A new day

I started this blog about a year ago in hopes of giving myself a journaling space/accountability for organizing my life. I was pretty busy at the time (planning my wedding) and I was so overwhelmed and tired that I feared not accomplishing my goals. Due to all of the activity I promptly stopped blogging.

So what now?

I'd like to write about what the Lord is doing in me and through me and what He is teaching me.

The main topic that He has been presenting to me over and over again during the last several month is obedience/trust. For me, they go hand-in-hand. I've seen in the gospels that Jesus commends people for their faith, not for their actions. In parables, those who are righteous or rewarded are those who were trusting and obeying. For example, in Luke 12:35-38, Jesus tells a parable about servants who vigilantly wait for the return of their mater who, upon arriving, serves them! They chose to be obedient. They chose to stay awake - even if that meant all night. It says nothing about what they were feeling. It doesn't say that they liked waiting or wanted to wait, but that they were obedient in their waiting. They aren't rewarded for doing something seemingly cool like saving a drowning person or sharing gospel tracts (which, of course, are fine things). They are rewarded for their obedience. What we their reward? Being served by their master.

In October my husband and I sensed a very real need to help my mom prepare some of property to be sold. She was not in favor of the idea, but we felt God leading us to do this work. We would have been very happy not to spend January in the snow in Washington, but we knew that God was calling us to this service despite what we were feeling. I remember making a phone call to her that I thought would be unpleasant. I said to my husband, "I don't want to do this. But God is only asking me to be obedient." He gave me strength to do the one task that He set before me.

So, I only have one goal now: to live my life in simple obedience to the Lord. How huge! How profound! How simple! Lord, help me overcome my flesh.