The Courage to Try

How are you at trying new things?  Are you a Pinterest gal, trying out new recipes and crafts?  Do you like trying new fitness classes to break-up your mundane workout?  How many different methods did you try to burp your baby, or potty train?  Each of us certainly TRIES new things all the time.  But God has an entirely different idea when it comes to us trying new things.  Have you ever been struck with an idea or thought that seems too ridiculous to voice let alone try?  Or an idea that scared the pants off you?  Did you ever consider where that idea originated?  I think the craziest ideas that enter our mind are often God’s voice, spurring us to pursue a plan He designed for us.  

I’m an engineer by degree and career.  I spent thirteen years designing automobile factories, and surrounded by people who would choose to take a physics class over an English class any day.  A few years into my career, I decided to go back to school to get my MBA.  Of course this meant I had to take the GMAT, which includes a written essay section.  I scored so poorly on this section of the test, that my admission to grad school was contingent upon me taking a remedial English class.  And once I was in this class, I quickly realized that I was the ONLY person who spoke English as my first language.  

Fast forward ten years.  I traded in my calculator for wipes and threw myself into MOPS to save my sanity.  I applied for a leadership position, and was asked to be the communications coordinator.  Remember, the girl who flunked her English test, communications coordinator?  Very funny God!  TRYing that role unleashed a gift only God could have planted in my soul.  I found myself laughing out loud as I personalized MOPS emails with my stories of motherhood.  So many people told me what an encouragement my writing was and how much they enjoyed that I decided to TRY writing a blog.  VERY funny God!!    

God’s sense of humor is certainly great, but his ability to take the most unpromising pupil and use her for His purpose is real.  All I had to do was TRY.  So do you have a TRY that is beckoning you?  Have you been asked to do something that is completely out of your area of expertise?  Has someone seen something in you that you have never seen in yourself?  Judith McNaught sums it up well, “There will be a few times in your life when all your instincts will tell you to do something, something that defies logic, upsets your plans, and may seem crazy to others.  When that happens, you do it.  Listen to your instincts and ignore everything else.  Ignore logic, ignore the odds, ignore the complications, and just go for it.”

Mandy Arioto writes that each of us has “been placed here, in this time and space, with unique abilities.  Made to try a lot of things, to love some and to let some go.”  Be courageous.  Try something new.  Try something scary.  Try something that gives God the opportunity to shine through you.