Last year I went ice skating with my friends for the first time ever. I didn’t know what to expect. I started off by holding on to the wall around the ice-skating rink for support. Time passed and I wasn’t making much progress. I kept holding on to the wall because I was afraid that I would fall.
My friends were encouraging me to go ahead and skate. I finally let go and launched out. And to my surprise, I could skate! Of course, I fell, but I got right up and started skating again. The freedom I felt when I finally let go of the wall and just started skating was totally worth it. I regretted not having let go sooner.
In thinking about this experience, I saw parallels with the time when God called me to Christian ministry. I was concerned about the unknown. I was afraid of failing. There are many unknown factors that come with following God’s will for your life, but my overthinking led me to not progress in my calling. I kept asking God for signs instead of trusting in what He had already shown me.
Finally, I attended a mission conference in Bangkok. Those five days included hearing testimonies of people who had said yes to God without knowing all the details of what lay ahead. Seeing the freedom and joy of those people convinced me that I’d never find true satisfaction if I didn’t do what God had called me to do.
One of the sessions that stood out to me was about giving our hineni to God. Hineni is the Hebrew word for “here I am.” The speaker talked about how there will be consequences for giving our hineni (our “yes”) to God, but there will be even greater consequences for withholding our hineni, one of them being missing out on the joy and satisfaction that comes with serving God and doing what He’s called us to do.
Sure, following God is challenging. Sure, there are many details that we don’t know. But staying in our comfort zones will not help us reach our goals. And if we stay there too long, we could end up with regrets and “what ifs.” There’s so much joy and freedom to be found in stepping into what God has called us to do. It’s a life of adventure and fulfillment.