Last Saturday I was speaking with a friend from London that I hadn’t
spoken to in months. We had a good catch up session and she mentioned how much
I used to hate change. This got me thinking about how rigid and unyielding I
used to be. Things had to be done a certain way and if
they didn’t go according to the plans I made I would get so frustrated. Proverbs
16:9 “in their hearts, humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their
steps”. Because I was so resistant to change it meant that I couldn’t move
forward because I was actually resisting God’s way and will for my life. As
much as I confessed with my mouth “God let Your will be done” my actions were
doing what I wanted and that was so wrong-I hadn’t truly surrendered my life to
Him!
God desires growth BUT growth can only come about through change. We
can’t expect to grow by doing the thing. One of the reasons why I didn’t like
change was fear. Truth is most times I would only step out and do something if
I could predict what the outcome would be or because it wasn’t too difficult; I
could do it by myself. So basically I was placing my trust in myself and not in
God. I believe that if we want to live an average and mediocre life then we
don’t need God, because we can achieve that by ourselves. But if we want to
live an extraordinary life, a life that is exceedingly and abundantly above and
beyond what we could ever think or ask then we need God full stop.
"Growth demands a temporary surrender of security"
Gail Sheehy
So back to what I was saying, I always used to have this fear about
stepping out into the unknown and that was because I was not in-tune with the
Holy Spirit. Since I wasn’t taking the time to hear God’s voice, my life had no
direction and I found it hard to know whether I was making the right choices
and decisions. The word of God says in Isaiah 30:21 “your ears will hear a
voice behind you saying, “This is the way, Walk in it”. In order for us to hear
the God’s voice, we must take the time to open our ears and listen (See post on
Hearing God’s Voice –May 2013).
Before I FINALLY made the decision to take the leap of faith and
come to Fiji I asked God to speak to me and confirm that I should leave England.
And God being true to His word answered me. I remember one the ways God
confirmed it to me was through Genesis 12:1 when God told Abraham the first
missionary to “go from your country, your people and your father’s household to
the land I will show you”. BUT I still didn’t act upon it because of fear and
lack of faith. I turned a blind eye.
It was in January 2012 that I started enquiring about doing missions
work. I graduated from University in July (I could have gone in July but knew
that that was not the time, because I had to prepare). I sent off the
application form in September that same year and only decided that I was
actually going in February 2013 and left March 2013 and the Discipleship Training
course commenced in April. What does
that tell me about myself? I failed to trust God and His plans. It was a big
step but one I knew I had to take because deep down I always knew that if I
didn’t leave in March then I would have missed out on something greater, a
great opportunity, I would have failed to fulfill my purpose and calling some
how. I knew that I would regret it for the rest of my life. What is God calling
you to do and what is stopping you from stepping out? Believe me when I say
that when you obey God, you will NOT regret it. His ways and thoughts are
higher and better than our own (Isaiah 55:8-9).
If there is something I’ve learnt over the past couple of months it is
to go for it! If God gives you the green light then go! Why wait, in fact the
question I should be asking is what are you waiting for? Do you want to die
living a unfulfilled life that lacks purpose? Explore, be daring and step
out of your comfort zone into the unknown, something greater awaits you :)
