Can you think of something you did that required a lot of faith?

We think of them as big, monumental things.  I know of people who left corporate America to follow their hearts into ministry.  A friend of mine, just left her job to start her own flower business, trading the keyboard for soil and color and sunshine.  Another, who has finally decided to write a book that has burned within her soul for decades.

Leaps of faith come in all kinds of shapes and sizes.  

I was thinking about this, contemplating as I do, what causes some of us to move into action, to choose a new direction, and others not.  I can’t help but wonder about my own tendencies, my own willingness to stay planted in ways of doing things that don’t seem to vary much.  Am I supposed to try something new?  To venture outside my comfort zone and see what is out there?  The questions inside our heads are endless. 

Nelson Mandela said, “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.  The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”

And so it is as we walk in faith. 

It’s natural to think that leaps of faith only happen in ways that show on the outside of us.  We change jobs, sell homes, get married or divorced, accept handwriting on walls we wished we didn’t have to do.  Our world is shaken up from the inside, out.  People can look at our circumstances and know that something has shifted in a big way.

Other times, our leaps are not so noticeable.  Maybe it’s just in standing for what’s right, in being a constant in our kids’ lives when it would be easier to run along and have our fun.  Maybe it’s in going against the tide, in not following the herd, in being true to our principles, our covenants, our morals. 

Maybe it’s in just waiting on God, no matter how long it takes.  

Fear will come and poke and harangue us no matter if we are moving or standing still. We have to do it anyway.

The thing I am learning about life, when we follow our hearts, no matter what direction we head in, it will be True North.  It doesn’t always feel like it.  There is most always conflict, or feathers ruffled, or sacrifice.  But if we are doing what we should, if we are walking by faith, He will make a way.

God places within us our callings, our purpose, our intentions to reach our potential in ways big and small.   We are called to help, not to harm.  To encourage, to enrich, to empower by our example.  We are to sow good seeds into soil that will bring about a harvest, often times against all odds.

Sometimes, the evidence of the leaps we take in faith, do not show up for a long, long time.  

Nothing in life comes with guarantees.  People change.  The economy cycles and dips and soars.  Things come and knock us off our course —  lapses of fortune, health, or relationships.  Sometimes, we hunker down and let the storm pass.  Others, we must pick up the pieces and move on.  All of this can leave us feeling desperate and in fear.  All of this requires courage.   

My point is, it takes just as much faith sometimes to stand still as it does to move.  We are called at different times to do both.  If God is in it, He will honor it. He will nudge you, prune you, confirm for you, protect you, open or shut doors before you.  He will give to you a knowing, deep within your spirit, that you are on the right path.  Rest assured, it will always change you.

The progress is in the process.  We are constantly being refined.  We are constantly evolving into who it is that He is calling us to be.  In tiny, incremental ways, or in complete, 180 degree shifts.

You know this, don’t you?  You know that there is something He is calling you to do, to trust Him for, to stand in faith, to adjust your way of looking at something or someone, to forgive, or to make a leap that will launch you into a whole new stratosphere.

Whatever it is, take courage, and know that it will be alright.  

Let go of the edge. He’s got you.  He’s not going to let you fall.  Better days are ahead. 

Go ahead, girl.

Leap.