Just Jump!

Long time no post!  Some breaks are refreshing, rewarding, and necessary.  Other breaks make you realize just how much you miss, love, and need that something in your life.  That's writing--and blogging in particular--for me.  My life has been in transition for months in more ways than one.  It's a good thing and I'm more thankful than I have words to express.  (That sounds strange, huh?)  Nevertheless, I'm ready to get back to this business of writing!

Recently I heard a message in regard to faith.  Often, making a decision of faith feels like standing on the edge of a cliff and knowing you just have to jump.  Wooey!  Scary thought, huh?  One thing I'd like to do someday is to parachute from a plane.  My husband thinks I'm nuts, but I'd really like to....with a guide, of course.  Parachuting, jumping, or propelling off the side of a cliff on my own...no way!!  However, this is often how we feel when we face certain areas in our life that require great faith, or as the pastor said, unusual faith.

Every now and then our faith has to be exercised in a most unusual or unexpected way.  We are often prompted to pray unusual prayers or reach out to unusual people.  What I'm learning is that the blessing is found--and our trust in God is deeply strengthened--when we take those leaps.  We must remind ourselves that it probably won't feel good at first.  It will most likely be scary.  In fact, sometimes it is so scary at first--or for a while--that we doubt ourselves.  We may question why we ever jumped in the first place.  We may question our instincts (and everything else about ourselves) during that first few hundred feet of free-falling.  During that time, we have absolutely no one and nothing to lean on or trust in but God.  He promises to catch us when we fall.  Yes.  But He is also the one who occasionally asks us...to jump.  Thankfully He's very patient because most of us stand there frozen in fear, or asking questions in which the answers aren't necessary, before we get up the courage to jump.  (The unknown can be so scary!)

I needed to jump back into my blog.  The dilemma I had faced with blogging over the last eight months is that we moved to a different community.  In doing this, we lost the ability to enjoy high speed internet through our local cable company.  The move and renovations alone have been pricey!  Every time I looked into new options for high speed internet, I became discouraged as it would cost us quite a bit more monthly than we had been paying.  We just have not had that extra wiggle room.  Without in-home internet, however, I have not had the ease of blogging the way I used to.  So...it was put on hold.

At church last Sunday, when the pastor encouraged us to envision our cliff, all I could think of was my writing aspirations.  So, I prayed a quiet, simple prayer:  Lord, somehow make a way for this again.  Shortly after we got our routine Sunday coffee treats, I realized that the calendar on my phone was completely wiped out...gone!  I use my calendar function more than anything else.  I keep track of our family schedule, my kids' school events, birthdays, anniversaries, everything!  My husband suggested we stop at the nearby Verizon store, but we had already stopped at the grocery store so I declined.  Shortly after we passed the street, I mentioned it again.  He turned around and said, "Let's just go see if we can have them look at it real quick."  No other customers were at the store.  After my husband was in the store for five minutes, he ran out to the car and told me he was going to get me "hooked up with some wireless at home!"  Sure enough, within minutes, we had a new plan for both of our phones and wireless at home for the exact price that we had been paying for our phone service alone!  Additionally, we will receive a small discount through my husband's employer since they use Verizon also!  Couldn't get my calendar fixed at that moment.  But, within an hour after saying a simple prayer for provision (based on a conviction that I needed to jump off a cliff...in faith), God had winked at me and made a way.  He does that often when we are open to it!

I'm learning to jump.  How about you?  I'm not certain that I'll soar gracefully at first--or at all!  I may cry to be caught.  I may land very awkwardly.  Or maybe I will think I can land on my own, but instead fall and experience some hurt.  I can trust that even then, He will be right there with me!  And, past leaps of faith have taught me that God will join me as soon as I decide to jump.  He will never leave nor forsake me!  The fantastic thing about jumping--or even declaring that it's time to jump--is that God starts sending little reminders that He's right with you.  He will give peace even in the unknown.  Much like a father watching his child climb the ladder to jump off the high-dive for the first time, He is so proud of us for trying.  He will love us no matter how we end up in the water...or how fearfully we jump off that cliff.  When we take unusual risks, He is right there with us.  This is the comforting, reassuring truth that I'm learning.  He will pave a way.  He will wink in approval.  He will quiet our soul as we lean in and just trust.