Safety or Risk: The Scary Truth about Living a Faith without Borders

This is my dog Sydney. She LOVES to be outside. 

She explores our backyard like it is her vast wonderland, which it probably seems like for a 12 pound puppy dog. 

The fence in our yard is in need of just enough repair that she has some small windows in to what lies beyond her safe haven. She barks at the other dogs like she is much bigger than she is. She defends her turf when the neighbor is tending her garden. She owns her space and is bold. 

Enter the open door...

Sometimes when I go out front to take out trash or get the mail, I will invite her to go with me. She hesitantly stands at the front door, wanting so badly to go out with me and explore this strange new world - full of possibilities and new adventure. 

And yet she hesitates. No amount of coaxing will get her to budge.

Even though I will be right by her side and will not let anything happen to her, the great unknown is just a little to much for her. She is happy with her walls and fence and the safety and comfort they bring. 

And so, she stays. Safe in what she knows and missing out on all that she might discover if she just ventured out.

Today I feel a bit like Sydney. 

A few weeks ago I was comfortable with my life and my ministry. Great house. Wonderful family. All was well.  And then God saw fit to rock that boat a bit. 

He has seen fit to begin to break down my safe walls and opened the door to possibilities for my future that I did not know were there or would not have even considered just weeks ago. I hear Him asking me, nudging me, to follow Him and just trust. I know in my heart that He will never let me down and will always be by my side, and yet - I hesitate. Comfortable in the walls I have made for myself.

As He so often does, He spoke to me loudly through music this week. 

I have had this song, Oceans by Hillsong, on repeat for most of the last 2 days. The chorus is shouting at me and yet gently soothing my soul at the same time. It says this:

"Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders. Let me walk upon the waters wherever You would call me. Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander. And my faith will be made stronger in the presence of my Savior."

And so the decision is mine. I can stay where I am and wonder what greatness God has for me beyond the borders I have built for myself, or I can venture out to the unknown - firm in the knowledge that my faith WILL be made stronger in the presence of my Savior. 

I don't know about you - but I choose to walk forward in faith. Trusting God will lead and guide. That what He has for me through that open door is more than I could ever ask for or imagine. 


So what about you? Are you being called beyond your trust borders? Are you ready to go? What is holding you back?

Trust in the Lord with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways submit to him,

and he will make your paths straight.

Proverbs 3:5-6

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Descriptors

So, by way of update (if you have been following the blog), I am going strong on day 114 of reading chronologically through the Bible. It is actually a very cool way to do it because not only do I get the stories in order as they occurred (as much as possible), but YouVersion has this little box on one side of my page that keeps track of my progress. Today I am officially 31% done with reading the Bible through in a year. Being a big numbers girl, seeing that graph move, knowing that someone is keeping track of my progress gives me the accountability I need to keep going every day.

I have officially moved into the section of the Bible that is the "not so mind gripping" - the LISTS! Yesterday, in 1 Chronicles 1 & 2, I read the lists of people who had these sons, who had these sons, who had these sons and every once in a while a daughter was thrown in the mix (that is a whole separate blog post), etc. When reading through these lists, I noticed something. Occasionally, I would come across a name and there would be a descriptor there like: 

The sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan. The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabta, Raama, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan. Cush fathered Nimrod. He was the first on earth to be a mighty man. A few more verses down it describes The son of Carmi: Achan, the troubler of Israel... 

In reading 2 chapters, I came across a few more of these descriptors and it made me wonder "why did these particular people deserve the extra line in scripture?" Now, I am not a seminary grad and so I am sure this is probably not the correct answer to this question, but in my head, what makes sense is that they did something that made them stand out and was noteworthy. Some good, some not so good.

Then in today's reading I saw this in Psalm 87:6a The Lord records as he registers the peoples.

Humm... what is He recording about me? Daunting question! What is God recording about how I am living my life? What descriptors would I find behind my name in His record?

If you follow me on Facebook, you may have stumbled across a bit of a heated debate in one of my comment threads about social injustice. ( I so love stirring the pot!) At one point, commentators said something about it being all about "us and what we know" and  "turning into a "who" is more prideful than the other." The funny thing is that I know all of these people and would not consider any of them prideful or self centered (and I certainly know of enough people who ARE to adequately compare!) I guess if anyone speaks from experience or tells others what they know or have done it can come off as prideful or self serving to some. We all get labeled with something by someone, even ourselves. 

We use descriptors to tell people who we are in our profiles, people use descriptors to introduce us to someone new, God uses descriptors when He records things about me in His record book. The latter are really the only ones I care about. I just really pray that of all the things God records about my life, the good outweighs the bad, the action overshadows the apathy, the love outshines the hate, the passion overtakes the indifference. I won't always get it right - I just want to be moving in the right direction.

What will he record about you today?