Obedience

"Obedience" is a word I stumble on in my mouth.  It does not come out easily, and sounds very garbled.  Shawn and I frequently joke about that part of God's commandment to me for our marriage, and our marriage vows.  "Woman!  Obey me! Get in the kitchen," he will pretend to shout, laughing.  Then I ask him how well that's worked for him the past 16 years of our marriage.  Uh-huh.

I imagine God does much of the same.  He shakes His head (Does God roll His eyes?  I think He does.), "CHILD!  Obey Me!  If you would just LISTEN and OBEY!"

We are called to obedience in order to fully trust God.  Obedience does not mean I will necessarily receive what I'm praying for.  It does mean faithfulness to my Father, though.  Obedience means admitting my own weaknesses and knowing I cannot do 'this' on my own.  It means giving complete control and trust to God, and admitting there are things far beyond my own control.

Yeahhhhhh.  Obedience is not one of my strong suits.  It's something I'm working on, but I'll be honest--I've bucked that system for a very long time, so it's a definite work in progress.  I'm giving up too much of my own control, too much trust, too much of my own free will.  Obedience often makes me feel as though I'm stuck under someone's thumb, or laid out like a doormat.  I feel as though I should curtsy, eyes cast downward, and say, "Yessuh!"

 Here's the thing, though.  Recently I recognized the desperate need for obedience.  I've taken a break from social media.  I'm a daily, several-times-a-dayer-poster.  I dropped Facebook over 6 years ago, but I picked up Instagram about 3 years ago.  I enjoy Instagram a lot more than Facebook, but I'm the first to admit it is still a hindrance, while not as much of one, as Facebook was.  It's a distraction, and not always a healthy one.  I've become very attached to many of the people on Instagram; I enjoy them, I enjoy the friendships and connections, I enjoy being able to pray over them, share our interests, laugh with them, cry with them, celebrate with them.  I love it when I see something that makes me think of Connie, Michele, Nancy, Kristy, Sandy, Andy, Sally--all 200 of them! I've worried about some of my social media friends while I've been off the past two weeks, and I do miss them desperately, but this time away has also given me the opportunity to be more intentional through email, texts and phone calls.  I've been more present with my children and Shawn.   I've been more passionate and present with my prayer time. I also know there are many of my social media friends who will understand my reason when I return.

Okay, I'm digressing.  Back to obedience--it's not about me.  Wait, what was that?  Yep.  It's. Not.  About. Me.  This is so much bigger than me.  It's about God and my relationship with Him. It's about being disciplined in my faith.  It's about what He has called me to do for Him and His people, and being faithful to that calling.  It's about... OBEDIENCE. Social media is a huge distraction for me--a distraction from what's most important--God, and His purpose.

As I've mentioned in early posts, our family has been in fervent prayer for a local little girl and her family.  We've been fasting and praying, on our knees in absolute desperation.  Being off social media has been part of that for me. There is a precious little girl whose name is Mirranda Grace, and she needs my prayers more than I need social media.  And I need God more than I need social media.

This is me being obedient, and not choking on the word.