OUR COMFORT ZONE

Good Evening To All!
 
 I was just reading one of my friend’s post, and she inspired me so much that I had to post a “spin-off” of her idea. She was talking about how leaving our comfort zone can be so scary, but so helpful to us. The Redhead Riter made quite a few good points as she always does in her wonderfully thought-out posts.

For example, she listed some of the disadvantages of doing this such as risk, uncertainty, and danger, and gamble just to name a few. The advantages she spoke of were that as you do it, change becomes easier, increased creativity, talents and skills are honed, and you get to know yourself. Now let me remind you these are just a few of the things she talked about. She spoke about boundaries and peer pressure as well.

This is why I included her link. I think it is an awesome post, and between her post and this one, we should understand the meaning of and the “want to” or courage to step out of our comfort zones in SO MANY ways.

Now here is my spin on Red’s post. Mine is from a spiritual point of view. As in our everyday life, to grow we HAVE TO step out of our comfort zones and the safety of our little world. When we live for God and worship Him we need to do the same thing.

We need to remember WHO is the
important One here. If we will step out of our comfort zone and let Him guide us, our faith will get stronger. The stronger our faith gets, the further out of our comfort zone we will venture.

In our comfort zones we limit
ourselves, as well as God’s ability to help us to grow.

In our natural life, stepping out means risk, uncertainty, taking a gamble and all of the things she mentioned, but as long as we are stepping out of it knowing that God has our back (If we pray and ask Him to), whatever happens will be for the better of us. If we show faith in God when we are inching our way out of our little box called a comfort zone rather than thinking we can do it on our own, we will have success. If we will step out of our comfort zone not only by acknowledging Him helping us, but also in our worship, God will show His presence in our lives more.

When I speak of worship, I speak of really focusing on God. Yes, according to the Bible, it says to praise Him with cymbals, song, dancing before the Lord, shouting and so on, but that is only part of it. Praise comes about BECAUSE of worship. Worship comes from our heart. In other words, we shouldn’t sit in church like a “bump on a log, thinking about our bills, lunch or other “carnal things”, focus COMPLETELY on our Savior and remember the length He went to, so that we won’t have to spend an eternity in a fiery pit.

For many people, THIS would be stepping out of their comfort zone, because even though they have heard the “stories” about Christ dying for us or the stories about all of the miraculous things He did such as healing or feeding so many with so little, even something as small as making sure the guests at the wedding had wine to drink rather than water, they look at them as “stories” rather than “He did these things for them, so imagine what He can do for me!

This takes getting out of our comfort zones because we have the mindset of “what if”. If we show faith in what God can do, this means we have to relinquish control of our lives to Him. We consider that taking a risk. What happens if we do this and it doesn’t go the way we think it should? What if our friends think we are nutty as a fruitcake because we pray and ask God to direct our paths before we decide on whether to change jobs, or move, have a child, or even something as insignificant is making a big purchase?

Our human ways tell us to stay in control. At least that way if we fail, we have no one to blame but ourselves. The thing is, if we step out of our comfort zones and let God have His way in our lives, let Him make the decisions for us, we will be MUCH BETTER OFF. We would not fail. The decision made would not be the wrong one. We need to remember that God sees the beginning FROM THE END. This means He sees what will happen in our lives in any circumstance, so if we let Him make the decision, then even if WE don’t see it right then, and it doesn’t turn out like we wanted, it will be the right thing for us down the road.

 
Everything Red mentioned is so true, but if we step out of our comfort zone for God as well as for our natural self, we will be even better off. We will have grown to a level that is so much greater than if we depend upon ourselves alone.
 
I challenge everyone who reads this post to step out of their comfort zone a little each day for God. Show a little more faith in Him everyday. Show Him you love Him and trust Him by giving over control of your life to Him even if it is just a little at a time.  This would be a great way to develop a lasting, intimate relationship with Him.  As a matter of fact it is actually the "ONLY way to have a close relationship with Him.  Can you imagine having a relationship with your husband/wife, girlfriend/boyfriend, with NO communication, affection or trust with them?  I don't think it would be very successful.  The same goes for God.  We need to have this special relationship with Him to join Him in eternity.  We need to show Him we have faith in His abilities, and trust Him completely.  After all, He created us.  He knows what is best for us. 

This brings to mind a poem which Ihave posted up in my bedroom called “Broken Dreams”.

As children bring their broken toys with tears for us to mend, I brought my broken dreams to God because He is my friend.

But then instead of leaving Him in peace to work alone, I hung around and tried to help with ways that were my own.

At last I snatched them back and cried, “How can You be so slow?” “My child, He said, what could I do? YOU NEVER DID LET GO.”


This would definitely be a step out of our comfort zone, as it is definitely NOT in our human nature to allow ANYONE to control our lives, let alone our destiny.  If we would start by giving Him a little each day, before we know if our lives would be so enriched in EVERY aspect.

Well, I can tell I haven't posted in a while because I'm flooded with thoughts., so I best close down my "thought process for now, or at least quite typing it out for the time being.

I urge you to check out Red's link above.  I guarantee you WILL NOT be disappointed;

I have one other favor to ask of my "Family of Readers".  If you would, please click on the "Prayer Line" tab at the top of my blog post, and look at the prayer requests I have added.  These precious people need our prayers in a mighty way.  For those of you who may take prayer "lightly", I guarantee you that prayers work.  I have seen first hand how when a prayer is lifted up, God hears and touches the person in need.  I ask that you look at my Prayer List and say a prayer, even if it is just a quick one for these who are in need.  God Bless you for doing this, and THANK YOU.

Have a Wonderful Day and May God Bless!