May 28 - Nudged

Acts 9:10-19

Have you ever felt like Ananias? Like the Lord is asking you to do something that you just really don't want to do, maybe that you even think is a horrible idea? I think many of us can probably relate to that feeling.

I remember listening to a Matt Chandler sermon a few years back where he talked about something like this. He mentioned something about anxiety or nervousness being like a check engine light on your car, letting you know that there's something not quite right going on. I've held onto that nugget of wisdom, because I've realized that when God is nudging me to do something that I don't want to do, I often feel that anxiety or nervousness in the pit of my stomach. Maybe it's a conversation I know I need to have but don't want to. Maybe it's something that I'm procrastinating on that really needs to get done for the good of others. These things may not be as life-or-death as Ananias going to meet Saul, but sometimes I find myself ignoring God's voice because I just don't want to hear it.

When I was a senior in college, I spent my final semester living in Chicago doing my student teaching. It had been my dream for so long to teach in Chicago, something I thought God was calling me to do for years and years. Right before I left for that last semester, I felt God's clear nudge to come back to Columbus and pour my heart into the UALC community. I was so conflicted. All throughout that semester I struggled to listen to God, to trust his voice, to know what to do. But after awhile it was clear. God was calling me back home to work at UALC and I had been so blinded by my own illusions of what I thought his will should be that I wouldn't let myself listen to his voice. And now I have the best job in the world working with our middle schoolers, and I married my husband who also works at UALC, and I'm close to my family, and to this larger church family whom I love and get to support.

This may not be the same story as Ananias', but I think all of us who believe in Jesus can understand this hesitation to follow, this unwillingness to listen. We think we know what's best for us. But when Ananias took the leap of faith anyway, look at the beautiful ways God worked. A lost man was saved. In fact, thousands and thousands more lost souls were saved through that one lost man. Ananias trusted God, and God used that trust to build the church. And when I trusted God and came home, my life looked completely different than I imagined it would. But God has used every second of that blessing, in working with my students, in my marriage, in pouring myself into my church community.

So ask yourself this today - what is God asking of you? Is your check engine light on? Is God nudging you toward something that you know he's calling you too but it feels scary or intimidating or like it's just too much? I encourage you, friend, to let yourself fall into the Father's arms and allow him to carry you where he wants to take you. Because I promise you wherever it is, it's far better than any place you could get to on your own.