‘I have more for you’

How have you been affected by the pandemic? Are you an introvert who has enjoyed the solitude? Are you an extrovert who has really struggled with the restrictions? Have there been other things that have affected you? Or have things not really changed much?

A number of different challenges arose during lockdown for me, and at times I found myself struggling.

My instinct when things get tough is to retreat into my shell and hide from the world. That has been easy to do during lockdown, to the point where people who might otherwise have noticed, didn’t. We’ve all been fighting our own battles, as well as not seeing one another as often as we otherwise might in order to pick up on these things.

Anyone who knows me (or who has read either of my books!) will know that it took me many years to claw my way out of my shell in the first place. It doesn’t take much for me to want to go back there. It’s safe; it’s an easy place to be. There are no demands on me there.

I was out walking one afternoon, and my eye was drawn to the blossom on the trees. A particular branch bore a remarkable resemblance to the cover of my first book, Less than Ordinary? As I looked at it, I felt God say to me, ‘I haven’t brought you this far for you to retreat back into your shell. I have more for you.’

It’s so easy for us to retreat when things get difficult. To hide, and to not want to put ourselves ‘out there’ in any way. But that isn’t what God wants for us. He wants us to be free, and to live out our potential. We can’t do that from inside a shell.

God has been at work in me in recent weeks and months, healing the hurts from the last year. While it’s still a work in progress, I feel he is telling me not to hide any more, and that it’s time to begin to re-engage with the world, to step into the ‘more’.

I won’t lie – it’s a bit scary. I’m naturally an introvert, so the sidelines are a comfortable place for me to be at the best of times. But God calls us to stretch our comfort zones, and I know that’s what he’s asking me to do right now.

So, as we re-emerge from lockdown, is there something you feel God is asking you to do? If so, test the door; take a step on the path. Pray. Put your trust in him. He’ll close the door if it isn’t right for you.

The big wide world can be a frightening place at times. But we don’t walk alone. Let’s put our hands in God’s, and walk with him, allowing him to show us the way.

I’m choosing to step into the ‘more’. Will you?