Just when we were starting to get the hang of china… It’s time to go to Thailand. You learn the cultural norms, you get familiar with the area, learn the language, make friends, settle in and get comfortable and THEN… It’s time to go. Abruptly. I’m so excited to be in Thailand, but it’s strange to feel like I have to start all over again. Adapt to a completely different culture once again knowing that soon I will have to move on. Now I feel completely helpless again unsure of what I can do, or how to act, or even speak to anyone. But God is speaking to me massively through it.
When you start to get comfortable in your faith, it’s time to move on to something else. Now, before you interpret this as not growing serious relationships within a church body, let me explain. It’s not about hopping around from church to church. Instead it’s not allowing yourself to be “comfortable” where you are in your relationship with God. Choosing to press on to something else He wants to teach you, once you have become comfortable with what He was showing you in the last season. It’s choosing to be a constant student of the Holy Spirit, and choosing to go deeper each time you feel like you are close enough.
God can use struggles, seasons, or even good times in our lives to stretch our faith. During these seasons, we work hard to get adjusted, but we are also much more reliant on Him because we are helpless. The same way I’m walking around helpless without a translator and unable to speak to anyone or read signs at first. During this time, we HAVE to rely on the Holy Spirit. Later, we get accustomed to the area, and know where we might be able to go to be useful. But until the time of comfort, we’re dependent on God.
I could choose to stay where I am in my relationship with God. It wouldn’t make me any more or less of a Christian. But it would rob me of a deep relationship with Him that only comes through pursuit. I could also choose to stay surface level in Thailand. I know in a month I’ll be leaving. So I could make casual acquaintances, not make an effort to learn anything about the culture or choose not to adjust because it would be easier to leave later. But that would rob me of great lessons God wants to teach me, and miraculous works He wants to do through me. So I choose to dive in head first into Thailand, no matter the risk. Each time you choose to risk a little comfort and go deeper, God will move.
So here I am in Thailand. Helpless again, and dependent on God to show me what to do. It’s crazy, and sometimes even a little scary. But each time I choose not to get comfortable, He is able to teach me something new. Each time I choose to be restless in my faith and to seek God more, He shows up.
So I would challenge you to get a little uncomfortable. Make yourself vulnerable and actually rely on God to show up and do great things. Because I am learning the more you let go, the more tightly God will hold you safe in His arms.
