What if God’s design is with the purpose of pushing you outside your comfort zone? Have you ever given thought to the fact that His purpose of your discomfort leads to something better?

Recently, I watched a video feed of a young lady and a man presenting in a Town Hall meeting. The man was a sitting Board Member of the Town. The young lady was presenting her topic to the town with the Board Member sitting next to her in full support of her topic. Then it happened. As the young lady and the man were introducing the topic, on hot mic, the man looked over at the young lady and said. “God, You’re so hot.” Laughter broke out in the town meeting. Even the young lady giggled a little bit. At the next Town Hall meeting, the young lady stood before the Board and asked for the man’s resignation for his behavior. 

Wait! I thought this was funny? Wasn’t it? I mean, everyone laughed, including her. It was even captured on video. I am most positive that when the event took place, the man felt validated by the laughter. The man’s self defense was, “He meant no harm.”  

But, what about the young lady?

Let’s go back to the laughter. Remove the audience laughter from this. Let’s just focus on the young lady’s laughter. She laughed, right? So it must be ok. Right?

NO!

Rather – The young lady’s laughter is known as an incongruous emotional display. It’s involuntary. It’s a stress response. This is the fight, flight or fawn response. Fight, run, or freeze is possibly a more relatable way to describe this. Although the young lady didn’t exactly freeze, her body responded uncontrollably with laughter in freeze mode, to protect herself from tension, discomfort and anxiety.  

THIS!

Is the root of why we mistake discomfort for agreement.  

We assume that because someone laughed it must be ok. We assume because someone smiled they must feel good about themselves. Instead of hearing the truth of the matter, we tend to watch from the outside of what is really happening. Why? Because it is comfortable. 

The body is extraordinarily created by God to protect itself in its response to stress. Sometimes, that protection looks like tears. Sometimes, that protection looks like removing yourself from a situation. Sometimes, that protection looks like anger, sometimes that protection even looks like a smile or laughter. 

The absence of confrontation is not the presence of consent.

This is where we need discernment to know and understand our discomfort.  

Is your discomfort unhealthy?

Or

Is your discomfort God designed, for the purpose of growth?

Unhealthy Discomfort

When you sit in a sermon and your pastor makes a joke that is off color that does not match with Jesus and everyone laughs, does that mean the joke is ok? When your Pastor preaches a toxic message that does not align with Jesus and you do not stand up in church to deny their message, is that consent?

When your boundaries are being crossed, that is unhealthy discomfort. When you are being abused, that is unhealthy discomfort.  Are you being coerced? Are you being intimidated? Have you been shamed? The mind and body recognizes danger. It is healthy to respond to these discomforts by taking actions to protect yourself from harm and not ignore it. 

There is another type of discomfort

Healthy Discomfort  

The discomfort of conviction.
The discomfort of setting down your ego.
The discomfort of surrender.
The discomfort of admitting you are wrong.
The discomfort of self correction.
This discomfort of forgiveness.
The discomfort of loving someone who is difficult to love.
The discomfort of speaking the truth when it’s not popular.

This discomfort is not trying to harm us. This discomfort is trying to grow us. This discomfort is a path towards Jesus. Unhealthy discomfort attempts to take us away from Jesus, Healthy discomfort if we act accordingly, draws us closer to Jesus. Unhealthy discomfort is rooted in fear. Healthy discomfort is rooted in Christ. The challenge is knowing the difference because they both feel similar – DISCOMFORT.

Jesus did not call us to be comfortable. He called us to follow Him. Often this is uncomfortable. We must do things we don’t want to do in order to grow. Following Jesus is often uncomfortable. This does not mean God wants us to be miserable. He wants us to experience JOY! This joy is obtained through the discipline of following Jesus. 

His purpose is to make us more like Jesus.

Sometimes the discomfort means protecting us from unhealthy places.
Sometimes His discomfort means refining or character and strengthening our faith.

The question isn’t, “Am I uncomfortable?

The question is, what is my discomfort telling me?