Once again the season has changed. Fall has arrived in New York, and the leaves have already turned from vibrant summer green to beautiful shades of red, orange, and yellow. Somehow it seems like life always mirrors the shifting seasons. I love the fall! In life too, I am thankful that seasons change. There are some seasons I’m glad I’ve left behind. Can I get an amen?! Don’t lie, we all need His grace. lol But if I’m honest- if we’re honest, sometimes change can be hard. The changing seasons remind us that we were never really in control after all, that we can’t stop the next season from coming no matter how hard we try. Change comes whether or we’re ready or not. And with change comes discomfort.
Some of you had a reaction just reading that word. You’re like, “Man, why’d she have to make it bold font?” I get it. Most of us don’t welcome discomfort with open arms. It’s something we just endure. Our culture despises discomfort.
Changes come and the status quo of our lives is shaken up. We’re uncomfortable. We feel concern or fear over what the next season might bring, what it will require of us, the sacrifices we may have to make. But lately, I’ve been challenged with a perspective that has called me up higher. I’ve been asking God to help me change my relationship to discomfort, to help me embrace it instead of resisting it. Is it possible? Could it be the very thing designed to help us grow? Hidden within the discomfort of your season or situation, wrapped up in rough and beat up packaging or some obstacle you wouldn’t have chosen yourself, is a divine invitation to growth.
I started to think about how most of the things we have, use, and sell are designed to make our lives easier. Just go on Amazon. Microwaves, smart outlets that help you not to burn the house down with a curling iron, sunglasses holders in the car, dishwashers, and now our cars even beep at us if we drift too far into the next lane. I mean, come ON. We have all these gadgets and tricks to make life… “comfortable.” But when did discomfort become a bad word? There is no growth without temporary discomfort. Some kinds of pain and discomfort are good and healing and life- giving. Life simply cannot be lived to the fullest if all of our seasons were easy and challenge- free.
But do you know what I just love about God? He is an amazing Author. He loves to write a good story, and written into the story of your life are challenges, obstacles, victories, weak and vulnerable moments, and seasons of growth. Jesus, this Divine Author, delights in the details of your story and He wants to see you win. (Psalm 37:23-24) He loves you too much to not help you grow. He loves you too much to let you sleepwalk through the one precious life He gave you. And so, He allows discomfort- sometimes even purposes it, to help you get where He wants you to be. He provides each of us with opportunities to wake up to reality and embrace the messy, beautiful, purposeful work of growth.
I was texting back and forth with a friend this morning, just catching up on life. We got to talking about some some of the current discomforts in both of our lives and how we are having to truly lean into Jesus and trust Him for what we don’t see yet. Faith. Belief, even in the absence of evidence. (Hebrews 11:1) Not because we are deluded or deceived, but because the character of God and His limitless ability become all we need to know about whether or not the impossible can be possible- for us. It becomes the evidence. She shared Ephesians 3:20 with me and it encouraged me SO much. I’m keeping it in my mind and letting it echo in my spirit today: “20Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,”
I also love verse 21, “21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.” It reminds me that God will be glorified in my life. If only I will have faith enough to surrender, and to just let Him be God in my life. Not only will He be glorified in my life, but others will find hope from my story. From the parts that felt uncomfortable and hard. So if He can do the impossible, and He can, then I can endure the discomfort required to see it happen. And You can do the same. He is able.
I’m going to leave you with some transparent words, a prayer really, from my journal. It encouraged me today as I read it back. May it encourage you, too.
“The world says peace is when everything looks right, and feels fine, is fair. True peace that flows from You helps us be okay when absolutely nothing is. Its not denying reality or the heartache we feel. Sometimes we still feel empty, hungry, needy. But the difference is that daily in Your presence, You fill us with Yourself and we don’t fear the need, because You fill it with yourself. Sometimes You fill it with other things, too. Until You do, we can trust. And after You do, we can trust even more. A beautiful cycle of need and trust. You are always good, Jesus. I am needy and trusting You.”
He will come through for you.
Embrace discomfort. What does not grow, dies.
Stephie Mill 