Leaving Familiar

Exodus 3:10-12

“Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?’ So He said, ‘I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.’”

How many times do we feel the Lord leading us out of the familiar and sending us into some unknown place that we feel afraid to enter or to a call that we feel inadequate in filling?

Surely Moses was quite content to stay in Midian with his family and tend sheep. It was comfortable, it was familiar, it was routine. It didn't require much thought and certainly did not involve confronting Pharaoh. 

Before we got married Scott and I decided that it made more sense for Zachary to change schools rather than leave the boys at separate schools, or move Eli. I thought that I was OK with this until orientation at our new school. Then the reality that I had left the comfortable, familiar and routine hit me.

While walking through the school among teachers and administrators that I did not know, I was overwhelmed with the feeling of being out of place. The longer I was there, the more I felt like I didn't belong. I missed knowing the teachers and principals. I missed knowing the other parents and students. It was all I could do not to break out in tears right in the middle of meeting Zach’s teacher!

On the way home I couldn't hold the tears any longer, and I just began to cry. Poor Scott thought he had accidentally said something wrong! (He is such a sweetheart). I told him that I was fine, and tried to get a grip! In the midst of all this emotion, I thought, “Isn't this how it is with the Lord? He asks us to leave the familiar in order for Him to take us to a better place?”

Just like with Moses. It wasn't easy for him to go to Pharaoh. It wasn't easy to lead the Children of Israel out of Egypt. But, he did it despite being nervous or feeling inadequate. God had greater plans for Moses and His children. He has greater plans for us! 

I realize that changing schools is not near as big of an ordeal as Moses faced. However, it lends to the same concept of stepping out of our comfort zones. It is not always the easy thing to do, but it always rewards with opportunities that might not otherwise have come to pass. I learn and grow. I become stronger in my faith. I become a better woman, mother, and now, hopefully, wife. I let go of being comfortable for the sake of pursuing all that God has for me.  

I am still a little anxious about the change, but I believe that as with all the other times the Lord as taken me away from the familiar, good things will certainly come.