India. Nepal. Vietnam. Cambodia. Botswana. South Africa. Swaziland. Argentina. Chile. Bolivia. Peru.
These are places I’ve never been.
These are places I’m going.
In my first blog post, I asked you all to join me as I learn to step out of my comfort zone into this opportunity that the Lord has provided. However, the more I think about it, I’m realizing that stepping out of my comfort zone isn’t exactly what the World Race means for me. If I’m honest, there are a lot more things about the WR that feel natural than there are things that scare me. For example:
Things I’m comfortable with: stepping into the unknown, leaving everything behind, committing to spend the next year with 50 strangers, carrying my life in a backpack, moving to a different country every month (and the subsequent necessity of readjusting to a completely new culture each time), extremely limited technology
Things that make me nervous: Asking people for money
So what? Why does it matter whether I’m stepping into or out of my comfort zone (or walking next to, or dancing around it, for that matter)? I think this distinction is important because I know the Lord wants to give all of us the desires of our hearts as we delight ourselves in Him (Psalm 37:4), and sometimes I reject that when I walk around believing the Lord is only going to call me into what is uncomfortable. I certainly believe God calls us to do things we’re not comfortable with at all, but what He doesn’t do is tell us that we’re not doing it right unless we feel horribly uncomfortable 24/7. Yet, for some reason, I often find myself thinking that this is exactly what he does. It’s like suffering. Though Paul said, “[f]or it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake,” I so often read his words as, “you must seek out suffering and choose to walk into it every day” (Philippians 1:29).
It’s time I stopped allowing myself to be deceived about what the Lord is telling me about life, because when I believe God has said something that He never said, I’m robbing myself of the beautiful opportunity I’ve been given to know who He truly is and to walk alongside Him in the good works that He has prepared for me. So I’m following God’s call to step into my comfort zone for a while to serve Him, knowing that His rejoicing over this decision is even greater than my own, and being confident He will show up in a way that is immeasurably more than all I could ask or imagine.
That said, I’m fully aware of the potential for these 11 months to become scary and uncomfortable real fast, and I’m okay with that too, because it’s in the scary and uncomfortable moments that we have to rely on Him. There’s no other option. I’ve experienced this time and again. Even when I think I know what I’m getting myself into, I soon realize I don’t know at all. When I think I’m prepared… I’m not. So I’m prepared to accept that I’m completely unprepared. And in the midst of all of this, I’m prepared to listen to God’s voice and follow Him every step of the way, no matter what it entails. Pray for me now, that I would continue learning what is true about this life He is offering me, that I would run the race obediently and with integrity, and that I would know the Lord more intimately as a result.
Surrender. Faith. Courage. Intimacy. Obedience. Joy. Suffering. Life.
These are places I have been.
These are places I’m going.
Will you join me?
