Radical Obedience

I have been north of Frankenmuth, fallen in love with all of the cute little towns of Traverse City, Sutton's Bay, Fish Town, Leland, and Glen Arbor.  I have been awe-struck at the magnificence of seeing Lake Michigan from the top of the dunes, (can boast that I climbed one of those dunes), and have sat through and enjoyed the sunset over Lake Michigan.   No more wondering what "up north" is like. I'm absolutely in love with my state............  And definitely smitten with the mitten!

God knew I needed a rest.  I truly believe that.  And getting that physical and emotional rest was all in His plan.  I was not enjoying the things on my schedule anymore.  I was not putting my heart into all of the "scheduled" things in my planner.  Life was becoming too "routine" and felt like one big checklist. That's not the way to live.

But that's not all that happened in July.  God placed 3 people in my life - One I have known for a few years, one I've known only a few months, and another that I just recently met.  Each of them during the month of July shared with me, unknowingly, their hearts.  With each of them, I got a glimpse of God's love as they indescribably and radically surrendered their lives to God and obediently followed Him - the kind of radical obedience that I am still sort of trying to wrap my brain around - still standing back with my jaw open.  And the common denominator in the 3 of them is that they radiate complete joy and peace.  I want that.

July was a also month of extreme "ups" and extreme "downs."   The "ups" were in the sense of feeling God's presence, hearing Him clearly, witnessing the radical obedience of people He placed in my life, and receiving unexpected blessings that were unmistakably from Him.   The "downs" were disappointments in people, the apparent lack of discernment on MY part of trusting in the character of people, only to find out I am wrong..... again.   Quite a few times during July I was very down, and very hard on myself, constantly repeating to myself in my head how lousy I am at discernment of character in people.  I felt "let down" by people I didn't expect to let me down.

But why am I surprised?  I believe the Lord was trying to show me that I need to rely on HIM more, and people less.  People will ALWAYS disappoint us.  God will not.   People will always break promises.  God always keeps His promises.  I need to run to Him first, and to others less.  (And so do they, because I am as human as those who have disappointed ME!)

I feel like I've been left hanging this month.  This blog post did not come to me easy.  I feel like July is not finished yet.  God has placed on my heart for August to just pray.  That may not sound like a very exciting bucket list item to most people, but it's been in the quietest of times with the Lord that I have received my biggest blessings and felt the closest to Him.  I have a feeling that what He showed me in July will become very clear in August.  And I'm looking forward to it........

Why is He showing me so often what radical obedience looks like?   It's scary, but exciting all at the same time............

I love being 50 ;)