Uncomfortably comfortable

When I think of comfort I think of being surrounded by people that I love and who love me. I am at my most comfortable when I am with people I do not have to explain myself to or explain my intentions, but being able to share my heart and opinions freely without being judged or categorized.

I also think of things like chocolate, big puffy comforters, or a hammock on a breezy day. Comfort can also be remembered as moments or seasons; like my mission trip to India or High School Marching Band.

There are seasons of comfort in our lives that I believe God gives us as a blessing for peaceful moments that balance out the noise of life, to prepare us or to give us rest. I do, however, know that God also pushes us into places of discomfort for other reasons, one being to help us grow.

Moving from Connecticut to Florida back in 2008 was definitely an adventurous experience that came with lots of uncomfortable moments. I went to a place where I knew no one and basically began a life from the ground up. Moving back to Connecticut has felt equally, if not more, uncomfortable. Perhaps it is because this is where I spent 24 years of my life and the past tries to define your current and future stance on things. (Memories are real!) It’s also because it took tons of time to build a life somewhere else and I know that it’s going to take more time to do the same in a place that I used to call home. You would expect it to be easier, but it’s not a clean slate that I’m building on, which makes it a little harder. I am also a completely different person than when I left, and so much else has changed back at home.  It’s like watching a movie again after many years have passed; it’s familiar, but you have a different perspective than the last time you watched it.

When Moses was in the wilderness, he was prompted by God (through an amazing burning bush), to go back to his home and leave the comfort of his new life. I can feel his pain. Knowing what happens after that pivotal moment in his life, there were a lot of uncomfortable moments lying ahead of him. In the same regard, there were a lot of glorious moments as well. It seems that you can’t have one without the other. We will never know what Moses’ life would have looked like had he stayed in his wilderness, but what we do know is that tons of enslaved Jews had been praying to God for years to save them from captivity and Moses was the answer to those prayers.

When God calls us out of our comfort zone, it takes true obedience and sacrifice –not an easy road, yet not an impossible one either. We must fix our minds on the greater plan that God has in store versus our desire for comfort.

After all, you may be the answered prayer people have been waiting for.