Stepping Out...

Today, I want to encourage you specifically to STEP OUT in your faith walk. 
Out of your past.
Out of your struggles.
Out of your comfort zone.
Maybe that also means stepping out of fear or pride, worry or anger, insecurity or a judgmental attitude...
Or more.

The Lord led me to the humbling task of penning a book for women that deals with these very issues, because I, too, struggle with each and every one of them. He led me to His Word and into the lives of many women who shared their stepping-out stories.

Rejoice with me, if you would, in the release of Stepping Out: To a Life on the Edge, published by CPH. I pray that God will use every word to powerfully impact women's lives for Christ.

I'd like to share with you a glimpse from the opening pages... 

I'd like you to use your imagination for a minute. Picture an in-ground backyard swimming pool filled with calm, clear, cool water and surrounded by a beautiful concrete patio. There's a diving board perched over the deep end. It's a hot summer day, and everyone around you is enjoying a good dunk in the shallow end of the pool. Now envision yourself standing behind the diving board on solid patio. You eye the platform, then you eagerly step up, sprint to the end, yell "Cannonball!" and jump. What awaits you is the exhilarating feeling of release and total immersion in cool, refreshing water.

Or do you?

If you have timid tootsies like mine, you stare at the diving board in front of you and wonder how you will ever move from the solid surface where your feet are firmly fastened to the slick, slippery edge w-a-y out there. Do you inch up and onto the platform, or do you remain frozen at the far end of the board, paralyzed in place? Do you focus on the fear of losing control, of being in over your head?

My stepping-out story begins with a diving board and a backyard pool (as you can read in chapter 1). Moving from behind the board, where my feet were firmly planted, stepping up and onto the spring-loaded surface, and slowly shimmying out to the edge symbolizes for me so much more than stepping away from the safety of the solid cement.

Despite my sins and shortcomings and timid tootsies, God has called me to step out of my struggles to a life on the edge. He continually covers me with His grace and fills me with His strength; He extends His hand to me, walks beside me, and empowers me to live for Him. I must admit, some days I feel as though I am taking the cliched "one step forward and two steps back." But I have a Savior who enables me to keep stepping out in His strength because He keeps stepping in with His saving grace!

As we struggle to step out of our past, our insecurity, our judgmental attitude, and other circumstances, we may be trapped into thinking, If I just try harder or If I can just get my act together. We do try, but on our own, we are bound to fail eventually and sink to the bottom of the pool. (Many times in my case, I fail right away.)

The world shouts, "Get a grip! Just do it already. What are you waiting for?" But our God of grace knows we cannot take even one baby step forward all by ourselves. So He comes to us right where we are, stuck in our sin, and He places His firm grip of grace upon us. Forgiven, renewed, and strengthened by the Savior, we step out to a life on the edge, resting in His truth, which tells us, "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13).

The Lord will lead you to take stock of your struggles and confess them to Him. And by His grace, He will unfasten your feet from where they are planted behind the diving board. He will help you step out to a place where He would have you live!

From Stepping Out: To a Life on the Edge © 2013 Deb Burma, published by Concordia Publishing House. For ordering information, please contact Concordia Publishing House at 800-325-3040 or visit them at www.cph.org

7 comments:

  1. I can so see you at Peoria shimmying up to the edge of the board!!! That so inspired me!!So much of the time it is my self doubt that keeps me back to the safety of the other end of the board. The things I tell myself like "well, I am not gifted there, let someone do this who is really talented!" I argued with God some years back in my tiny congregation. I was day dreaming through a less inspiring message Pastor was giving one Sunday, and I thought about doing more for the Lord and I invisioned myself speaking to large crowds of women and stirring them to tears! I thought how "cool" that'd be! But ahead of me sat two preschoolers who had never had a Sunday School class. I thought to myself "No, surely not me!!!! I am not a little kid person, why I donot even have grand kids how am I supposed to know how to teach them?" My conscience was being pricked! Then I argued again "but what if I am a very poor teacher?" Some little voice just whispered to me "why don't you just try it and leave the rest up to God?" Besides noonelese is doing it!"
    To make a long story short, I listened and I love that fast paced 40 min Sunday AM! It teaches me to bring my faith down to a simpler level and I can tell you there is little more thrilling than having a Kindergarten kid learning to sound out Jesus for the fist time!!! I now have five kids each Sunday and though some times you wonder what they could have possibly learned in all the chaotic activity, God still moves in that little group!! I am hoping to embark on a writing career in my senior years and am having the same argument agian!!! I ask myself "where do I start" and "what could I possibly say that is new under the Sun?" That quote from wise ole Solomen! It will be interesting how this all plays out!!!
    Love ya, Deb!!
    I am watching my mailbox every day for your new book!!!
    Betty Marschner

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    1. Thank you, Betty! The Lord has certainly been at work in you, nudging you to edgy places! What a beautiful task He has given you to teach these little ones. And just keep writing ~ in the directions the Spirit leads. He will use your words to touch another. Blessings to you!

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  2. Deb, I love how you differentiate between the world's idea of relying on self to relying on God's limitless strength. It is such a relief when the world shouts to know that His whispers provide the encouragement we need every single minute of every single day.

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    1. Thank you, Donna! Yes...every single minute...every single day. How sweet it is!

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  3. Hey! Yes!! Donna if we keep still and quiet long enough we just might hear Him!!!

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  4. Congrats on the new book!

    Philippians 4:13 is one of my FAVORITE Bible verses.

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  5. Congratulations Deb! Thanks very much for writing this book! I have started reading it and it has given me more confidence that I will be able to find a permanent job and also a new group of friends that appreciate me for who I am and not for what they think they want me to be. This book is very interesting and can't wait to finish it. I also can't wait to see you in April at the Women's Event at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Janesville, WI. Take care and God Bless you and your family!

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