Taking Chances

Sometimes we need to be willing to take chances.

I’m not really a big dare-devil with my life. I like to weigh all of the pros and cons before I make a decision. I like to dot my i’s and cross my t’s. I like to prepare for all possible scenarios before I proceed. I’m not too keen on taking a lot of chances not knowing what the outcome may be. This clinging to the shore, attitude has cost me a lot of sleepless nights. Part of it is how I’m wired. I’m a planner. My mama is a planner. I suppose it’s genetic.

But, lately, God has been showing me another way. There have been several instances where I felt very little planning was involved, (not nearly enough to my way of thinking), yet things turned out beautifully. God doesn’t seem to mind taking chances on us, so why should I think  any differently?

There are a ton of examples in the Bible of God taking a chance and trusting a human. He trusted Noah to build a giant ark and save all of the animals of creation, in the desert. All of the rest of mankind had turned wicked. Why not Noah and his family? Noah came through. He trusted that Job would continue to worship and praise Him even if he lost everything that he had been given and he had been given a lot. Job proved Him right. And my favorite, is a teenage girl named Mary. God trusted her to carry His son. She did beautifully.

These are just a few examples of God taking a chance and trusting humans to get it right. And it was a gamble; we are notoriously unreliable. We have proven that fact repeatedly. Yet, our Heavenly Father who loves us anyway, is willing to trust us with some important missions. He gives us multiple chances to get it right and forgives us repeatedly when we get it wrong.

Knowing that to be true, I have to ask myself if I shouldn’t be a little braver when I think of taking chances on things that I know God has asked me to do. I also sometimes need to take hard look at the people He has put in my path, you know the ones. They might drive me absolutely crazy or appear to be a lost cause altogether. But, God often reminds me that nothing is impossible if His hand is on it. I may not be able to fix any situation or circumstance, but He can.

So, maybe instead of playing it safe, what I should do is go all in and take a chance on what or who has been in front of me, give it my very best shot and let God handle all of the rest. Maybe I should give my heart and soul a break from all of the what ifs and just go with it. Even if I fail in my own eyes, as long as I’m serving Him, I have succeeded in His and isn’t that all that really matters?

What do you think about taking chances?

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂