Out Of Your Comfort Zone
Dear Friends,
My family seem to be getting used to me using family experiences in my blogging. We had a family get-together on Saturday and Josh, my son, said to me, "You can use this in your blog!" So here goes...
My sister, her husband and my niece came to spend Saturday with us, and as the weather was lovely we decided to go to the beach. Jason and our children very quickly got in the water and started swimming. It took me a little longer! Even though the water was cold, I was happy paddling in shallow water where I was in my comfort zone. However, my family kept encouraging me to come further in and join them. After a few minutes I was in up to my middle, but they still said I wasn't in deep enough yet, telling me that I would feel a lot warmer once I had my shoulders in too. My sister was cheering me on from the edge of the water. I really wanted to do it, if they could do it, so could I, but it was sooo cold! Eventually I made it all the way in and I was so glad I had. I felt like I had really achieved something. It's been some years since I've been right in the sea. My sister was very proud of me and said seeing me go all the way in made her wish she'd also brought her swimming costume.
In our Christian journey we all need people who are with us, who support us and encourage us to keep going and who will also cheer us on from the side-lines. There are times when the journey is challenging, when God wants to take us out of our comfort zone and to a place where we can be used more by him. Sometimes we want to stay where we are, we'd rather just be paddling where it feels safer and we feel more in control instead of letting go and depending on him. But when we see others who have chosen to follow God go further in their walk with him, it encourages us to go deeper and further. They have already paved the way and shown that with God it is possible to accept the challenge to move out of the comfort zone.
Not only do we have other Christians around us to support and encourage us, we also have the example of many ordinary people in the bible who answered God's call and moved out of their comfort zone to do extra-ordinary things for him. Here are just a few examples: Ruth went from young widow to a descendant of King David and Jesus (the book of Ruth), Deborah from wife and mother to Israel's only female judge (Judges 4&5), David from shepherd boy to King (1 Samuel 16, 2 Samuel 2&5, 1 Chronicles 11), Amos from shepherd to God's prophet (the book of Amos) and Esther from orphan to Queen (in the book of Esther).
God doesn't expect us to stand still in our relationship with him, he doesn't want us to settle for less, he wants us to discover more, to experience all that he has for us, to live extra-ordinary lives. If I had not gone in as deep as I had in the sea, I know that when we left the beach I would have regretted it, that I would have spent time thinking "If only..." When it comes to my relationship with God, I don't want to live with the regret of things I didn't do when he asked them of me, to have thoughts of "If only..." Whenever God says to me "Come, follow me, let's move further and deeper, this is what I want for you." I want to hear his call, accept the challenge and move out of my comfort zone. I want my response to be like Matthew's when Jesus called him in Matthew 9:9 "As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax collector’s booth. 'Follow me and be my disciple,' Jesus said to him. So Matthew got up and followed him." (NLT)
The Christian life was never meant to be lived alone, that's why God made his church, we are made for relationships, to connect with others. Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 5:11 "So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing." (NLT) Each of us need people around us who will encourage and support us, who will stand with us, and cheer us on from the side-lines as we follow God's call on our lives. Likewise, we are to stand with others and encourage them as they move on with God and as they make themselves available to be used by God. In Hebrews the writer tells us "let us consider and give attentive, continuous care to watching over one another, studying how we may stir up (stimulate and incite) to love and helpful deeds and noble activities," Hebrews 10:24 (Amp). The writer of Hebrews also tells us that having many examples of people of faith who have gone before us gives us the courage and the confidence in God to do the same, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us." Hebrews 12:1 (NLT)
We can also be an example to others who may not be as far on in their journey as we are. As they watch us to see how we respond to God, as they see us go further and deeper with God, they realise it really is possible to move out of their comfort zone and live for God. As they see us trust God and step out in answer to God's call it inspires confidence in them that they can do the same.
To Think About:
Consider the image of going out in the water as a description of your relationship with God. Are you "paddling" with him or are you "all in"?
What is your response to Jesus saying to you "Follow me and be my disciple"?
Is God calling you to move out of your comfort zone? Have you given him an answer?
Vicki
My family seem to be getting used to me using family experiences in my blogging. We had a family get-together on Saturday and Josh, my son, said to me, "You can use this in your blog!" So here goes...
My sister, her husband and my niece came to spend Saturday with us, and as the weather was lovely we decided to go to the beach. Jason and our children very quickly got in the water and started swimming. It took me a little longer! Even though the water was cold, I was happy paddling in shallow water where I was in my comfort zone. However, my family kept encouraging me to come further in and join them. After a few minutes I was in up to my middle, but they still said I wasn't in deep enough yet, telling me that I would feel a lot warmer once I had my shoulders in too. My sister was cheering me on from the edge of the water. I really wanted to do it, if they could do it, so could I, but it was sooo cold! Eventually I made it all the way in and I was so glad I had. I felt like I had really achieved something. It's been some years since I've been right in the sea. My sister was very proud of me and said seeing me go all the way in made her wish she'd also brought her swimming costume.
In our Christian journey we all need people who are with us, who support us and encourage us to keep going and who will also cheer us on from the side-lines. There are times when the journey is challenging, when God wants to take us out of our comfort zone and to a place where we can be used more by him. Sometimes we want to stay where we are, we'd rather just be paddling where it feels safer and we feel more in control instead of letting go and depending on him. But when we see others who have chosen to follow God go further in their walk with him, it encourages us to go deeper and further. They have already paved the way and shown that with God it is possible to accept the challenge to move out of the comfort zone.
Not only do we have other Christians around us to support and encourage us, we also have the example of many ordinary people in the bible who answered God's call and moved out of their comfort zone to do extra-ordinary things for him. Here are just a few examples: Ruth went from young widow to a descendant of King David and Jesus (the book of Ruth), Deborah from wife and mother to Israel's only female judge (Judges 4&5), David from shepherd boy to King (1 Samuel 16, 2 Samuel 2&5, 1 Chronicles 11), Amos from shepherd to God's prophet (the book of Amos) and Esther from orphan to Queen (in the book of Esther).
God doesn't expect us to stand still in our relationship with him, he doesn't want us to settle for less, he wants us to discover more, to experience all that he has for us, to live extra-ordinary lives. If I had not gone in as deep as I had in the sea, I know that when we left the beach I would have regretted it, that I would have spent time thinking "If only..." When it comes to my relationship with God, I don't want to live with the regret of things I didn't do when he asked them of me, to have thoughts of "If only..." Whenever God says to me "Come, follow me, let's move further and deeper, this is what I want for you." I want to hear his call, accept the challenge and move out of my comfort zone. I want my response to be like Matthew's when Jesus called him in Matthew 9:9 "As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax collector’s booth. 'Follow me and be my disciple,' Jesus said to him. So Matthew got up and followed him." (NLT)
The Christian life was never meant to be lived alone, that's why God made his church, we are made for relationships, to connect with others. Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 5:11 "So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing." (NLT) Each of us need people around us who will encourage and support us, who will stand with us, and cheer us on from the side-lines as we follow God's call on our lives. Likewise, we are to stand with others and encourage them as they move on with God and as they make themselves available to be used by God. In Hebrews the writer tells us "let us consider and give attentive, continuous care to watching over one another, studying how we may stir up (stimulate and incite) to love and helpful deeds and noble activities," Hebrews 10:24 (Amp). The writer of Hebrews also tells us that having many examples of people of faith who have gone before us gives us the courage and the confidence in God to do the same, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us." Hebrews 12:1 (NLT)
We can also be an example to others who may not be as far on in their journey as we are. As they watch us to see how we respond to God, as they see us go further and deeper with God, they realise it really is possible to move out of their comfort zone and live for God. As they see us trust God and step out in answer to God's call it inspires confidence in them that they can do the same.
To Think About:
Consider the image of going out in the water as a description of your relationship with God. Are you "paddling" with him or are you "all in"?
What is your response to Jesus saying to you "Follow me and be my disciple"?
Is God calling you to move out of your comfort zone? Have you given him an answer?
Vicki
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