Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone Right Where You Are
Get out of your country and away from your relatives, and come to the land that I will show you.
These are the words God spoke to Abram (see Genesis 12:1) as He called him to the beginning of a journey that would ultimately transform the world.
Did you notice that God called Abram out of his comfort zone?
God told him to leave his country and his relatives, really all Abram had ever known, to go to a place that was not yet revealed to him.
I’m not sure that I would be so brave and bold to obey God’s direction like that. Although I know many people who have done so. They’ve accepted the call to uproot their comfortable lives to go places and do things for God instead of staying where they were doing what they wanted to do.
If you continue reading Genesis 12, you’ll see that Abram immediately obeyed and left his country. So much change at the good age of 75. Amazing!
Sometimes God calls us out of our comfort zones to serve Him. However, that doesn’t always mean we will be leaving our homes, cities, or countries.
I think God often calls us out of our comfort zones with the intention of keeping us right where we are. Instead of moving, He may want us to see our surroundings in a new way and do something different right where we are.
I’ve thought a lot about this lately as we decided to stay in our current home instead of trying to sell it. After almost 2 years on the market, it became clear that we needed to stay. However, I have not been able to figure out the purpose behind us staying and not moving.
One thing that has come to mind is that God has work for us to do right in this neighborhood. To be honest, after living here 6 years, we still don’t know many of our neighbors. And those we do know by name and sight, we don’t know them very well.
There are people in this neighborhood who are hurting in many different ways. Some have physical needs while others have emotional and spiritual needs.
While I feel being an encouragement to our neighbors is a major reason we did not sell our home, I’m not sure how to go about doing this.
I do know, though, that if I pray and ask God to give me opportunities to get to know my neighbors, He will be faithful to do so.
Now the question is, will I be brave enough to ask Him?
Maybe God is calling you out of your comfort zone today, but you’ve not been obedient to take steps to move away. Maybe He’s calling you to stay where you are but do something different in your current surroundings.
Will you join me in asking God to give us boldness and bravery to accept His calling today?
