Stepping Into Something New

Becoming Who You Already Are in Unfamiliar Places

What would it look like to step into something new…without abandoning who you already are?

For the past year, the Lord has been doing a deep work in me. And as I write that, I’m reminded…He is always doing a deep work in me. In every season. Every month. Each week. Day by day, moment by moment…He is at work.

Last year around this time, we were finishing our third and final year of ministry school. Those three years were such a gift. I truly believe God brought us there for a specific purpose…to pause, to heal, to grow…and to step out again. But not in the same way. This time, it would look different.

There’s a verse that has stayed with me: “Then He brought us out from there, that He might bring us in, to give us the land…” (Deuteronomy 6:23). I remember a speaker repeating this phrase over us: “He brings us out…to bring us in…to give us something.” And as I look back over my life, I can see that pattern again and again. He is the God of the great exchange.

Recently, I’ve found myself reflecting on this past year…on the ways Kris and I stepped out of what had become familiar and into something new. For most of our marriage, we’ve served together in church ministry. But this past season, the Lord led us beyond that. Into new roles. New assignments. New spaces. Into the community…to see and experience His work outside the walls we had always known.

And it was there that an old word came back to me: “Plant beyond your fence…you’ve not been this way before.” The Lord brought us out…to let us see. To participate. To partner with what He is already doing.

And for me, this is where the deeper work began. Because stepping into something new has a way of revealing what’s going on beneath the surface. Insecurities rise. You start to wonder… Am I enough for this? Do I have what it takes in this space? Is there something I’m missing…or am I overlooking what God has already placed within me for this moment?

I’ve come to realize…this was the invitation all along. Not just to step into something new…but to do it without abandoning who I already am in the process. Because we don’t have to leave parts of ourselves behind to carry Him into the world.

Who you are is not accidental. The way you think, the way you see, the way you love… He formed that in you. And He is still forming it.

Every experience. Every season. Every “yes” along the way.

As I look back, I can see it more clearly now: Nothing was wasted. Every step was preparation. Even the things I didn’t fully understand at the time were shaping something in me I would need later.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: “He wastes nothing. He gets you ready.” (Paul Manwaring)

Right now, I find myself in another moment of transition. New opportunities are beginning to take shape. Things I never would have considered before. And if I’m honest…there’s a part of me that hesitates. Because it’s new. Because it stretches me. Because I haven’t done it this way before.

But recently, someone spoke something to me that I haven’t been able to shake: “You have everything that’s needed…you just haven’t applied it in this way before.” And I think that might be true.

How often do we disqualify ourselves simply because it doesn’t look familiar? Because we don’t have the exact experience… the perfect background… the full picture?

And yet, God has already been preparing us… layer by layer, season by season.

So today, I want to gently encourage you: 

If you’re standing in front of something new…

If you feel that invitation, but also that tension…

Don’t be afraid to step forward. Don’t be afraid to plant beyond your fence…even if you’ve never been this way before.

“With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26)

You don’t have to abandon who you already are to walk into what’s next. You’re not starting from nothing. You’re carrying a life that has been formed… shaped by Him, strengthened over time, and prepared in ways you may not have fully seen yet.

I’m praying for you as you take that step. Not striving to become something you’re not…and not shrinking back in uncertainty…but walking with Him, carrying who you are...into what He’s already prepared for you.