We moved to South Florida with no promise of anything but hard work, serving Jesus, and gorgeous beaches.
No promise of a church building.
No promise of an ordination certificate.
No promise of a paycheck.
No promise of a job or a house or any form of security.
But really, since when are any of us promised that?
We might think we’re safe. We might think we’re secure in our 5 year contract or our comfy mortgage. We might think we’re secure in our relationships in the town we’ve lived in for years and the places where everyone knows our names.
But are we?
And is safe and secure what we really want?
Our pastor later told us, “I didn’t want you to come for any reason other than that you knew God had called you. So I made it sound as unattractive as I could. I tried to discourage you to test your calling.”
Because church planting is hard. And church planting is lonely.
Because moving 3,500 miles away from everything and everyone you’ve ever known is painful and scary.
But serving Jesus is sanctifying and satisfying. And obeying God’s call is rewarding. And living by faith is so worth every hard night and every long day.
And it took me to realize what our pastor said a few months ago, that “faith isn’t faith without faith.”
That stepping out in faith isn’t stepping out in faith unless it takes some faith to actually take that step…unless you don’t have every step of the way figured out in advance.
And stepping out in faith does’t always look like moving across the country or planting a church. In fact…those steps were the easy ones.
The hard steps are less obvious…the more daily ones.
The decision to live a radical life.
The choice to step outside of my comfort zone.
The continual choices to reach out and to love people and to talk to strangers and to live differently.
Truly, those are the hard decisions. The scary steps of faith.
And they are the decisions we are all called to make. We’re all called to live differently, to live questionable lives. Faith isn’t usually lived out most vibrantly in the big, life changing moments. It’s lived out in the everyday ways.
In the choices we make to live with less in order to love others more.
In the choices we make to love and keep loving even when it hurts.
In the choices we make to keep Jesus at the center of our lives.
In the choices we make to step out of our comfort zones to touch the hurting and comfort the morning and love the searching and rescue the sinking.
And we’re not promised that it will be safe, but we are promised that it will be hard. But we’re also promised a reward in heaven and joy in the midst of sorrows and a purpose that’s greater than just us.
So we went. With no promises except a call from God. With no promises except the promise of sanctifying struggle and eternal reward.
Will you go? Across the street or across town or across the country or around the world or simply behind this screen in your own home. But wherever He’s calling, will you go? With no promise of success or fame or earthly reward? Will you go?
Be blessed
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