A Walk in Obedience

It’s been 4 years this month since I wrote my very first blog here on From an Open Heart.

Throughout these 4 years, I have been less than consistent about writing with some months being left blog-less for a variety of reasons some selfish, some understandable. More recently, I have committed to weekly posts because I feel that 4 years ago, God very clearly asked me to begin this blog.

I remember the moment well. I had just finished reading “Radical” by David Platt, and as I was thanking God for the wisdom and perspective I gained through this book, he gave me 2 very clear instructions. One was to downsize on the physical “stuff” that I owned and give it to people who were in need, whatever that looked like. And the second was to start a blog.

One thing you should know about me before I was asked to do this, is that I very much did not like blogs. I didn’t understand their purpose, or why people wanted to read them, or why in the world anyone would want to write them in the first place.

But, this is what God asked me to do. So, I stepped out in faith and obedience and did it.

Another thing you should know about me is that I really don’t like being told what to do. I often desire to serve God and people out of love, respect, and honor to them, but if I am really honest with you (and with myself), I really don’t like “commands”.

I have this inane independence that is rooted deep within my very being. I catch in the most subtle of ways not accepting help, or scoffing at a journal at the store telling me to “Follow my Dreams”. “DON’T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!”, I hear my insides screaming… or sometimes my voice actually saying out loud. I don’t know, maybe there some root of control and pride in there somewhere, I haven’t delved that far down yet, so I’ll keep you updated.

As I begin recognizing these, let’s call them “independent moments”, I realize that while I feel this fierceness is a part of who God created me to be, I also know that sin twists what God has created in an attempt to destroy what God has intended for good.

Throughout the past 4 years, I have both trusted that God had a reason for asking me to write and stood in obstinate defiance or distant apathy of what God asked me to do.

But, I will tell you what I have found in this midst of it all.

In the moments that I have been nothing more than obedient to His calling, this is when His faithfulness has shone the most. In the weeks where I reluctantly, but obediently, sat down to just write because “that is what God asked me to do”, those are the weeks when I have seen God work the most in the reach of my posts, in the messages I receive thanking me for writing what I did, and in what He does in me, personally through my reflections.

He has been nothing but good and faithful to us already. When we turn to him in obedience born out of love, He multiplies that goodness and faithfulness hundredfold. May we press into obedience to our Heavenly Father through our stubborn, “independent moments”.