Overcoming Obstacles through Obedience

       Wow...how has it already been a month since I last posted anything?? It is just crazy how time flies by sometimes! It seems that even though not a whole lot has been happening (schedule-wise) in my life lately, I am still exhausted from everything has been going on spiritually in my life. God has just been at it, teaching, teaching, teaching, and while it is incredibly awesome, it is also at times incredibly exhausting...Dying to yourself to be able to come alive in Him is definitely never easy and anyone who ever tries to tell you otherwise has obviously never truly tried/surrendered anything to Him. I know that might sound harsh to some, but it is the truth, and I can say that because I was once one of those people myself. If it's not hard, then it's not surrender. (At least in my book.) "Well if it's so hard, then why bother?", some might say. To them I would say, "While it is hard, it is something that I work towards on a daily basis because while surrender is an incredibly hard and scary thing, the thought of what would happen to me/what I would miss out on is infinitely scarier." God is up to something big and I want to make sure that I don't miss out on it.
      I want to make sure that I am one of the Joshua's and Caleb's of the world, not one of the other 10 who caused the Israelites to doubt, disobey, and end up wandering the desert for 40 years. I want to believe in God's promises and know that there will be struggles because of those promises, but that they are something that God will overcome as I walk in obedience to Him. I want to see barriers as an opportunity for God to show up and do one of His amazing God-things. I need to remember that God's promise is attached to His provision, and that oftentimes His provision will not show up in the way that I expect it to. I am reminded of the scene from Prince Caspian when the Pevensies announce to Trumpkin that they are the help that Aslan has sent and Trumpkin doesn't believe them because they look like mere kids to him, and he was expecting great warriors. I am also reminded of a people who spent hundreds and even thousands of years waiting for a Messiah to come and save them, and yet when He came, most did not believe it was Him because He did not fit their preconceived ideas of what and who the Messiah was going to be and do. 
    Lord, I pray that we would not be so blinded by our preconceived notions and ideas of who You are and what You are wanting us to do that we miss out on all that You have planned for us. I pray that we would be like the sheep in John 10 who know the Good Shepherd's voice and that we would listen to and follow Your voice as You lead us in our lives. In Your Precious Holy Name, Amen. :-)