through” as you faithfully persevere through difficulties you’d rather not face?

Regardless of our current situations: May we wholeheartedly abandon ourselves to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ – who has so much more for us than we can ever imagine! Let’s lay down our fears as we engage in our own faith adventures – trading settled for Stirred, complacent for Courageous, uncertain for Confident, and predictable for Powerful!

Who wants boring when we can have breath-taking?