Uncomfortable

Happy Monday everyone!

So I've been praying about what to blog about and I was having such a hard time thinking of something. Then I sent my mom a text yesterday, "BTW why do I serve with the kiddos again?" (it was a ROUGH day in kids ministry) and she replied, "I was surprised as you when you mentioned it. Lol." I replied, "Really?!?" Then she says, "I thought you learned here you didn't want to do kids ministry?" And honestly this one conversation slapped me in the face.

Why did it smack you in the face you ask, well let me tell you. For as long as I can recall I have either been a kid, working with kids/teens, or in transition for the next way I could serve God in this capacity. I mean when I was 13 years old God called me to love the lost and I automatically thought of course I will work with kids and teens. But to be completely transparent, I don't ever remember fervently seeking God about my niche of ministry. For years I have been chasing something that may or may not be where I actually need to be. When you spend 12 years just assuming and telling yourself this is what God wants then it simply becomes comfortable. Never in my life, until just now did I ever stop and think....did I pray about my niche? Or rather I never asked God about what He wanted my niche to be with an open heart. It is like for years and years I just assumed something and when I moved I automatically when back to where I was comfortable.

So why is it that we stay in the comfortable, in the known? Why is it that instead of venturing out into what the world has to offer, we find one thing we are good at and keep doing it? For 12 years, I decided to serve Jesus in comfort and why? Well let's figure it out together shall we?

My first recollection of thinking I want to be apart of kids ministry was when I was a kid at camp. The experience was phenomenal and I just knew I wanted to impact people the way my counselors impacted me. Then I attended Centerfuge and just knew that one day I would be the most amazing counselor and love on ALL the youth because that is where God broke me and asked me to serve Him full time. It was also a fabulous experience and I really wanted to create that for others one day. After this I helped with VBS and served with the kiddos at my home church. It just kind of became my thing... Worked at camps, personal trained youth, did kids yoga and well the rest is history. Oh except that time God actually did break me down and called me to became the Kids Director at my church because it needed some love and I knew, with the help of my parents, how to enhance the program. So there you have it my LOOONG line of kids/teens ministry positions/experience with no real depth besides a couple of good experiences and awesome counselors.

Did I try anything else out to serve God? Of course, I lead worship, played piano, performed yet nothing out of my comfort zone. Nothing that I wasn't already excelling in. Let me set one thing straight, there is absolutely nothing wrong with pursuing things you are good at or filling a need that needs to be met at your church. However, there is a problem when you limit your creativity and abilities because you are too scared or too comfortable to try something new. I feel as if in the moment of certain things I chose to do I knew deep down this is where God wanted me to be doing then there are other times I just did things out of an obligation to my own self expectations.

So the point to all of this is...are you remaining when you should be sowing your seed elsewhere or are you sowing when you should be remaining? What is the limit to your comfort? Where should you be pushing yourself? Are you exploring what God has instilled deep within you or are you just operating and serving in comfort or the normal for you? My advice to you would be to venture into what grows you the most, to journey into the unknown and be prepared to not excel right off the bat but to see God work in and through you to do the most amazing things. And PRAY and ASK God with an OPEN heart to create within you or rather to bring out what is already in you, your niche of ministry.