Obedience

After last night, I find it humorous that I'm going to write about obedience today. :o)

Anyway, my boys are grumpy because I've recruited them to help me get the yard cleaned up. We're going to start in 20 minutes, and I'm not sure why they're complaining. I promised to give each of them $50 when I get my summer school paycheck on Friday. My parents would have told me to do it...period...end of story.

Last night, though, I was having a conversation about the real me, the part of me that has been hurting for quite a while. This particular friend gives me absolutely no wiggle-room. In fact, last night he was pushing every button that happened to present itself, but I'm glad he did. I had decided to quit my fast (eating only one meal per day) 7 days early because I didn't like what God was telling me. The Lord kept asking me to do stuff that I didn't want to do. My logic went something like this:

Since God already spoke to me about several issues, including stuff I don't want to implement or start, why not quit the fast?
1. It was my idea anyway.
2. It's voluntary.
3. If I continue the fast, then God will most likely ask me to do something else that I will find uncomfortable.
4. Yes, I'll quit fasting so I can't hear His voice so loud and clear!

Ummm...now that I read that, it sounds kinda dumb, doesn't it? Oh boy...

My friend called me on it, even to the point of calling me disobedient! (Man, I'm glad my kids didn't hear that! They would have had great fun with that one!) But what could I say? He was right.

Through prayer with him and allowing God to speak to certain parts of me that I had previously considered "off-limits," even to God Himself (and especially to friends and family), I was able to wake up this morning refreshed and excited about my life. I know that God is calling me to do this women's ministry, and, if the truth be told, I've known this for several months. I've begun to feel some wonderful peace by moving in obedience: asking Pastor if I can make an announcement about the women's ministry, putting directions to my home in the bulletin, and purchasing blank cards to write a personal invitation to each woman in the church.

Thank you, Jesus!

I will spend a few hours this evening writing out the cards. My plan was to make an announcement during church and then mail the reminders today (so that they'd get them before Wednesday). Instead, to be more personal, I think I'll just hand them out to the women before church starts. The only problem with that, though, is that there are so many people who come late...I have to be ready to play by 10:45.

I suppose I could call all of these women, but I'm not a phone person.

I'm not quick to call anybody...even my Mom. (I know...that's awful...but I see her often.) There's only one person that I've regularly spoken to on the phone regularly for any substantial length of time, and that's mostly because we're often praying together for everybody and everything.

I will definitely let you know how everything goes.