Remember when I Just Did It?
Remember when I walked through the fears and the second-guessing and invited you to journey with me in that?
Remember when I left my job and I didn’t know what the heck I was going to do?
Remember when I went to Africa?
Remember when I moved to New England and started graduate school after 6+ years of avoiding higher education?
Remember how it was terrifying every step of the way?
But guess what?
I don’t think this transition could have been any easier for me.
The word I keep coming back to is: blessed.
I feel blessed. In all things surrounding the last several months of my life…since making the decision to leave something I knew well and step into the unknown, in settling into a new life full of new opportunities and new people.
Blessed.
It’s been this incredible time of experiencing the Lord’s provision in my life…in all aspects. Things seem to be falling into my lap, and I can’t help but be completely grateful that I am where I am for such a time as this. What’s been especially beautiful to experience is the way that I now see how the Lord has prepared me for the various things and people that I’m encountering. There’s much to learn still, and I eagerly anticipate what this season of preparation will entail and the new things I will grow in as I’ve already been enlightened by so much in just a few weeks.
I’ve been a little overwhelmed by the people who have told me how this is inspiring to them, or how they admire me for being willing to start all over and embrace change…. but, on some level, it feels ridiculous and laughable. I haven’t done anything great or mind-blowing… and I certainly haven’t done any of this on my own.
I guess I want to continue to encourage you to move toward better.
I want to encourage you to get ‘un-stuck’.
I know, in some ways, that’s what camp was for me. It was a place that I could have stayed forever, it was a place that was hard for me to imagine ever leaving. In some ways, I felt ‘stuck’ and I wanted to stay ‘stuck’. I liked my life there and it was hard to imagine that anything else could be better.
But I didn’t know.
And I think a lot of times we like to stay ‘stuck’. That may mean ‘stuck’ in an actual place, like camp was for me….but it could also mean a job, a house, a city, a mindset, a life-style, a relationship. We all have things that we get ‘stuck’ in. Things that we, oftentimes, like to stay ‘stuck’ in…because it’s what we know, it’s what seems easier… we can’t imagine anything else being better.
Things can always be better, though (especially when we know we are being called to somewhere/something different and we’re just trying to avoid it…).
Being willing to get un-stuck and move toward that better is part of the key.
I’ve done no great thing.
But, I got un-stuck. I moved into the unknown and I’ve experienced the provision that’s accompanied the journey… and I’m blessed. I can’t imagine it going any better, honestly.
And I want that for you.
I want you to be willing to step away from the things/places you feel ‘stuck’ in and to experience an even greater joy as you trust God with your finances, your comforts, your relationships, your job, your life. I want you to be willing to step further into the things that you are called to do because you’re trusting unswervingly in the God who saves, heals, protects, redeems, provides and continues to be faithful when we are, oftentimes, faithless.
Many of you have expressed a desire to just go and do something different, but feel crippled by not knowing where to even begin. Look at the things you feel ‘stuck’ in…and then consider what it would take to get ‘un-stuck’. Look at the things you are passionate about, gifted in, skilled at….and see how you can use those things to bring God more glory.
I think you’ll be surprised when you’re willing to step out.
I think you’ll experience a greater understanding of who Christ is as you learn to trust Him in new ways.
I think you’ll be blessed beyond what you ever thought possible, in ways that you weren’t even expecting or hoping for.
Get un-stuck.
It’s the best.