Two for Tuesday :Obedience

                                   Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

   Romans 6:16New International Version (NIV)
¹⁶ Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?

Read :  John 14:15 - 14:21. Bonus Verses : Romans 5:19 ,  Hebrews 5:9

As a kid I never wanted to wear shoes (unless it was plastic heels, but that's another story entirely). This is a practice that has followed me into adulthood. I can remember growing up and my dad always insisting I wear shoes. As a child I felt he was sucking the fun out of feeling the grass and dirt. Shoes were a restriction I didn't want to deal with, and that often led to disobedience on my part. My dad would tell me to put shoes on, (and if I'm honest) I would try to sneak past him without the required footwear. I paid the consequences when I stepped on a rusty nail that almost went through the top of my foot (also another story for a different time).
 Now I'm  "grown" and my dad no longer chides me to wear shoes - okay sometimes but not as consistently . The other day I was helping my mama outside and stepped on something that caused pain but I couldn't find the source. Once inside I had to remove a billion (okay more like five) shards of whatever I stepped on.

 The point is, I often see rebellious teenagers and think glad I was never like that towards my parents. It's true I never went out and partied or did drugs or got arrested. But disobedience runs deeper than that. It's a heart issue. Me ignoring my fathers warnings all those years, they led me to some trouble.

 I have this tendency to do the same for my Heavenly Father. He gives me a command and for the most part I will TRY and follow it. However my heart is not always in it.......disobedience is subtly sometimes. I have to learn to follow God with ALL my heart, that includes those tiny little things I don't think matter but do. You see any disobedience is disobedience at large.

  ^" If ye love me, keep my commandments." Jesus said. He is asking for my obedience and in fact my heart. What better way to show you love God (and your parents) than to obey them. Because just like my dad knew I needed shoes to protect my feet, God knows what will cause me harm in the future.
Forever &Always,
Emily

Prayer

This is a beautiful prayer by Debbie Kay. Pray this over yourself and a loved one or friend :)

Life Update

 I know I haven't wrote in awhile, and I know exactly why. I have been thinking about what I want from my life, whether I want to make others happy and do what is expected of me. Or do I want to pursue life in my own messy way. My sister was so wise when she said (or mumbled) "Just pick something and do it." That's where I get stuck - just making a solid concrete decision. I could try it out and always revise my course of action but I let fear control me. My not so closet fear is fear itself. Somehow even as a child of God I let Fear boss me around and tell me that I am limited. I doubt myself , I doubt my writing ability. I doubt every action I take everyday. The saddest part is my fear controls me but it affects the ones I love!

 I have these dreams for my life, and I'm what's holding me back.
I wonder whether I could cut it as an author, can I truly discipline myself to write everyday and then send my work out to be judged??
 Could I get a part-time job to earn money towards my goal of off grid-living? Am I willing to put in the time to research and learn the skills I need?
 Should I just go back to college and work towards a degree and a career??
These are the thoughts that plague me constantly. I am not sure how to choose what is best, what is God's will. I have been praying for answers and been confronted with silence. So the question of the day is can I make a choice and once I do, can I live with that decision . What's best for me and would be the most God honoring choice.........