Monday, August 07, 2006

Seminary

Got word today that I was accepted into Seminary at Regent University! It's been a 2-3 month process, but it's good to have that done!

Thursday, August 03, 2006

Unseen Benefits of Obedience

A few weeks ago I decided that I wanted to do something about the debt I had accrued. I had been feeling suffocated for quite a while with a feeling like I'd never be able to reduce it. I think the frustration came from know what I needed to do (suck it up and get second job part time), yet a distict lack of desire to do so. I wanted to do it MY way and have God just make a check magically appear in my mailbox one day!

So how does this relate to obedience? Well, I believe that God had been trying to tell me that I needed to make the sacrifices necessary to relieve debt in my life to act as a good steward of the provision He has provided for me. Still, I resisted for months because I continued to make excuses (I already have a full plate, I'll be too tired and it will wear me out, an second part time job has to meet my desired per hour rate) of why I didn't want to do it.

Finally, after literally months of this, I decided to suck it up and take on more hours at the part time job I've been working to help out, since nothing else was coming my way. I see this as being obedient to God's call to be a good steward of His provision. God also sees this as something that will be for my own benefit, because most people I know get stressed about debt, not relaxed!

After making the decision and actually following through, I began to calculate how long it would take to pay off the debt with the extra money I would earn and it was still a long road. But this is where the hidden blessing of being obedient comes in.

Literally the day after I decided for certain to take more hours, I was offered a place to live for extremely low rent, which will free up previously set aside rent money to pay off that debt. This will cut the pay off time in half!

I full believe that if I had not been obedient to God's call to take responsibility for this debt through more hours working, He would not have opened this other door of provision.

Some would argue that this is mere coincidence, but I'd strongly beg to differ!

I think the lesson learned here is that when we make the choice to obey God in our lives, He is going to pour forth a blessing on us that we never would have thought possible.

So, what blessing are you/me missing out on today because we have made the choice not to be obedient?