If you’ve been hanging out with me for any period of time, then you know that my absolute favorite movie in the whole world is The Greatest Showman. And in that movie, the main character says, “Comfort is the enemy of progress.” I agree so much with that statement. Comfort holds us back from growth and from growing into the person that God created us to be. It’s dangerous because we were created to always be growing, we were not meant to be stuck in survival mode or in stagnant mode.
Chloe and the Wasps
This past summer, my daughter, Chloe was in a situation outside of her comfort zone, and she ended up getting stung four times in the leg by a wasp. Now you might be thinking that’s pretty awful, which it was, but here’s the backstory. Several years ago, when Chloe was pretty little, she got stung by a wasp a couple of times, and she had major reactions from it, she even actually had some scarring that you can still see today on her leg. The pain was so severe and she was so shaken up that it really just messed with her physically and mentally and it left her terrified of wasps. She and I have both played it all up in our heads over the last few years of how bad it might be if she were ever to get stung again by a wasp. Both of us had this little belief that took root, and it grew into something gigantic in our hearts and our minds, especially for Chloe. And so for the past four or five years, Chloe has been comfortable and felt safe inside the physical box of our house. But recently, I needed her to help me out with something outside, and so Chloe stepped out of her comfort zone, she stepped out of the house and into this situation where she got stung by a wasp. And I mean it was bad, it was really bad. And she was so paralyzed with fear that this poor girl literally could not move. She just stood there looking at me mortified, paralyzed and then of course her body just took over with emotion and adrenaline and she was shaking and crying. We were a few miles down the road away from home, and so I got her loaded up in the car, back inside our house, and we began dealing with the wasp stings and just kind of watching and waiting for what would happen next.
Chloe, and to be honest, myself, we both really kind of felt freaked out because neither of us knew how her body was going to react and handle these wasp stings. Would she react the same way as when she was little? Was it going to be worse? Was her throat going to swell and she was going to stop breathing? I got her some ibuprofen and we got some ice on the wasp stings and we were just watching and waiting. Time went by and nothing happened, she barely reacted. She had minimal pain in her legs and there was minimal redness around the wasp stings. You see, Chloe had grown. Her body had grown inside and out and she had apparently built an immunity to wasp stings. And although she was having some pain, her body tolerated the stings. You see, God had worked in her body. It’s my belief that those past stings from when she was little a few years back, the past pain that she had experienced had actually equipped her to deal with the new stings, the new pain and to be able to heal better and faster. God had grown her. As Chloe and I both began to calm down, we were able to see this. God showed us that he had done work in Chloe to prepare and equip her, not just in this situation, but in so many areas of her life. Stepping out of her comfort zone led to growth and goodness for Chloe.
Comfort is like dry, cracked land
Also, the same past summer, our community in our area was going through a major drought; we went months where we didn’t receive a single drop of rain in our area. This was not long after the wasp stinging unfolded, by the way. And I began to notice that the ground all over our farm was extremely dry and cracked. And so I went down to our pond, which was like four to six, maybe even eight feet lower than it was supposed to be that time of year, and I took these pictures of the ground. It was so dry and cracked that I could stick my entire hand down inside the cracks where the pond water was supposed to be. It made me think about our comfort zone where we feel all safe and comfortable, where we feel like we are so #blessed and #thankful. We’re pretty content there, right? The problem is, we become like the exceptionally dry land there. We end up shriveled and cracked and stagnant and in desperate need of rain. Friends, if you don’t have rain, if you don’t have those tough, rainy seasons, then you don’t have growth. You might not like the rainy season. You might not like being uncomfortable. You might not enjoy the time spent outside of your comfort zone, but it’s needed. The rainy season, the tough times, the difficult circumstances…those are the things that help you grow.
You see, with the rain comes refinement, replenishment, and restoration. The rain brings new growth to dry and weary land. The rain washes away the long dry season. Sometimes we like the long dry season and sometimes we don’t. Sometimes we actually ache for the change and the discomfort to come because the long dry season can begin to feel stagnant and mundane. Sometimes on our own accord, we can look down at the gigantic cracks in our lives, and we can understand that we need the rain to come, we need the Lord to move us into our next season of discomfort so that we can grow. Other times we want to stay right there, right where we are, or even worse, sometimes we want to cling to it, we want to cling to it and even look back at it even when God is trying to help us move forward.
The Story of Lot
There’s a story in the Bible about someone who wanted to cling to the comfort that she knew. She wanted to keep looking back at what she had known, and at what she felt comfortable with. And let me tell you, it did not go well for her. I’m talking about Lot’s wife, maybe you’ve heard this story or remember the story from when you were little. Lot’s wife lived in the city of Sodom, and it was a city that had become so corrupt with evil that God actually chose to destroy the entire city. Genesis 19 says that the angels said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here – a son-in-law, your sons and daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of this place for we’re about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people is so great before God, that the Lord has sent us to destroy it. So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law who were getting ready to marry his daughters. ‘Get out of this place for the Lord is about to destroy the city.’ But his sons-in-law thought he was joking. At daybreak, the angels urged Lot, ‘Get up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.’ But he hesitated because of the Lord’s compassion for him. The man grabbed his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters, they brought him out and left him outside the city. As soon as the angels got them outside, one of them said, ‘Run for your lives, don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere on the plane, run to the mountains, or you will be swept away.’ And it goes on to say, then out of the sky, the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah burning sulfur from the Lord, he demolished the cities, the entire plane, all the inhabitants of the cities, and whatever grew on the ground. But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.” Did you catch that? She looked back at her comfort zone. You see, Lot’s wife was comfortable right where she was, and it wasn’t where God wanted her to be. Instead of trusting Him to help her move forward, she looked back. And that was the end of it.
God Calls You to Look Forward
Friends, are you looking back right now? Are you stuck in your comfort zone right now? Are you standing firm on dry ground that’s actually cracking beneath your feet? Are you in desperate need of a rainy season? Don’t be afraid to move forward, don’t be afraid to look forward. The problem with comfort is that it keeps you stuck. And maybe just maybe it’s preventing you from experiencing the growth that God wants you to experience.
God didn’t call you to be comfortable. He called you to be courageous. He called you to change. He called you to break the cycle, to shine His light, to show His love, and to do it all while walking in freedom. John 10:10 says that Jesus came so that you could have growth and abundant life. So step out of your comfort zone, get a little bit uncomfortable, fix your eyes forward, and step into whatever it is that God has for you, whatever he’s calling you to right now. If you’ve been waiting for a sign to step into it, this is it.
Before you go. I want to encourage you and make sure that you have taken advantage of my free life coaching workshop. It’s going to help you take those first steps forward out of your comfort zone and into growth and into the good life. It’s a totally free workshop and I will gently, lovingly nudge you and help you move forward. You can find that free workshop at LifeBreakthroughNow.com
