Opportunities & Obedience

I have learned a lot about myself and my "methods". You see, if I don't want to do something, I have a tendency to become stubborn about it. I may choose to not do it at all, or I'll do minimally what I need to do. Not one of my better qualities ;). But, let me tell you, God has helped me to overcome my stubbornness seventy times seventy times, and still more so. He is relentless in His plan for making me a better follower of Christ. And for that, I am overflowing with joy! What joy it is to know that someone desires to help you become a better person! When you tell someone "I want to change. I want to throw away the dirt in my life and be clean," you are probably telling them because you want accountability and encouragement, right? Well, accountability is what I've got :)

I'm telling you all this because my stubbornness has been playing a part in very specific areas of my life right now. A theme that God has placed in my life the last month so or has been a strong one of obedience. Obedience when it's easy, and obedience when it's tough. And I promise you, He's given me a lot of both opportunities.
To me, obedience to God is an opportunity to grow in faith, to live out my life for Him, and to become just a better person overall. The struggle with obedience is that when the hard tests come, all I really want to do is sit there with my arms crossed and a pout on my face. But, I asked for it. Really, I did. But that's not a bad thing :)

Prayer is a powerful thing. If you ask God for something, make sure that you're really prepared for what you're asking for. I asked God for opportunities, and he gave me them but not always in the forms that I expected. I wasn't ready, I backed out, and I lost potentially wonderful opportunities to spread Christ's perfect love. So I prayed again, Lord give me another opportunity, and the strength to take it. Lo and behold, another opportunity came. This was one that initially made me want to be stubborn. But God calmed me down and pushed me forwards face first into something I didn't want to do. And I believe it glorified His name. Even in my deepest desire to be stubborn and not take what I asked for, God took control and made it beautiful. Made me beautiful.

Obeying is tough, especially when you're as hard-headed as I can be sometimes. But I cannot think of a time when it didn't turn out well.

So, I want to challenge you: Ask God to give you an opportunity to do something that you really don't want to do, and for the strength and wisdom to do it for His glory.