it’s time to step out of the crowd

I’ve been listening to you all in this community. I treasure your comments, posts, and messages. They each stir my heart to rethink how I’m living out this journey called life.

As I listen, I hear you saying:

Alene you have helped me step over my fear and into an unknown world. Thank you for challenging me to serve others. You have inspired me to step out of my comfort zone.”

It humbles me to great links. I’m blown away by the fact that somehow these little words here on this page inspire and challenge you to be a world changer. But the funny thing is that while you say I inspire you — you inspire me!

I try my hardest to hone my message, be authentic with my words, and state truths to help you step over fear and love others. I try to stretch you to serve more in the messy world. So, thank you for being a beautiful community that trusts even when my words come out awkward at times.

Stepping over fear and loving a messy world is hard because it means you have to step out of the crowd. [click to tweet]

What crowd do you hang with?

Maybe it’s the crowd at work, your neighborhood, school, church, yacht club, or gun range. Where ever that crowd is, it might be time for you to step away.

Think about your crowd.

These people you spend most of your time with, chances are you pretty much all think the same. Maybe even have some of the same habits, and even follow some of the same routines. And I’d venture to say . . .

You all want to be crowd-pleasers so you don’t rock the boat in that group. Each of you in the group continue to go with the status quo so as not to hurt anybody and make them feel different.

But what if it were time for you to step away?

Maybe you feel the stirring in your heart to venture out to something new. You’re not sure what it means  . . . a new direction, purpose, calling…

You’ve felt the stirring. You’re afraid. You feel stuck because of . . . the crowd!

You wonder if your “crowd” will understand when you tell them? Chances are most won’t. They can’t sense the stirrings that are happening in your heart, only you know they are there.

I’ve been there and know it’s hard. I’ve stepped away from friends, church, jobs because my heart told me to go a different direction. It was painful. It was sad. But I had to follow my heart.

Clarity comes from following your heart – the voice of God.

While it was sad to leave others on their journey and veer off to follow the path where I knew God was calling, it was so worth it! The sense of purpose and direction I felt I had lost became clear again.

Is this you? Does your purpose and clarity of life seem vague — almost non-existant? Then I challenge you to take a risk.

Step out and away from the crowd.

I met a man yesterday who was just released from prison. God got a hold of his heart while he was there. Hallelujah! And now he knew it was time he stepped away from his crowd to do what God was nudging him to do.

He showed me writings and pages and pages of notes he had made while doing his time. He was on fire with the message that God placed on his heart and wanted to write about it.

He was afraid. He knew this was something that his “crowd” would not appreciate. They would laugh. They would scoff.

I challenged him. Write. Do what God is stirring in your heart and you’ll never regret it. Take a baby step each day and just keep moving.

And I challenge you!

If there is something nudging within you that says, “do this, follow here, go there, take a risk”, step away from the crowd and pursue it!

It might seem awkward at first. Friends might not understand and that’s alright. Some might even get mad, but that says more about their lack of support for you in that friendship than you. You might be afraid because you don’t know what’s on the other side of your big leap, but leap anyway. The adventure will be amazing.

So friends, don’t let your crowd determine your future! Step over that fear.