Be Brave
Posted by Lindsey on Sep 9, 2011 in fear, God, random, women's ministry | 6 comments
Whitney Justesen on Flickr
I’m an introvert. I’ve found most people don’t believe me when I tell them that but once they get to know me they see it more and more. I remember one Saturday when Mr. Z was in tax season, therefore working on the weekend, he came home and asked me what I did all day. I told him I ran errands and took care of some things around the house. He asked, “Did you talk to anyone today?” I smiled and said, “Nope.” Almost in a proud way. He looked at me seriously puzzled, “Really? You didn’t talk to anyone?” And I said, “Well, I said ‘Hi’ to the cashier at CVS and asked how she was going.” He looked at me dumbfounded. He couldn’t believe I could spend an entire day alone and not talk to anyone.
I loved it! And I love days like that. When I can wake-up when I’m ready to, spend time reading my Bible, praying and just being in the presence of Lord and then wandering through the day running errands and doing chores, whatever needs to be done really. I love it.
Well, this weekend I am stepping way outside that solo comfort zone of mine and I’m going on a women’s retreat. This is a BIG deal for me. I know ONE person going on this thing. And typically I don’t attend things like this unless I have some kind of responsibility. If I have a role to play then I can hide behind that and not worry about the awkward moments when I need to initiate conversations with people I don’t know and try not to worry if I come off strange. I can be horribly insecure in these situations. Not to mention I am awful at small talk, which is pretty much the death of anyone when they’re in a place that requires small talk to open the door to deeper conversations that lead to long-lasting relationships.
But I am going to BE BRAVE. My prayer for this weekend is that I would be bold enough to step out of my comfort zone and just let God do His thing. I know I need time with my Jesus and I know my soul has been longing for ministry opportunities, both to be poured into and to pour into others.
So if you think of me this weekend please feel free to pray for boldness and peace :-) I’m pretty sure there are going to be some incredible ladies at this thing, they’re probably all a lot cooler than me (I know I’m a total nerd and I’m okay with that), maybe their coolness will rub off on me. I’ll let you know how it goes ;-)
When was a time you purposely stepped out of your comfort zone? How did it go?
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Good blog Lindsay,
As someone once said, if you’re going to write, you need to put your flesh (not intended in the biblical sense, but more ‘heart’) on the paper. “If I have a role to play then I can hide behind that……”. How true. It’s easier to wear a mask on face than wear our heart on our sleeve, but oh, how the world needs to see our hearts.
God bless
Brian
Thanks Brian. You are so right. I can’t hide this weekend :-)
Jim sent me this link this morning: http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2011/09/08/community-taking-your-small-group-off-life-support/ Got me thinking too. Be brave!
Thanks for sharing the link Becky. That’s kinda what I’m hoping will come out of this weekend a bit.
I think you’re going to find you will surprise yourself. You come out of this weekend having LOVED it, and more importantly…. loving that you did it.
Lindsey, I want to let you know that I am definitely praying for you this weekend and it is SO important for us to step out of our comfort zones. With God’s strength and love we can really push ourselves to do anything, and this opens our minds and hearts to new experiences and helps us ever evolve.
A time that I definitely stepped out of my comfort zone was being a camp counselor this summer. Having never had any position with children or never having gone to camp myself when I was younger, I felt like a camper as well as a counselor. Also, I knew no one at the camp at first, and several of them knew each other from youth. I felt very intimidated and inadequate a lot of the time, but I pushed through and had some very special moments and created some lasting relationships. Though I don’t think I’ll go back, and it wasn’t one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had, it really challenged me in so many ways that God needed to challenge me. Plus I really worked on my personal relationship with him since there wasn’t a huge faith community there like I have in Chicago.