Day 8: Lessons of Hope from Shawshank

[box] “Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.” Shawshank Redemption. Andy’s letter to Red.[/box]

One of my favorite movies is Shawshank Redemption.

If you’ve seen the movie, you will remember that when the older man, Brooks, was released from prison, he couldn’t adjust to his new and uncomfortable surroundings.  His comfort came from what we would consider misery.  Prison.  His new life wasn’t what he recognized and he wanted to go back to the only thing he knew.  He went on to commit suicide.  He had no hope.

Even misery can be a source of comfort.  It’s what we know.

Watch this clip then come back here….

When Red was released from prison, he worked in the same grocery store that Brooks worked in and stayed in the same apartment.  He felt similar feelings of discomfort in adjusting to his new life.

The difference between Brooks and Red came down to one thing.  Hope.

“Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things.”

Yes it is.  Hope is our everything.  It’s the only way we can manage through the traumas and challenges of life.  We have One who came to give us hope.  It’s the best of things.  It’s the only thing.  And it never dies.

[box] This is Day 8 in a series, 31 Days to Get Uncomfortable With God. Please click here for a listing of all posts in this series. If you would like posts delivered to your inbox, please click here.[/box]

 

 

 

Day 7: Silent Discomfort

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How comfortable are you with silence?

It’s a noisy world.  The pace is hard to keep.  The distractions are limitless.  There is too much to do and too little time to do it.

I have only a simple verse for today.  It’s my life verse.

Psalm 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God.  I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

Be still before the Lord today.  As uncomfortable as it may feel, I challenge you today, to sit in silence before your Lord.  His soft whispers bring a comfort that the world can’t match.  Not even close.

[box] This is Day 7 in a series, 31 Days to Get Uncomfortable With God. Please click here for a listing of all posts in this series. If you would like posts delivered to your inbox, please click here.[/box]

Day 6: Risk the Unusual

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“If you are not willing to risk the unusual you will have to settle for the ordinary.” Jim Rohn

Friends, may you risk the unusual for the sake of godliness, for the sake of advancing the gospel, for the sake of love, for the sake of experiencing life like never before.

Rest this day in the arms of our Comforter, who will lead you into uncomfortable places right into His comforting embrace.

[box] This is Day 6 in a series, 31 Days to Get Uncomfortable With God. Please click here for a listing of all posts in this series. If you would like posts delivered to your inbox, please click here.[/box]

Day 5: Lessons From The Batters Box

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When my oldest son Jacob was almost 9, he switched sports.  After playing soccer since he was 3 years old, he made the move to baseball.  He played a season of t-ball at 4 and a season of machine pitch at 4, but he barely remembers it.  The 9-10 year old league is kid-pitch, and these kids were good.

After the first few practices and games, Jacob expressed how scared he was when up to bat. “Mom, these pitchers are pretty unpredictable.  I mean they don’t always throw the ball right over the plate.  And they throw fast.”

He was in an uncomfortable spot.  A new sport among many who’ve played for several years. Lack of faith in the kids pitching to him.  And insecurity over his abilities compared to other players.

Midway through the season he said, “Mom, I figured something out.  If the pitcher thinks I’m scared, he knows he can strike me out.  But if he thinks I’m a good batter, it will make him a little nervous.  I want the pitcher to think I’m a good batter.  So I dig my back heel in the dirt, I grip the bat as hard as I can, I put a determined look on my face, and I look with a mean face right at the ball.”

Guess what started happening?  He began hitting the ball.  Rather than cowering in fear and stepping out of the box, he dug his heel in and faced his fear head on.  And he started hitting the ball.  It made all the difference in the world.

I love this picture.  When I am exiting what feels comfortable, what if I dig my heel in, shake my fear, and look it right in the eyes?  Imagine what God could do with that?

[box] This is Day 5 in a series, 31 Days to Get Uncomfortable With God. Please click here for a listing of all posts in this series. If you would like posts delivered to your inbox, please click here.[/box]

 

Day 4: Jonah’s Discomfort After the Whale

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I’ve read the story of Jonah no less than 50 times.  Anyone with children has.  We usually focus on the part of the story where Jonah disobeys God and is swallowed by a giant fish where he spent 3 stinky days.  Then Jonah obeyed.

During my quiet time the other day, I read to the end of the story and stopped.

Jonah 3:10-4:11- I’ll start at 4:5

5Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. 6Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant. 7But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. 8When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”

9But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”

“It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.”

10But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”

God brought Jonah both comfort and discomfort to teach him.  When God provided the shady plant to ease Jonah’s discomfort, he was very happy.  When God brought discomfort by destroying the plant, Jonah complained and wanted to die.

God is so mind-blowingly multi-faceted it leaves me speechless.

I can relate to Jonah here.  I despise being too hot or too cold.  In fact I become a grouch I don’t recognize when under the misery of heat.  I believe I would have had a stubborn response like Jonah as well.

God responds to Jonah in a way that inspires me in how to train my own children.  Through example and loving patience.

God reminds Jonah that he is focused on a plant that he neither planted nor tended.  He enjoyed the comfort it provided, which did not come from the work of his own hands.

God’s people are His.  His alone.  We didn’t create them, we didn’t tend to them.  The Lord did it all.  The Lord created each one of us and He cares passionately, deeply.  And He calls us to leave our comfort zone and bring the message of hope to the lost.  We are surrounded by the people of Nineveh today.   The Lord wants to spend eternity with every single person He has created.

He needs us to get uncomfortable.  He needs us to go to Nineveh, which isn’t as far away as we may think.  Will you go?

[box] Please read the entire text from the book of Jonah. Jonah was angry at the Lord’s compassion for His people. It’s a beautiful picture of God’s abounding love for us. [/box]

[box] This is Day 4 in a series, 31 Days to Get Uncomfortable With God. Please click here for a listing of all posts in this series. If you would like posts delivered to your inbox, please click here.[/box]

Day 3: When Success Wears the Mask of Failure

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“You must determine what success is to you.”

The words my friend spoke didn’t seem revolutionary at the time.  We were meeting about my future as a writer.  I wrote a lot of words from that meeting.  This statement was not one of them.  I didn’t realize the importance at the time.

The words needed time to simmer.

My husband is a firm believer in eating lasagna and chili on the 2nd day it’s cooked rather than the first.  The day it is prepared the spices haven’t had adequate time to become entwined with each other to create new flavors.  The 2nd day the flavor is full of life and can be better appreciated.

So it is with words of wisdom that become tucked away.  We hear them but they haven’t had proper time to penetrate through layers of understanding, doubt, curiosity and confusion.

I answered my friend that day with true sincerity.  “Success is encouraging just one heart to draw closer to Christ.  To impact just one person for eternity.  If I write and it only impacts one person, it’s worth every ounce of time, energy, and money I exert.”

“You should be just fine then.”

The Lord has brought this conversation to mind repeatedly as He has reminded me why I write.  To make Him known.

You see the comfortable place for me to be is writing is in the privacy of my harddrive.  When I post my private thoughts in this ultra public place, I’m leaving what feels comfortable and exposing myself.  Showing all the ways I am failing.  Setting myself up for embarrasement.  It’s highly uncomfortable.

But the Lord challenges me with this:  “What is success to you?”

Success in the eyes of the world doesn’t match to eternal success.

When we leave our comfort zone, we must throw success out the window.  Because to succeed for Kingdom work can look an awful lot like failure to the world.

In what area do you feel the Lord calling you to get uncomfortable?

[box] This is Day 3 in a series, 31 Days to Get Uncomfortable With God. Please click here for a listing of all posts in this series. If you would like posts delivered to your inbox, please click here.[/box]

Day 2: Fight or Surrender?

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“So what are we doing today?”  he asked combing his hands through my hair, holding it out to check the length and condition of the ends.

“Keep the length mostly.  Just clean it up and thin it out.  A lot.”

Trying to conceal his smirk, he brought the thinning shears over.  “Listen, I can thin your hair all over like you always ask me to if that’s what you want.  And eventually you will have no hair.  Look at the teeth on this thing.  You see, this time it cuts the hair at one spot, the next time, it cuts it off at another spot.  Eventually, if you keep using these shears all over your head you will be left with no hair.”

“Umm, well, I really want to keep my hair.” Fear works well with me.  And fear can wreak havoc on me.

“I’ll do it however you want.  But you can either fight your hair or go with it.”

Do I spend more energy fighting God or going along with Him?  Embracing the place He has me and exploring Him? Or digging my heels in determined to stay my own course?

So when I’m faced with circumstances I don’t like, I have 2 basic choices.  To fight or to surrender. Do you ever find yourself fighting life?  Fighting your circumstances?  Fighting against the place God has put you?

So I must ask myself, why do I fight so hard?  Is it the comfort factor?  The snake of fear slithering its way through my soul?  Hissing lies that threaten to prevent me from experiencing the best God has to offer me now.

I’m challenged to ask myself the question that must be answered when I find myself fighting to maintain my comfort level.  Is this a fight worth fighting?  My short term solution for comfort could lead to long-term devastating results.

Lord, give me the wisdom and discernment to know when to fight and when to surrender.  Amen

[box] This is Day 2 in a series, 31 Days to Get Uncomfortable with God. Please click this link for a list of all days updated daily. To have these posts delivered to your inbox, please click here.[/box]