Wannabe Risk Taker

Do you ever hear a church sermon or a talk which you feel is totally directed at you? As each word is said you get more and more red because you think the speaker has actually been spying on you and is about to reveal who this entire analogy is about.

    God uses these a lot on me, not because I require His undivided attention but because I don't take hints very well and need to be told things up front. And recently one thing which God has been putting on my heart is risk taking. Its so easy to think that Christians are the people who play it safe. But if you're doing it right, you shouldn't be safe at all. To be in the center of God's will is the best place to be, but it's not the safest. God may call you to be at risk physically, spiritually, emotionally or all three. I don't know about you but the most terrifying one of these for me is the emotionally at risk option. I'd take smuggling Bibles or getting arrested over getting hurt emotionally or getting my heart wounded any day.

    BANG. And God got through. 

   From the surface I looked like I was living a risk. Moving 4,000 miles from everything I have ever known and studying something which I have no idea how it will fit in my life. But inside I was playing it totally safe emotionally, getting invested enough but not immersing myself. Soon I will be taking a lot of risks in my life, stuff which is coming up and ...Im petrified. But its about time, because you don't experience the fullness of life when you sit on the fence and watch everyone else live their lives radically for Christ and to the fullest.

    Taking risks isn't an unwise thing. Not in the slightest. Its essential to living a full life. Failure isn't in failing but in not trying. I would rather be the "well, I learned from that" rather than the "what if..." type of girl. I was told recently that we should get to a point in our call where we are at the feet of God saying "... I can't". CONVICTION. Our call everyday is to walk to the end of our faith and say "God...You better show up". Again, CONVICTION. So I guess I need to think about putting this on my 19 before 20 list? All I am sure of is that hurt is inevitable, failure is compulsory and all you can do is live and learn. It's time to start following the gut thats got me this far, and continue to laugh and smile through this beautiful story which I just have to be gutsy enough to live to the fullest.