These past couple of years I have found myself being pushed (delicately and with love I might add) out of comfort zones and into places that challenge my confidence, and truly make me think of how insecure I was when it came to my faith.
Can you relate with me when I say I love comfort zones? Those safe places I am familiar with day in and day out, where I am in control of my environment knowing if I stay where I am most comfortable I most likely won’t experience stress or anxiety. It sounds so good why would anyone want to be pushed or pressed out of those safe places right? Yet as I continue to grow and learn I found out I had positioned my relationship with God as a comfort zone.
When I placed God as a comfort zone I kept Him safely tucked away thinking all along I knew enough about Him and prayed at night and that was enough for me, but it wasn’t until recently that I look back and realized how mistaken I was. Not to say that a comfort zone isn’t a good thing yet when you push yourself out of that zone you create challenges, do things that you’re afraid of, and consider other peoples point of view. All these things create change and change is never something I willingly plan or take well yet when I took a bold leap one day and joined a friend for a bible study, just because she didn’t want to go by herself, I didn’t know God was going to move me so much during that season. I remember I was basically telling myself that I had no choice but to embrace it and asked God to give me clarity as I was trying to get adjusted to my new found group of God fearing believers. In that season I also had realized a friend, or in my case, a group of strong willed women, that provided Godly advice, love and just a safe place, allowed me to feel and learn that I am not the only one growing and that it is never too late to jump into the unknown,never once making me feel that I am less than.
Growth also came with slightly tweaking the company that I decided to keep. The influence of the company you keep is so important when it became known to me that I wanted to learn more about God and His word. I had always felt so behind once I started attending bible studies, I didn’t know a lot of the stories of the bible much less the names, verses, timeframe, ect. I’d wonder why I never took interest to really know our God at a younger age but as I sat in class and just listened to the other women in the group, younger, and older I found relief that there is no defined age or time to know all that we should know about the Bible and God. When you ultimately decide to make the time and snap into the eagerness of wanting to grow and flourish your relationship with God, it miraculously ends up being the PERFECT TIME. That was the beautiful thing about the meaningful relationships I have made.
“The one who walks with the wise, will become wise, but a companion of fools will suffer harm” Proverbs 13: 20
I guess what I am saying is my mediocre faith and relationship with God is now something of the past, it has grown into something so superior and exceptional that I would have never have known this type of relationship if I had not decided to open my heart, and make myself available. Take a leap of faith into unknown territory, join a bible study, fellowship group, or even dust off your bible and dive in again. Understand you are pushing yourself out of that comfortable place to know, for a fact, that you are genuinely seeking a better relationship with our God and boldly seeking His will everyday! Truly allowing yourself to grow where you thought you were really ok without.
If I can help someone understand that it’s never too late and that change is definitely scary but ultimately necessary sometimes, then I consider myself to be doing what God intended us to do “Iron sharpens Iron” Proverbs 27:17.
As a great mentor of mine and close friend once said “It isn’t about being good, but about being ready!” I repeat it often in my head because I may not know biblical references, significant events or read my daily devotional everyday but one thing is certain, I wake up and start my day knowing my purpose is to not just be a GOOD all-knowing Christian but to be READY for the coming!!
I pray that you live and serve along side a community of believers, surrounding yourself with company that has your best interest at heart. Seek to help other people and in the process I pray God blesses you with company that will do the same for you!
“Do not neglect doing good and sharing, for such sacrifices God is pleased” Hebrews 13:16.