When God called my husband to quit his cushy city job to grow his own business, it was the last thing I expected. I grew up with entrepreneurial parents and I didn’t want to be married to an entrepreneur. I had chosen to marry someone with security, stability, with the added bonus of benefit and pension plans. Who in their right mind would give that up and risk owning their own business? Honestly it’s been 6 years since he left his city job and I still can’t believe it.
When God calls, He usually calls the most unexpected people to do the most unexpected things. This was the case for us. My husband never dreamt of becoming an entrepreneur. He was happy with his job. He had just started a little business on the side for some extra income. He doesn’t have the personality or the character of an entrepreneur. But God doesn’t always call us to do something that’s within our own strength and abilities.
When God called Gideon to lead the Israelites out of captivity from the Midianites, Gideon was the least among them. That’s the part of the story most of us know. But there’s more. Gideon was afraid, ill-equipped and insecure. This made him the perfect person for God to work through so it was obvious it was God and not Gideon.
Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!” ~ Judges 6:14 NTL
You can see from the verse that God wants us to go with the strength that we have. We need to obey and do our part but rely on God to do the rest. But how many of us are faced with a choices in life where we take the more comfortable route. No one thinks anything of it, in fact the more comfortable choice is often the choice that makes the most sense. But God is not a God of common sense. He’s a God of miracles. Sometimes God asks us to make choices that are counter cultural, they’re uncomfortable. They require sacrifices and on our part. God’s ways require obedience in faith, not obedience out of common and sense. In order to obey what God has called us to do, it requires us to surrender our plan.
Our plan didn’t involve my husband leaving his city job. That was the job of a lifetime. It didn’t make sense for him to quit. But he couldn’t maintain the 30 plus hours he worked after work totalling a 70 hour work week. So he obeyed God’s call and he quit his city job. I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown. I started booking every gig I could thinking I’d be keeping us afloat. I was afraid. But God never let us down and I overworked myself for an entire year for nothing. Now we have several staff and a thriving company. God has given us a lot of peace since we have been obedient. He hasn’t given us a playbook other than to obey, surrender our plans, and go with the strength we have.
Once you choose to obey, you’ll find peace just like Gideon. Will you be afraid? Yes, but you’ll have peace. My husband says, “Find peace in the fleece.” You can’t find fulfillment when you’re not fulfilling God’s calling. You may be comfortable but you won’t feel fulfilled. Get uncomfortable, give God space to provide for you.
in the clay,
Chantal Dube