I once invited an important person in my life to enter a challenging season with me.  The decisions I was planning on making were going to change my lifestyle drastically but in turn provide opportunity for tremendous growth.  The individual I invited along side me respectfully declined, stating that they were comfortable in the place they were in. 

Comfortable. 

As soon as the word left their lips, I began to dwell on it.

Comfortable.  Comfortable.  Am I comfortable? 

Yes, at the time I was.  I had my friends.  I had my routine.  I had my Netflix.  But I had zero intention of keeping it that way. 

I had learnt that where there is comfort there is not growth.  I knew that if I wasn’t moving forward, I was moving backwards, and I knew even more that I was not created to move backwards.

I had caught myself in a period of being stagnant and was desperate to do something about it.  I needed to challenge myself.  I needed to step outside of the circle of “I can do this” and into the realm of “I have no idea what I’m doing but God is with me and even if I don’t "succeed" He’ll be there to keep me from sinking”. 

Don’t get me wrong; it’s good to have a certain level of comfort in your life.  It's important to have friends with whom you're comfortable being yourself.  You need to have a church home where you are comfortable to freely worship and ask questions with people who will help you search for answers.  But when nothing around you is making you uncomfortable you are at risk of moving in the opposite direction of forward. 

Where do you need to break away from the familiar to see what God can make possible?

A support system of friends and family is extremely valuable, but you can gain immeasurably more by challenging yourself to connect with a new person.  You might be perfectly content being able to run 5km, but what if you pushed yourself, even just once, to try 10?  Maybe your business is surviving each year, giving you what you need to support yourself, but imagine who else you could support if you stretched yourself further to see your company thrive.  

It could also be your faith life that has gotten a little too comfy.  You attend church each Sunday and give just the right amount of time and money that it’s not a burden on you or your lifestyle.  But what if Jesus is calling you to do more.  What if He wants to put you in a place where you need to rely wholly on Him to get through the day?  A place where He can shape you into so much more than you ever thought possible.  A place where you can impact lives and see hearts transformed.  But you’re refusing to listen because you’re comfortable where you are. 

The foxes have their holes and birds they have their nests but I the Son of Man have nowhere to lay my head.

Follow me.

Jesus wasn’t living a comfortable life, yet He’s called you to follow Him.