You finally did it. After reading God’s Word, praying, and seeking wise counsel, you took the leap of faith you believed God was calling you to take. You left the familiar behind to enter the unknown. And now you’re ready to reap the rewards.
But instead of reaping the rewards, you’re just waiting. You’re still falling through the sky…and you’re not sure if there will be someone to catch you when you reach the ground.
Baby Steps of Faith
When I was about 18 years old, I took a leap of faith. (Truth be told, my leap of faith was more like hesitant baby steps of faith.) This “leap” was eating disorder recovery, and it was the most terrifying leap I’d taken in my entire life.
The reason this leap was so terrifying was because—for a large part of high school—I let anorexia control my life. It was incredibly familiar and comfortable, almost like a companion. My body—the way I saw it and the way I wanted others to see it—was everything to me.
So my decision to loosen my grip on my body—to eat when I didn’t feel like eating, to not exercise when I felt like exercising, and to gain the weight I’d worked so hard to lose—was a leap of faith. And instead of feeling rewarded for my recovery efforts, I felt miserable. Frustrated. Destined to hate my body forever.
It took a very long time—honestly, several years—to realize recovery had been the right decision. To feel some semblance of myself again. To understand every physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually exhausting moment of my recovery was worth it.
The Leaps We Take
It’s very possible that you, too, have taken a leap of faith that you wonder if you should’ve taken. Should you have left the familiar behind to enter the unknown?
Maybe you finally…
- Broke up with that guy who claimed to love you but didn’t show it with his actions.
- Applied to that Christian college that offers a solid biblical education—and costs approximately three times as much as your local university.
- Decided to move to the tiny rural town where your aging grandparents live to be there if an emergency occurs.
- Started a ministry at your church to reach elementary school kids.
- Changed your major from theater to Christian leadership so you’ll be able to have a career in ministry.
But you have yet to…
- Meet a new guy.
- Earn enough money for even one semester of college.
- See anyone under the age of 50 in town—or even find a Walmart.
- Have any children show up at your new children’s ministry.
- Be offered any jobs relating to ministry.
Friends, the key word there is “yet.”
This Is the Way
Therefore the Lord will wait, that He may be gracious to you; and therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for Him. For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will be very gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you. And though the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore, but your eyes shall see your teachers. Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left. You will also defile the covering of your images of silver, and the ornament of your molded images of gold. You will throw them away as an unclean thing; you will say to them, “Get away!” Then He will give the rain for your seed with which you sow the ground, and bread of the increase of the earth; it will be fat and plentiful. In that day your cattle will feed in large pastures. Likewise the oxen and the young donkeys that work the ground will eat cured fodder, which has been winnowed with the shovel and fan. There will be on every high mountain and on every high hill rivers and streams of waters, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. Moreover the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the Lord binds up the bruise of His people and heals the stroke of their wound. (Isaiah 30:18-26 NKJV, emphasis mine)
I realize that’s a long passage, but take a moment to re-read it. While these words were written for the people of Judah in the days of Isaiah (i.e., ~700 B.C.), I can still see their relevance in the context of taking a leap of faith.
Friends, when we take leaps of faith—leaps we believe God wants us to take—we leave our idols behind. We may not immediately realize (or want to realize) we’ve been worshipping idols. As an 18-year-old girl who refused to eat cheese or hamburgers because they were “bad” foods, the last thing I wanted to hear was “Grace, your body—and how you view your body and how others view your body—has become an idol in your life.”
But as you take the leap and keep following the voice that says, “This is the way, walk in it,” you’ll understand. You’ll grow. You’ll see the leap was worth it because it led you to exactly where God wanted you to be—away from your idols. And in His perfect timing, He’ll bless your faith and obedience.
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