Skip to main content

31 Days: Do What Scares You



Almost three years ago, I stepped foot into my church for the first time. I was terrified. Walking in there by myself seemed like the most daunting task. I don't know what was scarier - the thought that someone would talk to me or no one would talk to me. Someone did talk to me, someone who is my friend now. And after some initial jitters about the order of service and how to hand in the attendance form, I knew that I had found a church home.

That scary move was one of the best decisions of my life. I love my fellow members. I wrote about my church in a Five Minute Friday on worship. It is my refuge, it is my hope. I don't know where I would be right now if I didn't have my church. My scary move has even brought others to worship. After running into a friend and telling her I had joined my congregation, she started attending regularly and eventually joined too. Another friend saw on Facebook that I had joined the church that she grew up in and she started visiting during a challenge point in her life.


Having friends at church doesn't completely take away the fear. I still get nervous going to potlucks and other events. But once I step into the room, I spot a friend and I'm not alone for long. Even today, I had second thoughts about attending our Blessing of the Animals service. My beloved dog, Molly, died five years ago but I wanted to see what the service was like. It seemed a little silly but I grabbed a framed photo of her and took it with me to the service. Once there, I jokingly asked the pastor if he would posthumously bless my dog and he was so open to the idea. He said a prayer for her and said exactly what I was feeling about how she had touched my life. It was such a beautiful moment - one that I would have missed if I hadn't screwed up my courage and taken the risk.

Do What Scares You. You never know what reward will be awaiting your bravery.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Five Minute Friday: Roots

Lisa-Jo Baker (lisajobaker.com) hosts a weekly event on her blog called "Five Minute Friday". The rules are 1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking. 2. Link back here and invite others to join in. 3. And then absolutely, no ifs, ands or buts about it, you need to visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments. Seriously. That is, like, the rule. And the fun. And the heart of this community.. So here's my first try at this. Today's topic was Roots. Roots – I think about my grandparents who lived on a farm until my grandfather’s diabetes worsened and they moved to a town with a hospital nearby. My father still says he wished he could have kept that farm. I think of my grandmother who was a widow for 20 years. Every year she would stand over my PaPa’s grave, wishing she was with him. I think of my parents, a product of those grandparents, how hard my father worked to put 2 girls through...
10 comments
Read more

Five Minute Friday: Time

Five Minute Friday is a writing event that has writers spending five minutes writing on the same topic and then sharing them at http://katemotaung.com/five-minute-friday/ . This week's word is Time. Sometimes time feels like this, like we are in it. Standing inside it, watching life pass by. It is so easy to get stuck in a time - in our pain, in our hurt. We hear the ache tick away in our head like a giant clock. Time, instead, is a gift. More time with family, more time to accomplish goals, more time to see the world. When you are hurting, it seems like time takes forever. One day turns into another day, turns into another day. When we hate a job, the five days of time that make up a work week seem to go on forever. But those five days are also a gift. Because these days, a job is not a guarantee. I want to see time as gift, not as a chore. I want to be on the other side of it, wishing there was more of it. Making the most of every hour, minute, and second instead of...
6 comments
Read more

Five Minute Friday: Brave

Right now at this point in my life, it feels like the bravest thing I should be doing is trusting God's plan for me. It is so scary to hand everything over to Him and trust that it will all be alright. Or maybe what I should test my bravery on is trusting His timing.  I do trust that He has a good plan for me, I just wish He'd hurry up and reveal it to me. It's been six long years of waiting to see what good will come from my divorce. Six years of feeling broken, worthless, and unlovable. I believe with my whole heart that He will make good from what was meant to harm me, He will give me double for my trouble, but I want my beauty for ashes RIGHT NOW! I also need to find the bravery to believe the good things people tell me about me. This has been a really hard week for me and through their words and their shows of concerns, I know that people care about me but I can't find the courage to turn that into self-love. When I look in the mirror, I still see ug...
8 comments
Read more