Obedience

I love the sweet smell of spring.  After a long harsh mid-western winter, the first signs of spring are such a welcoming change.  The grass begins to turn green.  The flowers begin to grow and bloom.  The warm breezes come in from the fields carrying with it the smell of freshly turned rich soil as the farmers begin to prepare for another planting season.  After a time where the world seems to lie dormant, new life begins.

Just this week I was reminded of a verse we had just talked about in Sunday School a few weeks ago.   

¹⁴ But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. ¹⁵ For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. ¹⁶ To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task? ¹⁷

Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God.   (2 Cor. 2:14-17 NIV)

As I began to pour over these scriptures, they began to penetrate deep truth into my soul.  This is why I write.  This is why my soul yearns to glorify Him with my humble words.  So much of the words I write and the poetry I pen is for me.  A secret love letter to my King.  Fear of rejection, fear of glorifying myself, fear of failure, fear of judgment has always kept me from truly bearing my writing, my heart, my soul to another.  But God is not content with allowing me to hide in Him.  He laid on my heart at a conference I attended a few months ago that I need to write.  And I need to do it for Him to bring others to Him.  So a few days ago, when Ann Voskamp offered a scholarship to the She Speaks conference in July, I wish I could say I jumped right on it in obedience.  But I didn't.  It wasn't until last night when I began to read these precious Words of God that I have followed in obedience to His call.  

Paul continues on in Chapter 3 beginning in verse 2.

You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. ³ You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. 

I pray always that everything I write and share with you my dear friends is written not with ink, not with keys on a keyboard, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on screen, but on your heart.  To draw your heart closer to Him.  To strengthen your relationship with Him.  To spur you to find your call.  He has one for each and everyone of you.  And it may be uncomfortable, and it may be difficult, and it may even scare you to pieces.  But He.....He will lovingly guide you, and remind you, and encourage you until you slip your hand into His and begin the journey of your destiny.  For such a time is this.

The She Speaks conference is about women, connecting the hearts of women to our Father God.  I pray that if that is your desire too, that you will head on over to Ann Voskamp's blog and in quiet obedience, share your heart.