An Excerpt

I mentioned before I am writing a book. It is coming along… very slowly at the moment. But here is an excerpt from a chapter I was working on today. Enjoy!

Our comfort zone lies within a closed hand. A friend from college once gave me a physical demonstration of this and you are welcome to try it. Right now, hold out your hand, palm up. Look away and focus on counting to thirty. Now look at your hand again. You will likely notice your fingers are more curled forward, like a fist, than they were when you first held it out. It is physically more comfortable to have a more closed hand than an open one and for most people this is also true on a spiritual level. How many times has God wanted you to open your hands and your response was to avoid it because it was more comfortable to keep your hands closed? I certainly cannot count how many times this has been the case for myself.

Everytime I go somewhere for the first time or do something for the first time (and quite often many times after that!), my comfort zone and thus, the opening of my hands, is put to the test. It took about two months of walking into the Cru weekly meeting before I stopped sitting in my car for ten minutes with my stomach in knots and the adrenaline in my body telling me to drive back to my apartment because it is way too intimidating and I do not belong there.

Obviously, this was a lie. I was wanted there and I did belong there. But this anxiety around my comfort zone does not care and does not back down. The same feeling has emerged before, in interviews, dates, starting new jobs, going to parties, and so on. It is a natural feeling, hardwired in us, and sometimes for good reason certainly. Unfamiliarity, especially for our ancestors, was closely linked to survival, whether it was trying an unfamiliar berry which could be toxic or making their presence known to another tribe who may be unfriendly. But not every berry is toxic, and not every tribe is unfriendly. The key is the ability to discern when to exit the comfort zone. And to access this discernment, we need to call upon God. A lot of times what He wants for us is obvious and we just overcomplicate it in the hopes of being able to keep our hands shut with the excuse of uncertainty at the ready. 

During my sophomore year of college I went to Florida during spring break with Cru. The weather was about ten degrees below what was forecasted, I was sick, I was tired after being awake for forty hours while driving in a van all the way from Fort Collins, and I got put in a room with different girls who at the time I was not friends with and had not requested, with my roommate in particular being someone who complained non-stop, and caused several issues for students and staff alike the entire week. Needless to say, I was exhausted, ill, cold, and stressed. The perfect position to be asked to take yet another step out of my comfort zone.

My friend got baptized during that week. She invited a few of us to get up one morning to go to the beach to watch and celebrate her. Two of her close friends who were a major part of her faith journey were in Prague at the time and I decided to reach out to them beforehand to see about Facetiming them in that morning so they could surprise her and watch. Even reaching out and asking them gave me a lot of anxiety, which I know may seem silly because anxiety and the what ifs are often silly. But they agreed and said they could make the time work. I was excited but still anxious. Afterall we would be on a beach, reception may be bad, they are in a different time zone; there were many things out there capable of ruining this and I did not want to have this surprise for my friend end in disappointment.

Well the morning arrived, and of course, I was an entire hour off when factoring in the time zone. And with how I had been feeling all through the week, all I wanted to do was not try contacting anybody, and later lying to them saying I had no cell service and then never even telling my friend about the surprise. It would have been the easy way out, and one where my own mistake would have never been noticed but I knew no matter how I felt it would be the wrong decision so I messaged them letting them know I messed up.

And it was okay! Because I am a human and humans make mistakes. And also, because as luck would have it (or more likely divine intervention!) they did still have a few minutes to facetime in. I got to surprise my friend and it made an already significant morning for her so much more meaningful, with her telling me later on it was one of the most thoughtful things anyone had ever done for her. I am so glad I got to help add to her experience.

The right thing to do here was to exit my comfort zone. It was obvious but I allowed my anxiety about it to fortunately only momentarily, overcomplicate such a simple decision. Exiting my comfort zone over something so small and simple forced me to open my hands and God allowed it to all work out. Opening our hands may not go exactly how we expect or how we initially want, as this example shows, but God will take us in the direction we need to go, and oftentimes it is not even about us. This time, it was all about my friend. Opening or closing our hands can have lasting impacts, and it is important to remember those impacts can be on other people. And as a reader, I challenge you to stop complicating the simple and let God fill those hands of yours. Because God can make the simple meaningful, and not just for you.

If you’re intrigued by this post and looking forward to what I’ll write about in the future, you can expect a new post at some point in the future. Also, if you feel inclined, feel free to leave a comment below about what you think. Thanks for all your support and I hope you’ll come back the next time I post. Stay Amazing!