I would like to share something with you that I have come to realize during my preparation…
I have heard this before, but it's so obvious to me now.
God wants the absolute best for You. Through Him, crazy, unpredictable, mind-blowing things can and will occur.
Without Him, you can sometimes live a pretty good life, you can have a great job, a family, kids, and good health. You can have a nice routine that always works out for you, where things never get shaken up, and life COULD be just grand. But at the same time, there could be so much MORE.
A real life example of this would be my best friend Michele Rebozzi. Long story short, we met in college our Freshman year and developed a DEEP and strong friendship through basketball and all the crap we endured together. (Real quick I have to give a shout out to the other leg of our tripod friendship- Jessica Torrecillas! You rock too missy don't get it twisted) However my realization involves Bozz, as I like to call her. This girl was the nicest, kindest, most loyal and selfless girls I had ever met. And the important thing to know is that she was all of these things WITHOUT CHRIST. After about a year she accepted Jesus Christ into her life and He changed her whole world. Crazy things happened, she grew and totally transformed right in front of me and clearly God had big plans for her. She went from being a shy, sheltered, and somewhat insecure girl to being a confident, bold, and daring woman. After graduation this May, she was given the opportunity to go on a missions trip to Thailand where she could play basketball competitively and have a crazy experience. She wanted her two besties to go with her, but Jess and I did not feel it was what we were supposed to do. She took a leap of faith and agreed to go. Our coach at Fresno Pacific University also decided to go, but had to back out at the last minute. So, Michele listened to the voice inside her and went anyway even though she was scared and would have to jump way outside of her comfort zone. The trip changed her, she loved it, she experienced God in new and powerful ways and met people that she never would have if she had not obeyed God's direction. She connected with the people she went with and is about to leave San Jose and move to Oregon to walk through the door of opportunity that God has provided for her through the Thailand trip and as a direct result of obeying the Lord.
Bozz in Thailand!
What's the point of this story? Right here…
Bozz has work ethic, determination, and intelligence. She could have easily gotten a job and stayed in San Jose with her degree completed and then waited for grad school to come around. Her life could have been stable, easy, and nice. She didn't have to listen to God's calling to go on the trip. If she hadn't I am sure she would be A-OK right now. BUT she did, and now she is headed to Oregon to live for free, to coach Varsity girls basketball, and to experience new things that she never would have had the opportunity to before. None of this would be happening if she hadn't FIRST accepted Christ into her life and SECOND listened to His voice and THIRD obeyed it. With one decision, her life went from (good, nice, fun) to (AMAZING, INDESCRIBABLE, ADVENTUROUS).
When we don't obey God, the consequence isn't always punishment. It doesn't always end in life-altering trauma, loss, or disappointment. Sometimes, we just don't get to enjoy the blessings and amazing-ness that God wants us to experience. Most of the time, we never know what we miss out on. We don't obey the quiet voice inside because we are scared, insecure, or just plain selfish. But, would you risk doing something out of the ordinary for someone you love, or for money, or for the opportunity of a lifetime? God wants to bless us and enrich our lives with things that will touch us in ways that we never could have imagined. "His ways are higher than our ways, His thoughts are higher than our thoughts."
Be like Bozz. Take the risk, whether it's big or small, and obey what God is asking you to do. Whether it's to talk to the lonely person, to visit someone, to make an effort to bless someone, to quit your job and go on a crazy World Race, or even to smile at someone. You never know, but isn't it better to JUST DO IT and leave the rest in God's hands?
Be bold today. God wants to bless you, but you gotta meet Him halfway, He will never force us to enter into His blessings. It's an undeserved gift that He is offering us every single day. TAKE IT!!!
