step out – KARLA LEES

Dear, dear Corinthians, I can’t tell you how much I long for you to enter this wide-open, spacious life. We didn’t fence you in. The smallness you feel comes from within you. Your lives aren’t small, but you’re living them in a small way. I’m speaking as plainly as I can and with great affection. Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively!

2 Corinthians 6:11-13 MSG

It is time to step out of our confines, and hop over the fences we have hidden ourselves behind.

Wide open spaces in His Presence await.

That sentence sent a shiver down my spine, not because its scary, but holy and awesome and amazing all rolled into one.

The freedom to be ourselves out wherever He leads us is a gift many of us are missing out on.

We can’t see how the money will come in to support this wild new adventure, so we don’t make room to let the seed grow, even in our dreams.

We can’t come out from behind our fences because we are trying to do it in our own strength & abilities, and its a supernatural freedom we need to move beyond.

We feel stuck between two camps, the safe where we may be bored but we know what to expect, while part of us is longing for the unexpected adventure that could await us if we took the leap.

And just like you, I am in the same place.

Longing for the freedom to run wild & free beside Jesus, and feel stuck in the quagmire of the day to day.

Today I realized something.

Although I have a to do list (just as we all do) that doesn’t mean I can’t make space & time to go running with Jesus into the freedom He beckons me towards.

Because in this case, freedom is a spiritual thing.

We can escape our inner fences and move into the wonder He has waiting for us, even if we still have the same job, sick kids, bills to pay and mountains of laundry.

We are designed for forever living. Our spirits are eternal.

I don’t know about you, but that truth is wonderously wild and sobering.

We don’t have to wait until heaven to begin to soar.

Today, take a moment and ask God to reveal where you have a fence holding you back from the gift of freedom He has for you.

Ask Him to break you out, destroy the fence and set you free.

Take hold of His hand, and head on out into those first steps into the unknown now ahead, knowing He has your hand tight in His grasp.

God with us means we don’t have to be afraid.

He’s got you.

The wild open spaces are beckoning you to come…you don’t even need to leave home to get there!

Step through the door into the wonder that awaits you.

Live wide!

#pressingin
#echoesofNarnia
#hopeinHisPresence

Believe it or not, I am an introvert.
I take quite a while to feel like I belong when in a large group of people. In fact, I normally don’t.

I struggle with the tension of being born to communicate, and the burning desire to keep myself hidden.

As Gandalf says so aptly, "Keep it hidden, keep it safe."

But hiding means burying part of myself away…the truth that God wants to express Himself through me:
to sing His songs of Love
to write His words of Hope
to encourage with His wisdom
to love up on with His heart

When I hide, the enemy wins the skirmish, if I fail to be who God designed me to be in that moment.

I recently made a huge leap and joined a ladies bible study at a new church. I was acquaintances with one woman, the one who invited me.

Fear was saying, "Do we have to go through meeting new people AGAIN?"

The Spirit countered with, "For such a time as this."

I went. And have been going every week since.

God has spoken to me more in the past four months as I took the leap to obey.

I am getting to know some lovely and lively women of faith, from many backgrounds, several of whom have encouraging me to keep pressing into God and use my gifts.

Becoming known in a safe environment builds trust and faith to step out from the shadows and into the Iight.

Sharing what is on my heart through word or song is a part of who I am.
Hiding it away leads to lies and shame.

Join me and step into who you are designed to be by the Designer.

I may be an introvert by nature, but I can do all things in His strength.

As I step out from my hiding place, I trust He is there to guide me.
I am safe in His arms.
I am confident He has good plans for me.
I have a living hope.
I can be known.

Tag: step out

wide open spaces

introvert- come out of hiding