Being Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable

I don’t know about you guys, but I hate being uncomfortable. 

I’m not talking about an itchy sweater, or forgetting your jacket and now you’re freezing at the ballgame, or your legs being too long for the airplane seat (although, that sucks, too!) I’m talking about situations that will help you grow but are uncomfortable because they’re new and unknown. 

Not long ago, my dad asked me to host our Sunday morning services every other week at our church.

It’s safe to say, I was less than thrilled.

I genuinely think my heart rate spiked the moment he asked, haha! 

But I said yes. 

And I hated myself for saying yes. 

Over the days leading up to my first time on stage, I tried to spin my outlook on the looming morning at hand; trying to give myself a chance at a positive take on an anxiety-inducing situation.

I remember a moment of clarity, thinking to myself that being uncomfortable having to do something new is okay!

The only way we grow as a person is by being comfortable with being uncomfortable. 

Anyway, the morning passed and I did it, and it was uncomfortable but the next, next Sunday, I got right back up there, and did it all over again and again and again. 

I don’t think I ever really improved, but getting up there every Sunday got a little bit easier every time.

Some Sundays I didn’t mess up, and some Sundays I did. It was the luck of the draw, really. But I became comfortable with fumbling over my words in front of a large crowd, laughing off my blunder of saying “Jesus’s sins on the cross.” Yes, I said that in front of a ton of people one Sunday morning. I was so embarrassed I just blurted, “You know what I mean!” and ran off the stage.

But it was okay. People truly did know what I meant, and messing up for God wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be.

I remember Sadie Robertson saying something along the lines of she would rather fall flat on her face for God than sit comfortably on the sidelines.

There are many instances in the Bible that we see God calling the unqualified, or the ones who are not comfortable being uncomfortable. 

I know I have talked about the call of the unqualified before, but it is a topic of discussion that has been on my mind a lot over the past couple of weeks. 

Christine Caine, an Australian evangelist, described the unqualified as “imperfect vessels,” stating,

“The biblical model is that God deliberately chooses imperfect vessels – those who have been wounded, those with physical or emotional limitations. Then he prepares them to serve and sends them out with their weakness still evident, so that his strength can be made perfect in that weakness.” 

In truth, I’m writing this as a reminder to myself. 

God has placed me in this time, in this state, in this situation, with this personality, and these stories, and these talents and gifts, and these imperfections and anxieties, and this color hair and this color eyes and these scars and fears and emotions and these friends and coworkers and opportunities and so on. 

Nothing about me is unplanned. 

Nothing about me is a whim, or a luck of the draw, a shot in the dark. 

God wasn’t playing Russian roulette when he designed my character. 

And He wasn’t playing it when He thought up you, either. 

God does not play dice with the universe, as Terry Pratchett said. 

I have to constantly remind myself of these simple truths; that learning to be comfortable with being uncomfortable is a blessing, an opportunity for growth, and you never know how God is going to use your moments of bravery for the greater good.