This is from Chris Willis...it didn't get into the blog, so I thought I would post it for you. thanks for sharing this Chris...this is so great.
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I thought I would jump in and be the first to respond to Sonya's amazing post and challenge. First...let me do a quick introduction for those who don't yet know me. My name is Chris Willis and currently my family and I are living across the country in Newport, RI. My husband is a naval officer and it seems we find ourselves back here in RI every several years for 6-8 month stints. We've been members of Canyon Creek for a few years now and thank God for our wonderful "church family" who has been a great support to us even 3000 miles away!

Sonya's message and questions hit me in a way I couldn't begin to describe clearly here but I will try and highlight some main points.

Our family has been walking through some huge trials over the past few months I can't describe here now but can only pray that God will use immensely in the future. Through it all, God has revealed His amazing qualities and characteristics and truly been a comforter, protector and father in ways I didn't even know possible.

So often we relate to our relationship with God very humanly and compare His love for us to our human understanding of love. But God is so much bigger than that! I know there've been times in the past when I have "tested" God's love for me like a child would test his parent. "Will He still love me if I...(fill in the blank.)" My own human father would sometimes put me down or "reject me" when I did or said certain things or even looked different than he would have wanted. Would my heavenly father reject me like that too? This is not only a dangerous game, but totally unnecessary as well.

I would argue that God naturally challenges us to "test" His love for us...but not in the way that I have done so in the past. He continually wants to deepen our understanding of Him and prove His amazing love to us. I find that at times our natural tendancy is to want to be "comfortable". But God wants to comfort us...not make us comfortable. We get scared of the unknown so we stay "comfortable" where we know. But that fear keeps us from allowing God to provide, protect and comfort us. We keep ourselves in a place that we aren't really relying on His help. What is there to comfort in us if we aren't actually a little uncomfortable?

Through the challenges our family has been facing, I've learned what real vulnerability feels like and although it is scary, I can't imagine a time when I have felt God's protecting arms surrounding me more. God has allowed me to get "uncomfortable" so I could learn what real dependance on Him looks like. Unknowingly, in my attempt to live a "comfortable life", I was keeping God pigeon-holed when He was calling me to a deeper understanding of and relationship with Him.

I would challenge each of us to continue to take steps into the unknown (led by the Holy Spirit.) He has promised to prosper us...not harm us so why not give Him more and more opportunities to "prove" His indescribable fatherly love for us?! I Thank God for the opportunities I've had to learn more about Him and to feel His amazing Grace, Mercy and Love for me!

God Bless you all in this journey.

Chris Willis