Cutting the Safety Nets
Updated: Mar 29
Cutting the safety Nets
Where are you now, God?!
Those were the words I heard as I watched a homeless man walk back and forth in the middle of the intersection. I quietly began to pray for him as I sat in my car waiting for the light to change. As I drove off, his words and the aggression on his face replayed in my mind.
For many of us, trusting God completely can be a scary thing to do. I should know. Unknowingly, we create safety nets because of a lack of faith or belief that God will do what he said he would.
That’s how I felt at times as entered full-time entrepreneurship. I was completely out of my comfort zone. For most of my life, I was the kind of person who's always had a plan for myself and sometimes others around me. I loved the stability and knowing what to expect next. I’ve always been that way.
As a kid, I was the youngest of four children and the only girl, and yet at times, I felt like the most responsible one. I remember my older siblings asking to borrow money from me because they knew I saved all my Christmas and birthday money in a secret place in my bedroom. As a teenager, I set goals for myself and didn’t quit until I accomplished what I set out to do. I never focused on how long it would take as long I crossed the finish line. I made plans going into my college years and adulthood. And whenever life started to get the best of me and throw me a curve ball, I would make a new plan. But they were not the plans that God had for me.
That is not my life anymore. I surrendered my plans of being content with a quiet life in a small city to follow God’s plan. His plan seemed challenging and required me to mature in so many ways. I felt like he was asking too much of me. Lord, are you sure you picked the right person? And with a simple question, I set up my first safety net.
As the Lord instructed me on the steps I needed to take, I realized I was developing more safety nets. With each net, I was saying God, where are you now? As His Holy Spirit rested on me. He confirmed that He has not let me fall yet and He is the only safety net I needed. With that revelation, I examined others areas of my life. I ask myself, what other areas in my life I had created safety nets for? Did I trust God completely with my finances, my child, my relationships, my family, etc?
Sometimes our safety nets will look like holding on to the past. Holding on to objects, familiar behaviors, pain, patterns, or co-dependent relationships that we have developed to protect ourselves because we have become comfortable in those places. We can even recognize that some of these things do not benefit us or do not challenge us to become greater but stepping into the unknown scares the crap out of us.
This was yet another area where I needed to surrender. To surrender my safety nets and attachments. I also had to cut any unhealthy attachments that others may have. Once I did this I began to freefall into complete dependency on God. I’m not sure what your complete dependence upon God will look like for you. But for me, it meant I would no longer second guess myself and if I am deserving of what God has already called me to do. I know who I am now, what He has told me, and where I belong (1 Peter 2:9-10). It meant putting on my grown woman high heels; asking for His wisdom, and saying, if pleasing God meant disappointing others, then that’s a chance I am willing to take. He was building my faith and confidence in myself and Him.
With each net I cut, I gained the courage to step out a little more. I felt like God was smiling at me. I was getting ready to suit up.
Step one
Jesus: Start the business.
Me: Jesus, I’ve never done this before
Jesus: Don’t worry, I’m with you. I will teach you.
Step two
Jesus: Move to Arkansas:
Me: What do I tell my family and friends
Jesus: I am with you.
Step three
Jesus: Now, sell the house
Me: Yes, Lord
Step four
Jesus: Don’t look back.
Me: Yes, Lord
Step five
Jesus: Get ready, Set.
Me: I won’t move until you say go!
Jesus: Go!
XOXO
Chanel
Daughters of Ruth