Lesson Two: The Comfort Zone

I have a very specific comfort zone.

If you've only met me once or even if we're acquaintances or better yet half-way-friends, you might think that I would do just about anything. I mean...I'm about as outgoing as it gets. I'm always down for an adventure. I'm even kinda-sorta-maybe easy going when it comes to deciding what to do on a Friday night. There's not much I won't say. Confrontation does not bother me in the least...in fact I actually quite enjoy reasoning with people and solving problems. I'm an extrovert to the core. I'm loud. I'm crazy. And sometimes I'm a little obnoxious.

HOWEVER comma, if you really know me well, and I mean really know me like how my family or my best friends know me, than you know that there is more to me than that.

Beneath that outgoing, outspoken, and, "I'm going to go sky-diving someday" exterior, even I have a comfort zone. Shocking, I know.

I always knew that I had a comfort zone and I even knew certain things that were definitely not inside it. But until this past week, I was not aware of how small my little bubble in life really was.

I thought I had accomplished a lot in my life. I mean I've been to Scotland, I've been to Italy, I've traveled around the United States, I've finished high school, I've always had a number of good friends, I've maintained a full-time job, I've jumped off of 45 ft cliffs, I've done a good amount of public speaking, and I've had a heck of a lot of fun doing it all!

That's nothing to be ashamed of, but when I really step back and look at it from my point of view in my little room in this huge house at the top of this tiny town way up in the mountains in Austria, 5539 miles from home and 9 hours ahead of most of you reading this, the list looks a little smaller than I originally thought.

So you're probably thinking, "Okay we get it, you have a comfort zone just like every other person in this world."

Okay so in my week in Austria, I have learned two main things that do not fit in my comfort zone.

First, flexibility. When I said I was sort of easy going earlier...I was kidding myself. I'm not easy going. I like routine and I freak out when things don't go according to plan. I don't roll with the punches very well.

So naturally I panicked after meeting the family that I live with and I realized that their English is much more broken than I thought, my work hours are not what I expected, and the kids are not as easy to handle as I hoped.

But I can already feel the Lord making me more flexible.

Second, one downside of being a complete extrovert is that I can't handle being alone for more than an hour at a time. I love people and my energy comes from being with them.

Nothing could have prepared me for the amount of solitude time I have here. It scared me to death.

But I am learning to redeem that time. To not sit in my room and dwell on how much I miss home, but rather, to read the Word, listen to sermons, and talk to Jesus. I am so excited because I have already grown so much spiritually and it's only been 6 days.

So I am finding that the first goal that God has for me here, is to shatter my comfort zone. To stretch me beyond what I can handle in my own strength. To teach me to truly rely on Him and to do everything by His strength.

I am so excited to see what the Lord does in my life.

In the meantime, a friend or two would be nice.

2 Corinthians 4:7-12