Comfortable

Lately I have been thinking about what it means to be comfortable. With the big decision coming up about where to move and what to do, I've been processing all of this in my head. I have been asking myself the question, is it okay to be comfortable? I think the reason I had such a hard time leaving fayetteville and an even harder time adjusting to life in columbia is because I was so comfortable. I was acquainted with my surroundings. I had a lot of friends who knew me really well. Day to day life was for the most part very routine. And then in a day everything changed. I was stunned and I felt like my life was completely out of control. Yes, I made the decision to come here. But I was not excited about it. As soon as I got here I immediately wanted to leave. I wanted to revert back to the life I was leaving behind. There were many days initially, that I almost didn't feel like the same person. Now nothing was familiar. Everywhere I went I saw strangers. The people that I was supposed to spend the next three years in class with knew nothing about me. I didn't want to share my life with them. Looking back, my attitude greatly affected my ability to adjust. I didn't want to like this place. The Lord slowly changed my heart but it didn't happen over night. I was resistant. The first time I wanted to come back to columbia instead of dreading it was after Christmas break a year and a half later. A year and a half. Really?

So when I contemplate moving again many of the same emotions I felt before immediately return. Columbia is now my comfortable place. I have grown to like this city, and love some of the people. Yet I have to question, do I like it because I'm comfortable? Partly, yes. Am I filled with fear at the thought of enduring such uncomfortable times again? Sometimes. Then I was reminded of something I too easily forget. The Lord doesn't call us to be comfortable. He doesn't call us to live in fear either. But simply trust Him where He chooses to take us. Acts 17 says, "from one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us." When you look at the life of Jesus, he was never comfortable. He was always traveling with the disciples. He said himself, the Son of man has no place to lay his head. His own city rejected him.

Even in my most uncomfortable times, I am surrounded by comfort. I have a full tummy at night when I go to sleep. I have a warm bed to lay my head in the midst of a cold winter. I take a warm (hot) shower every day. I have clean water to drink every day. That comes out of a faucet. All of these comforts I experience on a daily basis are comforts that about 75% of the world's population doesn't have. So no matter where the next year takes me, in many ways I will be comfortable. Despite the unknown, I trust that He is leading me to the exact place He has chosen for me. Not because He wants me to be comfortable, but because He wants me to know Him.