choosing to live outside my comfort zone

a theme that i've been seeing in recent days is the idea of choice/free will. i've been struck by how God did not force Himself upon us; He gave us the choice of choosing Him and worshipping Him. it's so counter-intuitive to me, but it's been amazing to reflect on that point these past couple of days.

this leads to my second thought this week: choosing something outside of my comfort zone. being in berlin this week, i realized that moving to germany might be a choice that we may seriously have to consider in the future. it's not one that we would make for ourselves; we'd much rather be living in the US in an environment and culture that is familiar and comfortable for us. moving to germany, or any other country would be hard--having to learn a new language and new culture, being far away from friends, etc. despite these hardships, i am encouarged by the ways God has blessed my own life as i've stepped outside my own comfort zones. just looking at this summer and how nat and i chose for him to go to germany for his internship, i am reminded of God's goodness. it was extremely tough, but i can already see the growth in our relationship with each other and with God and that has been a huge encouragement.

to end, i'd like to end with a funny story from germany. i went to get some bottled water in the storage room, and i thought the room was locked. as i started turning the key, i heard, "hallo? hallo?" i tried to open the door, but then i realized that i had accidentally locked the door and the people in it. i tried to unlock the door, and the the people inside began speaking german and knocking on the door. i panicked b/c i didn't understand or speak german, so i had to run back into the office and get nat. i was too embarrassed to go back, so nat unlocked the door and apologized for me. when nat got back, he chuckled and said, "they probably spoke english you know!"