Wednesday, February 26, 2020

Day 1: Here's to Obedience



Fun fact: I don't know what I'm doing.

I say this slightly joking but also very serious because when the Lord told me this was what He wanted me to do during Lent, my only response was, uhhhh what? Lol

So here's the story: First of all, I didn't realize Lent was starting today until about a week ago. I was at church last Wednesday, and it was announced that next Wednesday (this Wednesday, today) was our Ash Wednesday service. So then my thoughts started to scramble. Wait, what!? Lent is happening already? I need to know what I'm supposed to be giving up!

In the chaos of my thoughts surrounding the idea of trying to figure out what to give up during Lent, I felt the Lord tell me that I wasn't supposed to give up something, but He wanted me to add something to my routine. And that something He wanted me to add was a piece of writing. Every single day. During the forty days of Lent.

Me: Ehhh, nah. Let me pray about that over the next week before Lent starts to see if this is really the Lord or to see if it's just me.

Did I pray about it? No. Did I remember over the next week that Lent was coming? No.

Not until a friend mentioned it a few days after that.
Her: Elisha, what are you giving up for Lent?
Me: Uhhhhh. Crap, I feel like the Lord wants me to do something but I haven't prayed about it yet, so I don't know! Nothing. I don't think I'm giving up anything, but I'm probably going to be adding something.... which, I'll tell you about later after I pray about it. Bye.

Did I pray about it that time? Still no LOL but this time, I felt the restlessness that comes when I am wrestling with God about something He wants me to do, which I don't want to do. And that feeling of wanting to run away every time I thought about writing every day for Lent is what leads me to believe that this is not just some crazy idea that popped in my head for no reason. This is not just a random thing that I came up with on my own. This is something that God is pulling on my heart to get me to do, for reasons only He knows.

I think I would be just fine without writing something every day for the next 40 days. I think you would be, too. But what I think does not compare to what God knows.

Do I understand why I'm doing this? No. Do I know exactly what I'm about to be doing? No. Do I need to? No. Because guess what, even though I don't know, God does. Even though I have no earthly idea why anything I have to say should be written down and recorded for the next 40 days, God does.

Something I have been learning so far in 2020 is that God's instruction is good. When He tells us to do something, we most likely will not know why He is telling us to do it. But what I do know is that He cannot instruct us to do something that is not good. Every instruction that comes from His mouth is rooted in His goodness because that is who He is, and He cannot speak anything that is the opposite of Himself. And the cool thing about it is that He is kind enough to let us see this goodness play out when we walk in obedience and experience the fruit that comes as a result of doing what God told us to do.

So, no idea how this journey will go or where it will lead to, but I do hope that as I write over the next 40 days and that as you read over the next 40 days that we would both have eyes, ears, and hearts wide open to soak in as much of the Lord as we possibly can.

Here's to obedience when I have no idea what the heck I'm even doing. Thanks for coming along with me on this journey. May the Lord reveal Himself to you in new ways as a result.

You are so deeply loved.

In Christ,
Elisha