I Don't Want to Stay Safe

When we moved to Arkansas I have to admit I felt out of my comfort zone. The first week we were here, the kids and I drove to Central High School, home to the Little Rock Nine. If you’re familiar with history, then you know the story of the Little Rock Nine. If the facts are fuzzy, here’s a recap that I took from Wikipedia.

The Little Rock Nine was a group of African-American students who were enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in 1957. The ensuing Little Rock Crisis, in which the students were initially prevented from entering the racially segregated school by Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus, and then attended after the intervention of President Eisenhower, is considered to be one of the most important events in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. On their first day of school, troops from the Arkansas National Guard would not let them enter the school and they were followed by mobs making threats to lynch.

Growing up in California and spending most of my life in Montana, I was as far away from the Civil Rights Movement was as the War of 1812. But being in Little Rock, this history didn’t seem so ancient, especially when the young, beautiful, African American tour guide admitted her mother was one of the Little Rock Nine.

It wasn’t just a tour of the high school that intrigued me that day. It was the drive to where Central High School was that was even more inspiring. We left the new, safe-feeling west side where we lived into a part of town that still felt like 1957. We drove past houses that were boarded up, old businesses that looked as if they’d been left to crumble. I didn’t feel completely safe. This mama wasn’t in Montana any more.

Maybe it was that day, or maybe a few days to follow, that I made a decision. I didn’t want to stay safe. I wanted to leave my comfort zone. I had a feeling God had plans for me there.

You see, all of my friends were FamilyLife staff. The loved on us like I never expected. They brought us meals and offered to babysit. I was overwhelmed by their love. We’d also started attending an awesome church, but walking in the doors it was hard to tell the Civil Rights Movement had happened at all. I could have stayed their and worshipped with those amazing people forever, but something inside didn’t feel right. God had different plans for me. For my family.

That’s the cool thing about God. He has a unique plan for each of our family. It’s amazing really.

What about you? OK, maybe God isn’t calling you to physically leave your comfort zone by driving across town, but is He stirring something else inside? Is He asking you to walk across the hall to another set of lockers? Walk across the gym floor? Walk across the living room and pick up the phone . . . make that text?

God wants us to leave our comfort zones–all of us. Why? Because it’s there where He meets us. When we aren’t comfortable, we look to Him for our comfort. And that’s exactly where we need to be.

The Unknown

Tomorrow, a friend is picking me up for a three-day retreat. I’ve attended church retreats before—women’s retreats, a choir retreat, and ski trips when I was in the college group—but this will be a completely different experience. Other than the friend who invited me, and two other ladies that she mentioned were going, I won’t know anyone there. The itinerary doesn’t look anything like the activity line-up for women’s retreats at my church, and they even have rules like Please, no cell phones (so we’ll focus on hearing from God instead of on hearing from those we left at home). At first I felt a little unsettled about it. What kind of group expected people to leave their cell phones in their rooms or better yet, at home? What if I got there and felt completely out of place?

But the closer I get to tomorrow, the more excited I feel. I actually found myself feeling thankful for the no cell phone rule, knowing that it frees me to leave everything that is going on at home behind and take in what God wants to teach me. From what I can tell, the emphasis is extremely spiritual—something I definitely need right now. And I sense that it will be good for me to be with people that I don’t see on a daily or weekly basis—to make some new friends and connect with women that don’t know every detail of my life.

I see this retreat as an invitation out of my typical rut, and an opportunity to connect with Jesus in a fresh environment. I’m one of those people who like to know what to expect so I can feel safe and comfortable. As I asked my friend for more details about this retreat the other day, I sensed God nudging me to let a little bit of mystery be okay—to let some things be a surprise—that I didn’t always have to know what to expect every minute of every day. I look forward to His surprises.

How often do you accept invitations to do something unusual? How easy is it to step out of your comfort zone? When has God surprised you through an activity that you thought you might not enjoy?