It's time to get out of the boat

Below is an excerpt from a book I'm currently reading. The book is called "If you want to walk on water, you have to get out of the boat" - by John Ortberg.

This book has challenged me. I have learned through its pages that at some point over the last two years I have gone from walking on the water with Jesus, to being buckled into the boat secure in my own world. I used to be one who listened for the voice of Jesus and relished the idea of obeying Him at a moment's notice. I've moved cities, changed schools, birthed ministries and sacrificed at various times in my life based solely on what I felt the Lord was asking me to do.

Now, 21 months after giving birth to my son and 5 months after successfully completing my treatment for Postpartum Depression, I find myself still in survival mode. The dark cave that the depression brought me into left an emotional residue that has been hard to shake. During the most difficult times it was all I could do to simply put one foot in front of the other and survive each day. Forget about hearing instruction from the Lord, He seemed a million miles away. I know in my heart He wasn't, but sometimes it sure felt that way. I believe that during this time there was great grace extended to me, a sustaining grace. He upheld my husband and me with His strong right arm and brought us through quite possibly one of the most challenging times in our marriage. But I am doing well now, I am myself again, and our family is back on track - and with that comes a renewed sense of responsibility....

It's time for me to listen again, to listen for the voice of Jesus calling me to come.

It's time for me to unbuckle my seatbelt, take a a stroll on deck, and look for Him on the horizon. My life on the water with Him was risky some of the time... but it proved to be exhilarating and life-giving ALL of the time.

I don't want to look back and see missed opportunities... and that is what this part of the book made me realize.

"See a middle-aged man who spends his nights sitting in front of a television set watching whatever sport happens to be on cable. He was once all fired up with bright plans for the future and strong yearnings to make his mark on this world. But somewhere along the line all the fire went out, and he settled for comfort. His dreams were sacrificed to a La-Z-Boy and flickering images on a screen. He is the story of unrealized potential.

This is a way that leads to stagnation - unrealized potential, unfilled longings. It leads to a sense that I'm not living my life; the one I was supposed to live. It leads to boredom. To what Gregg Levoy calls the common cold of the soul.

To sinful patterns of behavior that never get confronted and changed
Abilities and gifts that never get cultivated and deployed...
until weeks become months
and months turn into years,
and one day you're looking back on a life of:

Deep intimate gut-wrenchingly honest conversations you never had;
Great bold prayers you never prayed,
Exhilarating risks you never took,
Sacrificial gifts you never offered,
Lives you never touched,

And you're sitting in a recliner with a shriveled soul,
And forgotten dreams,
And you realize there was a world of desperate need,
And a great God calling YOU to be a part of something bigger than yourself -

You see the person you could have become but did not;
You never followed your calling.
You never got out of the boat."

Are you listening?

Are you interested in what Jesus would have to say to you? Or have you, like me, become numbed by the circumstances of life?

Let's not let this life pass us by without knowing the amazing rush of following the voice of God in childlike obedience.

In fact, let's not let another minute pass... ask Him now to bid you to COME.