Sunshine in the Haze

In the depths of your soul, you hear God calling you to take a leap of faith, but the thought of stepping outside of your comfort zone terrifies you.

Your chest is tight, and your breath comes in strained waves. You’re giving every excuse under the sun, hoping that you’re just being weird.

Surely, God wouldn’t call you to take that leap, would He?

When God Called Me to Become a Writer

Everyone knows me as a passionate Christian blogger, but if I’m being honest, I didn’t always want to be a writer. In my mind, I wasn’t a strong enough Christian to write for God’s Kingdom.

Because of this, when God called me to start writing, I was baffled. I couldn’t understand why God would call me, an inadequate preteen, to write for His glory.

I was immediately consumed with insecurities. In an attempt to avoid the calling, I explained to God why I couldn’t do what He was asking me to do.

But here’s the thing about God’s callings… 1) They rarely make sense at first. 2) Most of the time, we don’t meet the “requirements”.

How to Take a Leap of Faith When You Feel Inadequate & Terrified

I once heard that God’s calling brings peace. If you’re uncertain it’s God prompting you to move, you can judge it by how much peace it brings.

This got me thinking…

In the past, more often than not, the things that caused me the most discomfort were the things God called me to do.

But, in my discomfort, I also had a sense of peace. Somehow, I knew that I needed to take a step towards the thing that was causing me so much anxiety. In hindsight, I was uncomfortable because I was fighting God’s prompting.

Once I took a small step towards the calling, more peace filled me. That’s how I knew to keep moving forward.

God calls us outside of our comfort zones for His glory and our growth. If the calling does these two things, it could very well be God speaking to your heart.

I know you feel inadequate and scared, but you must remember that God doesn’t call us based on our qualifications. It’s the Holy Spirit that qualifies us to do the things that God asks.

If God expected us to be able to do as He asked on our own, He would ask much less of us. Thankfully, as Christians, we have His Spirit working inside of us. We don’t have to tackle the hard things alone.

In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.

Ephesians 1:11-12 (NKJV)

When God calls us to do something, He knows all of our inadequacies and fears—past, present, and future—yet He calls us anyway.

If God is truly calling, He will make a way even when it doesn’t make sense, equip us when we fall short, and speak truth into our fears.

While this process may cause some discomfort at times, we will also experience an overwhelming peace that surpasses our understanding (Philippians 4:6-7).

This is What Happens When You Take a Risk for God’s Glory

I still have a long way to go down this unpredictable road of being a Christian writer, but I have gathered so many good things from it.

Although taking a leap of faith has sometimes seemed bad (like when my blog traffic dwindles), I have found something pure and rich; I have found a purpose.

Even now, God is calling me to take new leaps of faith that are way scarier than writing, but because I trusted God with the small steps, I can take heart and trust Him as I jump across the ravines.

It was never about being a good enough Christian or meeting the world’s agenda; it was about glorifying God through my imperfections and fears.

And I know that whatever God is calling you to do, it’s for the same reason. God desires you, His precious child, to take risks and find peace, contentment, and hope in His profound love.

Stop Listening to Your Inner Voice of Fear

Following God’s calling will be excruciatingly hard at times (think about Abraham, Jonah, Esther, and Paul), but God’s calling is extraordinary.

If you hear Him calling you right now, start pursuing it. This is your sign!

You may not understand why God is calling you, but you can trust He has a perfect plan up His sleeve. He planned it before you were ever born, and now He is inviting you to live it out.

And because God is always faithful, He will hold your hand every step of the way. He will not leave you!

God has called me many times, and I can boldly say that I don’t regret obeying His voice and stepping out in faith.

I do, however, regret the times I chose to follow my inner voice of fear. I wish I had taken those steps of faith.

In this, even though it’s terrifying, I urge you to take that leap of faith that God is asking you to take. Don’t wait (unless that’s what He is calling you to do)! Today, trust God as you step outside of your comfort zone.

In light of all this, here’s what I want you to do. While I’m locked up here, a prisoner for the Master, I want you to get out there and walk—better yet, run!—on the road God called you to travel. I don’t want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don’t want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. And mark that you do this with humility and discipline—not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences.

Ephesians 4:1-3 (MSG, Eugene Peterson’s interpretation) Here is the NKJV text.

Don’t leap across the ravine just to give up halfway through and dive headfirst into its depths. Trust God through the whole process. His faithfulness will carry you to the finish line.

In the article He Will Be Faithful Again, Phylicia Masonheimer says it like this: “Our trust, then, is not in what God DOES but who God IS. God is faithful. His faithfulness is what I fix my eyes upon, my heart upon, my will upon. … The contentment and strength and rejoicing are found here, in the overcoming faithfulness of God.”

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Thank you so much for reading! If you know anyone who is struggling to take a leap of faith, make sure to send them a link to this post. 

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Keep hoping & praying,
Autumn Rebecca