Where He Leads I Will Follow: Intro

 

 God's timing is... eerily perfect. I got home from my radiation therapy setup appointment, and this study was in my mailbox. At no point in my past did I think that God would lead me into a season of brain radiation, but here I am. So, here comes the test of if I will truly follow God into whatever season He leads me into...

 Obedience to God is not something we do to earn our salvation or atone for our sins. It is not a burden placed upon us, but rather the product of a grateful heart overflowing with joy and love of its Savior. The commands of God are not harsh or heavy. They were given for our benefit and blessing. In this next study, Where He Leads I Will Follow, we will look at key figures in the Bible, their decisions about whether or not to obey in pivotal moments in their lives, and the outcomes of those decisions. Looking at the list in the Table of Contents, if I didn't already know the stories of these brothers and sisters of mine in the past, this would almost play out like a reality show where each person is placed into a crazy situation and the audience watches to see - will they obey or not? Spoiler alert, not all of them do! 

 The first half of the study will be based in Genesis, a book which tells the story of the first ~2,300 years of human history, so there's lots of opportunities there! After that, we'll spend a few days in Exodus and Deuteronomy returning to the story of the Israelites leaving Egypt and heading to the Promised Land and then a few days looking at what they did once they got there. We'll wrap the study up looking at the story of Jesus, God's Son, who is the ultimate example of obedience, and key people around Him.

 If you're interested in following along, I will warn you that this post is being published after the official study has already wrapped up, but that does mean there will be a wealth of information in the Love God Greatly Facebook Group if you'd like to see what other people besides myself had to say about each character represented. You could also pick up a copy of the book on Love God Greatly's site or on Amazon. Because of my extended posting schedule due to radiation therapy, I will only be posting twice a week about this study, so it will take about four months for me to get through it, unless I speed up my posts because I'm doing SO MUCH BETTER. Only God knows what is in store for that!

Here's the Thing: We don't obey because we have to but because we want to. True obedience flows from a heart filled with love and gratitude towards God. I look forward to learning from Him through the stories of His people. Will you join me?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

When Hate Begets Hate

Image
 Well, this is a post I never thought I'd be writing! I'm going to start with the backstory, which I didn't get until we were pretty far into this but which I think will help it be clearer for you to understand.  Evidently my nephew who lives in Tennessee has been up to no good. For quite some time he's been driving around baiting people of other races (he's white) with terrible racial slurs and trying to get them to fight him, presumably so he'll feel justified in shooting them. Yeah, that's pretty awful! He's been posting his shenanigans on social media, and while Facebook took his videos down, X has left them up for everyone to see.  As you can imagine, this has caused quite the backlash. People who are offended by his behavior and those that support it, have grouped together and continued the hurt and violence. The group in opposition to him decided that it would benefit them to post his family's names, phone numbers, and addresses on the interne...
Read more

Preparing for Radiation: Five Wishes

Image
  Over the next few weeks, I'll be sharing regular posts about how I'm preparing for radiation. I'm hoping these can help someone else, as I struggled to find a conversational source like this that dealt with the subject. For more information on my brain tumor, check out these posts .    Whether because of an accident, serious illness, or natural aging, we will all face the end of our lives. If you're breathing, this pertains to you. Most of us don't want to think about dying though, I know I didn't, and so we put off conversations and avoid thinking about our preferences when it comes to end of life care. Sadly, that can result in our loved ones being put in a difficult position of not knowing what we would want and having to make choices on our behalf, choices that can be difficult or even traumatizing, and may not be what we would prefer at all. How can we avoid that burden being put on those closest to us? By thinking ahead a little and recording our prefere...
Read more

Preparing for Radiation: Cutting my Hair

Image
  Over the next few weeks, I'll be sharing regular posts about how I'm preparing for radiation. I'm hoping these can help someone else, as I struggled to find a conversational source like this that dealt with the subject. For more information on my brain tumor, check out these posts .  There's lots to do before I start radiation in 35 days, and I have to prioritize. When looking at my list, one of the hardest things was cutting my hair. Three years ago, I had three brain surgeries which resulted in a shaved head at the end. That was a tough decision at first, but when I found that I would have several strange, shaved patches, and I had spent two weeks in the neuro ICU not being able to wash or care for my hair properly, it got a little easier. After surgery, I very much wanted to grow my hair back out. There's something about my body and brain that tell me I need to put my hair in a ponytail. If I can't, I just don't feel right. One year later (exactly one y...
Read more