These two words, a mere seven letters, have been playing over and over in my mind. This past summer, while I was in South Carolina, my roommate Rachel (and bed-mate actually) said them to me. Step. Out. Since these words were spoken, I have spent a lot of time thinking about them, pondering and mulling them over in my head. Because, you see, she didn't just arbitrarily say this to me. It wasn't just some happenstance. The Lord had put these words in her head, for me. Specifically for me.
We both woke up in the middle of the night, at the same time, and she felt as though we should pray for the other girls in our apartment. So, we proceed to get out of bed, walk to the other room, and pray over our roommates while they sleep. Afterwards, as we were talking before going back to bed, she told me, "Jenna, I feel as though the Lord is asking me to tell you to step out." I looked at her, and asked what on earth that meant, hoping she would expound on it. "No clue, just… STEP OUT." My response was something along the lines of "Well…okay then."
I didn't know what it meant, and couldn't figure out what it was that I was supposed to be doing, or what the Lord was asking of me through these words. It's vague enough that it could relate to everything, but I also know that it was specific enough to apply to so many things in my life. There were so many things last summer where I simply didn't want to apply those words. I was afraid at times to step out and share the gospel, to step out and pray for someone I didn't know, or step out of my comfort zone and give up the plans that I so desperately clung to.
Mark Twain
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
Carter Heyward
"Faith is a process of leaping into the abyss not on the basis of any certainty about "where" we shall land, but rather on the belief that we "shall" land."
Sherwood Eddy
"Faith is not trying to believe something regardless of the evidence; faith is daring something regardless of the consequences."
Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."
Jesus (Mt 17.20)
"Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
I've always fancied myself a risk-taker. I've always told myself that I would go the extra mile, be daring, live with no regrets. I've gone parasailing, zip-lining, scuba diving, white water rafting, skydiving. I've left the country on my own accord, leaving to live with a family that I don't know. If you asked me, I'd tell you that I take risks in my life, some small, some big. Whether it's jumping out of an airplane, or talking to someone I've never met before, I'm game.
But Step Out? I had no idea what that meant. I'm coming to a realization that I need to apply it to everything. I need to jump and know that the Lord will catch me.
The World Race was a jump. Leaving college early? This will be a jump. But it's one that I need, it's one that I know is right. That excites me. I would rather be challenged than stay in a place where my life is stagnant; I don't want to be in a place (physically or otherwise) where I never grow. This is a challenge that I want to take on because I'm confident that the Lord will be with me in every moment of it.
I feel like Indiana Jones in The Last Crusade. His father is in critical condition and Indy has to get across a chasm in order to save him. So he takes a step of faith. That's how I want to live. I want to live with a radical faith that trusts the Lord in all he says, stepping out into new territory or experiences, regardless of what the world may tell me.
Watch the clip! It's like 2 minutes. 🙂
