Let's face it, we run from the uncomfortable. I like stable and even though it is choking the life out of me, I oftentimes starve the possibility of doing something new. The sad part is, many of us will miss out on what we are capable of actually doing because we are content with the snack size sealed bag we have limited ourselves to along the way.
Right now, my counterpart at work is on leave and I am the only counselor in the building. In the past, so much of our job and responsibilities have been assigned, and specific things are done by certain people. What kills me about seasons of your life is how God tells you what is about to happen before it happens. Doing my job is one thing, but when I step over into the roles that someone else normally does it makes me uncomfortable. People run from discomfort- they don't like it. The problem with running from discomfort all the time is that you restrict yourself to a small circle of comfort, and then we miss out on so much in life. In my counterpart's absence, I am finding that I am capable to doing more than I ever thought I could. With the Lord's help, I am managing more than I ever thought I could. I am sleeping at night too- which is a miracle, if I am being honest. The last time she was gone, I went on high blood pressure medicine because of stress. Maybe the medicine is doing its job, or maybe the Lord's provision and protection is bigger than I thought. And if I let myself go there, maybe a maturity has taken place?!
Too often, we confuse stability with happiness. I want to make my decisions based off of what I can see and what I know is sensible. I am sorry to have to tell you this, Mrs. Settles, but the gospel and this thing called FAITH is anything but stable and predictable. You cannot have the guarantee in writing that you want and a return policy that never expires. What is predictable is the goodness of God and his loving faithfulness. And what makes me so mad and so happy all at the same time, is that I can see God in every moment of my whole life, but especially in the last few months. Discomfort is actually a good thing, because it means you're learning, growing, and expanding.
Josh and I are on day eight of Whole 30. The first few days are very uncomfortable- there were headaches, belly aches, and food cravings. The foods that I would normally run to for comfort from a hectic, seeing kids every 10 minutes and accidentally setting the Sign Up Genius to schedule five students every 10 minutes, were suddenly no longer available. There were tears flowing, tears of the Merlot BellaVitano kind. My love affair with cheese dates back to when I would go to Ponderosa for the all you can eat buffet and eat cheesy ham bits by the plate. In the discomfort of this 30-day purge, I am learning, growing, and for once, not expanding. I am learning what makes me bloated, tired, and sluggish. By day eight, I am feeling pretty good. I am tired of eating the same things, but I am feeling better and I have learned so much about myself moving forward.
No matter what, I cannot get away from the specificity of God. He does not just wrap us in a goodness blanket that is one size fits all. He hems! When the possibility of moving our ministry to the old bowling alley first came up, Josh and I immediately shot it down. How could that make sense? Josh is not even full time and we are going to move to a bigger facility, one that needed to be totally renovated I might add, with more responsibility, more people, and just more of all of the THINGS. We thought that by doing this, we were not stewarding what God had given us because we thought we knew the right order of things. Stepping out into the uncomfortable is likely not going to make any sense. Bible scholars and people who are good with budgets will probably advise you to reconsider. Thankfully, we leaned not on our own understanding and put our trust in someone who was nudging us along and who owns cattle on a thousand hills. Heaven's currency does not need my understanding to operate!
"This same God who goes ahead of you in your travels to scout out a place to pitch camp, a fire by night and a cloud by day to show you the way to go" ` Deuteronomy 1:30-33 TMT.
He sees ahead to what the Melissa Settles of August 19, 2019 is going to need and makes a way for that before I even knew that I would need anything. He cares for each of us in a way that is so intimate and so specific that only He would know to secure. Stepping out into the uncomfortable is easier knowing that the God of the universe has made all of the travel arrangements in advance. Somehow I am assured that this season of meeting more needs is directly correlated with meeting spiritual needs and where those concern The Kingdom House. Maybe being stretched to not knowing how you are going to handle more responsibility is actually the place where expansion meets heaven's timetable. I may never retire as a public educator, but while I am in that office, I am so encouraged that my steps are ordered. What would have been seen as discomfort is now the measuring rod for expansion. If I can steward the added responsibility, then I can be trusted to handle more. As long as the comfort in the discomfort continues, and we all know it will, then I am so happy to keep encountering God along the way of how he shows me in the natural what He is doing in the supernatural. At the end of the day, God is far more concerned with your transformation than your comfort.
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