Leaving Comfort for Courage

Courage will always require an element of leaving. Leaving is just plain hard. When My 3 year old knows I’m about to leave he will often squeeze as hard as he can around my neck to lovingly manipulate me into staying one more minute.

I know how he feels—because leaving comfort for courage makes me want to wrap my arms around every ounce of safety in my life—hoping if I hold on tight enough that I won’t have to taste the pain of the leaving what I know is inevitable.

Leaving comfort and safety looks and sounds alluring and attractive - butthe attraction fades quickly—in fact I have never felt so vulnerable, small, and needy…. words that are not known for their alluring appeal.

Moving from comfort to courage will…
cause you to question your decision.
It will cause you to look around for the safety bars, seatbelt, and any kind of security button.

Moving from comfort to courage will…
cause you to try to make something happen.
Scheme, make phone calls, send out hail mary e-mails—anything to distract from sitting in the fear.

Moving from comfort to courage will…
cause you to doubt your abilities.
You will look at everything that you have failed at in the past … failed relationships, failed financial decisions, failed leadership calls—and you will wonder will you repeat those patterns and are they indicators to go out and look for comfort again.

Moving from comfort to courage will…
cause you to doubt the author of the calling on your life.
Thinking that God is too busy to take care of your little fear

Moving from comfort to courage will…
cause you to be jealous of your neighbors.
—who seem to be perfectly content with their lives. You will wonder if you are some sort of crazy person that has a unhealthy propensity to live on the edge.

Moving from comfort to courage will…
cause you to look for the easy way out.

Moving from comfort to courage will…
cause you to pray like never before.
Wonder if you know any scripture to cast out the inner demon of doubt.

Moving from comfort to courage will…
cause you to white knuckle yourself around anything that feels secure and semi safe.
—even though you know earthly security and safety is a mirage and the place where Jesus is, is most where you want to be.

Moving from comfort to courage will…
cause you to feel weak in the knees.
—a good indicator that you should stop standing up and get ON your knees.

Moving from comfort to courage will…
cause others to question you.
Especially those that have found security to be a bedrock to build their lives on. You will be misunderstood, questioned, and perhaps even seen as foolish.

So today, God, I feel every one of these fears. I am terrified… straight up terrified. I am calling out to you to be a voice of truth and freedom. Tell me to settle down, to trust you and to release every one of these fears into your arms of faith. I know it is impossible to invite others into a life of obedience if I am unable to live it myself—so today I am re-upping my commitment to obey and be faithful.

12 Comments »

1. What an encouragement!  A nudge to move forward and do what we’ve been called to do…thanks!

   Comment by Natasha - Feb 18, 2010 @ 10:38 AM

2. I really needed to read this tonight…Thank you for sharing, Jeanne.

   Comment by Anita Kim - Feb 19, 2010 @ 03:53 AM

3. This reminds me of something that Francis Chan once communicated.  I won’t try to find that quote or paraphrase what he said, but I will try to communicate what I’ve learned:

   Living by faith means putting ourselves into situations where if God doesn’t bail us out, we’re in trouble. 

   That kind of living really is terrifying.  We’re so tempted to do something terrifying once, to take a big risk and when it works, to stop putting it all on the line again.  Thanks for writing this, Jeanne.

   Comment by Ken Eastburn - Feb 24, 2010 @ 01:07 PM

4. Jeanne,

   I have been wrestling with choosing comfort over courage for about two weeks now. I have prayed about the situation, and our faithful Father has answered, yet the fear and weight of actually facing the situation haunts me daily. The day is drawing near and your article is timely. Thank you for sharing, I will continue to read it everytime I feel the need to choose comfort over courage.

   Comment by Anita - Mar 17, 2010 @ 08:05 AM

5. Jeanne,

   You are right on. My wife and I are following our clear call to serve as missionaries in Thailand. Even though I know it is what God is calling us to, and I have past experience to tell me He will provide, purchasing the plane tickets still held some fear. And as far as others thinking your crazy… Yeah, were there… I know what you are going through Sister!

   Jeremy

   Comment by Jeremy Wight - Mar 17, 2010 @ 09:51 AM

6. Thank you Jeanne!!
       These are some truths I really needed to read. I am in a place of choosing comfort or courage, and fears have been crippling me from moving forward into some unknowns. I know I will be reading this many times over the next while as I take steps out of comfort. Thank you again.

   Comment by Troy - Mar 17, 2010 @ 10:34 AM

7. Thank you so much!

   I needed this today.

   Comment by Chip - Mar 17, 2010 @ 11:49 AM

8. Thanks for this article.  To gain something, we need to loose something. And that cause pain. Don’t let the pain stop you from seeing God in action.

   Comment by Estela Figueroa - Mar 17, 2010 @ 02:48 PM

9. I am in the middle of leaving—more like leaping . And I am totally scared to life!

   thanks

   Comment by Bill Donahue - Mar 18, 2010 @ 08:54 PM

10. Reading this in the midst of a huge trial where much courage has been required - and a huge leap from comfort of some old bad habits - this was an amazing encouragement and affirmation for me.

    Thank you for allowing God to use you to bring this message to me. I will be forever blessed.

    Comment by Karen Connick - Mar 19, 2010 @ 03:12 PM

11. Wow this couldn’t be more true of the new turn God just showed me!! I thought He wanted me to help the VICTIMS of Human Trafficking for the past several months and now He showed me a convicted trafficker imprisoned for the next 10 years.  She may be seeking repentance and who else to point her to God, but me?  Really?  How much more terrifying could this be when I thought I saw the direction of where He was leading me.  Thanks for the encouragement of realizing it must be uncomfortable to some degree or else I wouldn’t be using the gift of courage He’s given me!

    Comment by Lisa Carrasco - Mar 22, 2010 @ 01:20 PM

12. I shared this with many friends and co-workers. 

    We are on our way from comfort to courage to step out in faith to do a good work for the Lord and not because we have to but because He has called us to. We are looking foward to doing something else for Him. This is a great article and it has reached many who needed it.  Thank you

    Comment by Jay - Apr 06, 2010 @ 07:33 AM

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