What a ride. Over the past two months, my life and a majority of the external descriptors of who I am have completely changed. For starters, I left an amazing community in San Diego to pursue a call the Lord put on my heart to serve the middle and high school students of Whatcom County, Washington. I got a new car and said goodbye to a car that has been in my family for as long as I can remember. I have a brand new job, church, and little to no access to good breakfast burritos. I broke my thumb a few days ago and have a blank square in my chest, where I let my new students wax and destroy my skin. If you were to ask me a couple months ago where I would be, what I would be doing, and what I would look like, I would’ve probably gotten the broken limb correct but bombed the rest.
This journey has re-lit a fire in me that I had lost. I was comfortable and unchallenged in my day to day life. Apart from the occasional holding my tongue with frustrating customers at my former coffee shop I didn’t find much personal challenge. I was worn out and constantly struggling to find time for personal investment, sleep, friends, and the things I loved. God was calling me out of a life of routine and mundane living into something greater, but it was the scariest vision. Thinking about living the empire I had built in San Diego seemed to go against everything I believed and often preached about doing with in community.
However, as I sit here alone in my little back house with my greek yogurt and new acoustic Young & Free album bumping, I find myself more content and full of true peace than I have in quite some time. There is something to be understood from discomfort in life. In exercise, school, or work we are taught that discomfort and pain are often the beginning of growth and when we will truly reach our true potential. We embrace the moto of, “No pain, no gain,” in almost any and every challenging battle we face, unless it gets too hard. We are taught in Sunday school, “God will never give you more than you can handle.” But in scripture we are taught, “Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world,” (John 16:33, NLT).
Embrace the challenge. Stare discomfort in the face. Run toward present pains and sorrows. You’ll never win any fight unless you stand up and stand your ground. The joy found in Christ, is the peace in knowing any present struggle, broken thumb, ingrown hair, car payment, student loan debt, new job, loss of community, loneliness, depression, insecurity, doubt, addiction, you name it, while very real and challenging, has already been defeated in Christ. He is God, He loves you, and He is fighting for you. The only question to ask is, are you going to get out the way and let Him be God and handle it for you?
In His image,
- Chandler