Baby, All You Have To Do Is Ask!

Have you ever allowed fear of rejection to paralyze you and keep you from acting? I sure have and it’s a miserable place to be!

I wanted to ask our pastor’s wife to join me in leading a Bible study guide I had written on the Book of Ruth, but fear of rejection paralyzed me and kept me from acting in obedience.

Why such fear?  If you know her you know she loves people well and is not scary in any way.  She’s incredibly approachable and unintimidating yet (I’m a little embarrassed to say) I chose to stay safe rather then put myself out there and take the chance of being rejected.

The Bible study she was facilitating was coming to an end and she asked the group “How many of you would like to do another study?” There was great interest and as she asked for future study recommendations my heart instantly began to race.  I had missed my opportunity.  One of the attendees recommended a Ruth study she had viewed at the local LifeWay Christian bookstore.  I immediately felt like someone had punched me in the stomach.  I screamed inside: “No, you can’t do THAT Ruth study!  Let’s do mine!” But I sat there in silence, ashamed of my unwillingness to speak up.

I bawled the entire route home:  “Why would anyone want to do my study when there are so many great options out there?” My husband greeted me as I walked through the front door and immediately realized something was wrong.  He listened closely as I explained what had just happened.  He was relieved to hear my story as he thought it was something more serious.  His reply was simple!  “Baby, all you have to do is ask!”

I knew he was right but I didn’t want to ask!  What if she said no!  What if the group really didn’t want to do my Bible study guide?  What if I put myself out there and the very thing I feared (rejection) happened!  I would rather them come to me and ask me to do it.  But that didn’t happen so my only choice was to ask.

So I wrote her an email:  “…I have been praying about asking you to consider co-leading the Bible study I wrote on the book of Ruth…”

 A portion of her reply: “…Truth be told – God has been laying on my heart to do something with you.  Isn’t that crazy??…” 

So she and I shared in the awesome privilege of studying God’s word with a group of precious ladies!

Sometimes the Lord opens tremendous doors and we don’t even have to knock!  Other times He requires we step out in faith and act risking the chance of rejection.  We can’t just sit back and believe it can happen without being willing to take action when required.  Faith without deeds is useless.

Is there something you have been putting off?  Baby, all you have to do is ask!  The answer may not be what we want to hear but how will we ever know if we don’t ask? Sometimes it’s more about our obedience than the answer we receive.

Copyright©2015, Gloria Stucky

Image courtesy of “Question symbol” by graur razvan ionut at FreeDigitalPhotos.net