Steps of faith…

Vulnerability is commonly portrayed as a weakness…a place to avoid.
However, growing in my relationship with the Lord, I have begun to see it less as a place of avoidance, and more as a place of decision and growth – opportunity.

Miriam-Webster defines vulnerability as:

capable of being physically or emotionally wounded.

Thinking on how I started my relationship with the Lord, it began in a place described just as that. God brought me to a place of decision; with two choices. I could continue down the path I was on with an emptiness only He would fill, or I could take a step of faith, commit my life to Him and risk losing everything I had planned for my whole life. My choice? I took that step of faith, and yes, I did lose everything I had planned to have my whole life. I was emotionally wounded…but not forever. Over time He transformed what I thought I wanted and needed, and all my past dreams became a distant memory, one that I became thankful He saved me from.

Several times since then, I have experienced that same sense of vulnerability, presented with a choice, a path of comfort and safety, or one requiring something new and a step of faith. It is during these times of decision that my mind is drawn to Paul, Abraham, and Moses. God did not call them to a place of comfort, it took them to a place of vulnerability, with a choice. Paul a Christian hater, turned Christ lover, and in the end a martyr. I cannot imagine that, to be a place of comfort. Abraham, called to leave his home and move to a new land, and on top of that…to be a father of many nations at an old, OLD age, can you imagine his conversation with Sarah? Ha! Moses leading those ungrateful people in the wilderness all those years, and crossing the Red Sea. What a faithful choice these men made…what beautiful, faithful, vulnerable choices they made to trust their God, and by making those choices God produced beautiful results that we still read about thousands of years later!

We are no different than Paul, Abraham, or Moses. No, no one is going to read our stories thousands of years later, but the decisions we make are just as important because they are eternal, each give us an opportunity to draw closer to Him allowing Him to work through us. To help us make the right choice and take that step of faith, He has given us His Word, an entire book to help us choose Him, over, and over. A book filled with promises such as this…

Isaiah 55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.

I encourage you today, make Him your choice, and trust that what He has for you is greater than anything you could ever dream up on your own.  Take that step of faith…Choose Him.

photo credit: Across the value via photopin (license)