Is your box too small?

We all have our own boxes and parameters in which we live our lives. This is not a bad thing. Healthy boundaries are a good thing. They are from God. In the bible, the Israelite people had boundaries. God gave all the tribes except the Levites a section of the land that God gave to them as an inheritance. That means that there were borders for their tribes. We all know that children behave better when there are healthy boundaries in place for them. Children actually feel more secure with healthy boundaries in place. Just like our children; we, as children of God, feel safe within the boundaries that God has laid out for us. However, we begin to grow just as our children grow. As our children grow, they get more and more freedom and not as many boundaries. The box that they live in gets bigger and bigger. When they were little, certain boundaries kept them safe. But as they grow, those same boundaries can become toxic to them and hinder their growth. I believe the same is true as children of God. I believe as we grow in Christ, the boundaries that once kept us safe, can become toxic for us and hinder our growth. That's kind of where I'm at right now. The box that I lived in, the boundaries that once gave me a sense of safety, are starting to feel very unsafe for me. The scripture below really speaks to this for me:

^{1 Chronicles 4:10}
¹⁰And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” So God granted him what he requested.

The thing that I really hear in this scripture right now, is that Jabez is relating God enlarging his territory with him causing pain. Almost like he is saying, God spread out my boundaries so I don't cause pain to others. I believe that when we start to grow and our boxes become to small or our boundaries become to tight, if we don't participate with God's expansion, we will cause others pain. When we restrict our growth, it causes others pain. Sometimes we restrict ourselves for those that we love and we think we are protecting them by doing that, when really what happens is we begin to cause them pain because we are unhappy and not feeling like we are walking in our purpose. Our box starts to make us sick and many times that gets taken out on those closest to us. Many times in protecting those we love from our own "purpose, we end up hurting them.

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