Why I left my safe and comfortable to step out in Faith!

It’s been a while since I posted up a blog. I have missed my time-spent writing and reflecting about all that God is doing in my life and sharing the things He has been teaching me with you. The past several months I have taken some unexpected journeys. With every season, life brings on change. There are all things new…beginnings, relationships, and adventures and then some things die away…the leaves change colors and then start to fall off the trees or maybe what was once your normal vanishes right before your very eyes. You take the good with the bad, the bitter with the sweet and when you put it all together you end up leaning into God a little more knowing that He is the giver of it all, the redeemer of that which seems lost, the comforter when life deals its blows.

Have you ever thought you had a clear vision for where God was taking you, only to end up in a completely different place than you ever expected? I am wondering if like me, you long to have a roadmap for how you are supposed to navigate these times in your life? You can allow times like these to help you grow closer to God, to seek Him in all things. His Word (The Bible) guides your steps, and you listen and look around to see what He is up to in this new season of your life.

For quite a long time now, I have been crying out to God in prayer about several specific things that have needed resolution in my life. I have claimed scriptures and believed in God’s promises.

• “For truly, I say to you if you have faith like a grain of mustard see, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” – Matthew 17: 20 (ESV)
• “And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.” Matthew 21:22
• “All things are possible for one who believes.” – Mark 9:23 (ESV)
• “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” – Romans 8:28 (ESV)
• “Now to Him who is able to do immeasurable more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us…” – Ephesians 3:20 (NIV)

I have waited patiently for answers to prayers. I have watched others get answers to their prayers quickly. I just haven’t been on the receiving end of the quickly answered prayers all that often. It came as quite a surprise to me when I recently asked God to provide in a couple of very specific areas of my life if it was His will. I was left in shock and awe to see him move so very quickly in an area of my life that appeared to be in the center of His will. Why would He move me when I was making a positive difference for Him? It was so confusing that He would tee up a set of circumstances that would cause me to sit up and question whether I really was where He wanted me to be. My recent experience has taught me that just because something seems right to me, doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s right where God wants me to be.

These are the deeper waters of faith, stepping out in faith to follow God when you don’t know why He is asking you to leave a place where you are making a positive impact for Him. As I journeyed this road, God brought several scriptures to mind that led me to believe that I was supposed to leave my familiar to follow his lead to the unknown.

• “Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” – Matthew 10:38 (Ouch, that one hurts when you like to know where you are headed and why you are headed there.)
• “My sheep listen to my voice: I know them and they follow me.” – John 10: 27 (NIV) (I had to let the voice of God resonate louder than the voices and varied opinions.)
• “ And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” – Matthew 4:19 (ESV)
• “Again, Jesus spoke to them, saying, “ I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” – John 8: 12 (ESV) (I’m not going to lie to you on this one, at times I have felt like I’m stepping into the dark, but I learned on this one that when he is asking me to move forward, He will light the path as I walk forward in faith.)

So I did it, I prayed, I listened to God speak in His Word, through His people, and through a bunch of circumstances that only He could have orchestrated. I just took a huge leap of faith and I am not yet sure how it’s all going to turn out. I do know that when God asks me to follow Him, there’s probably a good reason. I am confident that in time those things will be brought to light and even if I don’t know this side of Heaven, I do know that I will be able to say that I followed God as He opened a new door in my life. I am just following Him like the disciples did long ago. When Jesus asked them to follow him, they did it even when they didn’t know why or how they would be able to do the things he was asking them to do.

My head is spinning and I’m still trying to play catch up with all that has happened in the past several months. I definitely learned that when you go to God in prayer and ask Him to provide, you can’t complain about how He choses to answer. You just have to follow His leading!