Jen’s Gem:  Try it. You’ll like it!

This past week, I spent an amazing four days at a leadership conference in Louisiana. It was an incredible time of refreshing and revitalizing my faith. I’ll treasure it always!

I was in my twenties the last time I visited Louisiana. New Orleans to be specific. Today, I would not recognize that young woman who bar hopped her way down Bourbon Street. Ahh youth!

Prior to the conference, I and my compadres set an expectation of what we hoped to achieve. “Clarity of vision” was my response. I wanted to seek God’s will for my next season so that I can fulfill His plan for me at this time.

Mission Accomplished.

While there were many spiritual lessons and insights gleaned, there were some new experiences as well. I want to share one with you.

I would not consider myself a “foodie.” I do enjoy eating a tasty meal, but I’m not one to step out of my comfort zone and try new things that a) I can’t pronounce or b) have strange ingredients. This week I did both.

On our road trip from the airport, we made a special stop at a hole-in-the-wall convenience store and picked up a bag of cracklins and boudin balls. The pastor of my church implored me to try them and assured me that I would not regret it. He was right! (If you have never heard of either of these, click here to see where we got them.)

If that wasn’t enough of a leap of faith, I also tried crawfish and then for the finale, alligator. Yep. You read that right. While I was hesitant, I saw that my lunch companions did not keel over after consuming these  so I gave them a try. Not bad! Had I not known it was alligator, I might’ve eaten more but the mental image of this creature kept me from a second helping.

You may be wondering why I am sharing all of this. Very simple –  sometimes we have to step out of our comfort zones to “taste and see the goodness of the Lord” (Psalm 34:8).

Peter experienced this when he cast out his fishing net at Jesus’ prompting after a night of catching nothing and then got more fish than his nets could hold. (Read more.)

Abraham experienced this when he and Sarah acted on God’s promise that they would have a baby at nearly 100 years old. (Read more.)

Noah experienced this when he built an ark upon hearing God tell him that He would flood the earth when it had never rained before. (Read more.)

Joshua experienced this when he entered the Promised Land despite his peeps telling him it could not be done. (Read more.)

Mary experienced this when she said “yes” to becoming the mother of Jesus, risking the possibility of being shunned. (Read more.)

I could go on and on with many more examples of people who stepped out in faith and put

 their trust in God. Because they did, we are still talking about them today and lives continue to be transformed because of them.

I don’t know what leap of faith you need to take. I can’t lay claim to knowing God’s purpose for you but here’s what I do know.

God has a plan for your life. It’s a great plan (Jeremiah 29:11). It’s just for you. Yet, if you don’t take prayerful and Spirit led steps in faith, you’ll never know all God intended for you to become.