Comfortable.

I love to be comfortable. It’s warm and cozy and inviting. It beckons me to come in and stay a while, to let down my guard and embrace a sense of security and peace… all too often, a false sense of security and peace.

We got comfortable these last six to eight months. The Lord led us back to the east coast, we easily fell back into our routines, we’ve been surrounded by family and friends, and Harper has been doing amazingly well.

I let my guard down. I began to feel this feeling I had not felt in ages- normalcy. And I liked it! It felt good to participate in regular activities, to move forward, to not worry every minute of the day, to sleep at night without listening for Harper’s breathing and movement. Comfortable.

But there’s danger when we get too comfortable. We can slip into a place of complacency, becoming unaware of risks and looming dangers. We focus so much on what feels good in the place of comfort, forgetting that we have an enemy lurking around, waiting for a chance to hit where it hurts.

He hit me where it hurts this morning. Harper has developed a habit of waking in the middle of the night every night and crawling in bed with me. And to be honest, with her history, I allow it. She needs her rest and I need mine, so if that’s what it takes, that’s what we do!

This morning was no different, but then around 4:30, her moving around in the bed woke me. I tried to ignore it, thinking she was just trying to get closer, and I rolled over to go back to sleep.

However, after a few minutes I realized she was still moving, and I began to recognize that dreaded rhythmic motion. Within seconds all the lights were on and we were running a timer and monitoring her heart rate and oxygen levels, coaching her to breathe.

We have not seen a seizure like this in ages. The last visible seizure she had was almost eight months ago, and while it was rough and scary, it paled in comparison to this series of seizures this morning.

It took a couple of hours for her body to calm down, for the tremors and the vomiting to stop, for her to be able to focus her eyes and use her hands and speak complete thoughts without slurring. She’s battled headaches and fatigue all day, and is barely eating.

We got too comfortable. We were completely unsuspecting, and the unexpected rocked our world, knocking our feet out from under us. It hurt.

As I’ve been thinking all day of what I could have or should have done differently as her mom, I’ve also been reminded of the dangers of getting too comfortable spiritually. How often do we become complacent in our walk with Christ, just coasting and relaxing in unawareness, not moving forward into where He is calling us because it just feels good to sit where we are? Comfort zones are dangerous places.

As 1 Peter 5:8 says, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” We must be aware! There is an enemy waiting for us to let our guards down so he can come in for the attack, and when it happens, it hurts.

Friends, stay vigilant. Enjoy the peace that is experienced in His presence, but don’t grow complacent. Let Him comfort you as only He can do, but don’t set up camp in your comfort zone. Be aware, be obedient, be ready, and follow His leading outside of your comfort zone.