To Be or Not Be Stretched

Everytime that I write a blog, I write to you what God has laid on my heart. Today is no different!!!!
This morning for the first time since I have been in this area I went to Mayor's Prayer Breakfast, usually I will not send the reply card back in but this year I felt God wanted me to go and I can honestly say once I got there I could see why.
For months I have been preaching on how we should leave our comfort zone, well this morning He took me out of mine.
I have to remind you that the congregation I have is only about 25 people but when I got there they have probably about 500 people and I went by myself. I was nervous and the truth was I wanted to run the other direction. Once I found a place to sit, I was sitting by people I never met before, trying to strike up a conversation.
Through the course of that breakfast, God started speaking to my heart and He was saying, Henry, I want to stretch you, I want to make you to be the type of Pastor that others can turn to and be able to talk and in order to do this I will bring you to places like this, have you to run across people you do not know. I am doing this because I love you!!!
When God spoke that to me, I found myself praying to Him and saying, Lord I want to leave my comfort zone, I want to be stretched. Stretch me Lord till it hurts, stretch me to the point of where one day I will be able to say, "Oh, it feels so good!!!!!