{"id":12737,"date":"2024-03-23T11:24:18","date_gmt":"2024-03-23T16:24:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/joannalo.org\/?p=12737"},"modified":"2026-07-03T07:05:57","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T12:05:57","slug":"too-good-to-pass-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joalo.org\/?p=12737","title":{"rendered":"Too Good to Pass Up"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

My grands are in London. This picture made me pause from writing my next book because it was just too good to pass up. <\/span>

Lately I haven’t paused enough. Stopped the train of accomplishing something and just enjoyed God’s company. Just sitting with His word open upon my lap and talking about what’s been on my heart. It’s as easy and uncomfortable as that.<\/span>

“Your comfort zone” is a phrase I’ve hated. Mostly because I struggle with anxiety, and hearing someone say, “The tension is where we know God is working”,\u00a0<\/em>makes me want to throw up. But I’m learning by the Spirit of Truth . . . You’ve got the comfort zone all wrong.<\/em><\/span>

Your comfort zone is not about doing more that makes you uncomfortable\u2014it’s allowing God to correct your unwillingness to do what He says, so you can live more freely in Him and with others.<\/em> See how that changes everything<\/em>? <\/span>

Here’s an example of what I’m saying: I hate conflict. Avoid it like the plague. When tension happens between me and you, I’ll dodge any truth to keep “peace” between us. The thought of you possibly being angry, disappointed, or even uncomfortable with me . . . feels like World War III in me. Now listen to this from Ephesians 6:<\/span>

“Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ;\u00a0not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart,\u00a0<\/em><\/span>with goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men.”\u00a0<\/span><\/em>(emphasis mine) <\/font><\/span>Sincerity of heart? . . . like I’m talking with God? No eyeservice? No people-pleasing? Doing God’s will? Sounds like I’m 0 for 4.<\/span><\/span>

Here’s the true scoop on remaining in our comfort zone: we’re not really that comfortable.\u00a0<\/em><\/span>Every day we must come back and face resistance to the Master’s perfect way. We’re not changing. <\/em>We’re still the same dodger, avoider, pleaser, flatterer, gossiper, bragger (whatever the case may be) we’ve always been.\u00a0<\/span>

Too often we live on auto-pilot. And I get it, we have routines. But we’re not the only ones working. More importantly God is working\u2014sanctifying us to be just like Him. <\/em><\/span>And God’s work is just too good to pass up<\/mark>.<\/mark><\/em>

The only way through discomfort is getting more intimate with our Maker. Pause and enjoy His company. Open what He’s been saying all along. Tell Him what’s hard.<\/em> God understands your fears, and only wants to guide you to a place you’ve <\/span>always wanted to go but never known the way.<\/mark><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My grands are in London. This picture made me pause from writing my next book because it was just too good to pass up. Lately I haven’t paused enough. Stopped the train of accomplishing something and just enjoyed God’s company. Just sitting with His word open upon my lap and talking about what’s been on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":143625079,"featured_media":12736,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[23737],"tags":[784,5648,773157865,773157867,773157852,773157871,2128],"class_list":["post-12737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-intimacy","tag-comfort","tag-freedom","tag-hope","tag-intimacy","tag-jesus","tag-obedience","tag-peace"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pacmrQ-3jr","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":20338,"url":"https:\/\/joalo.org\/?p=20338","url_meta":{"origin":12737,"position":0},"title":"Pretending Ears & the Glory of Listening","author":"Jo Alo","date":"August 22, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good. Proverbs 15:3 The Lord needs no device to see the hidden intents of our heart. For He is light and \"there is no creature hidden from His sight.\" (Hebrews 4:13) This truth is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "God Speaks"","block_context":{"text":"God Speaks","link":"https:\/\/joalo.org\/?cat=183798"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/joalo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/curated-lifestyle-19qHA0OyC0Q-unsplash.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/joalo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/curated-lifestyle-19qHA0OyC0Q-unsplash.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/joalo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/curated-lifestyle-19qHA0OyC0Q-unsplash.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/joalo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/curated-lifestyle-19qHA0OyC0Q-unsplash.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/joalo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/curated-lifestyle-19qHA0OyC0Q-unsplash.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12836,"url":"https:\/\/joalo.org\/?p=12836","url_meta":{"origin":12737,"position":1},"title":"“Whoever feeds on Me.” John 6:57","author":"Jo Alo","date":"May 4, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Feeders are full and the gangs all here. It's pretty cool how they all show up before the food's even out. A gray squirrel hung so long\u2014snacking on safflower seeds\u2014the oriole had to sit and wait his turn in the trees. No hummingbirds yet, but sweet water gets hung just\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "God Speaks"","block_context":{"text":"God Speaks","link":"https:\/\/joalo.org\/?cat=183798"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/joalo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/mark-gutowski-oredcbvyz4u-unsplash.jpg?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/joalo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/mark-gutowski-oredcbvyz4u-unsplash.jpg?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/joalo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/mark-gutowski-oredcbvyz4u-unsplash.jpg?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/joalo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/mark-gutowski-oredcbvyz4u-unsplash.jpg?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/joalo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/mark-gutowski-oredcbvyz4u-unsplash.jpg?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":20270,"url":"https:\/\/joalo.org\/?p=20270","url_meta":{"origin":12737,"position":2},"title":"Where Does Joy Come From?","author":"Jo Alo","date":"August 1, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Isaiah 12:3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. 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