Women in leadership are stubborn and like to beat their own drum, lead the pack, and forge up stream. I have certainly made my fair share of bad choices and mistakes in life due to my pure stubbornness and going my own way. (Just ask my husband and kids.) In studying the subject of obedience I looked at Jesus’ obedience to His Father (perfect and NEVER questioned) and to the authorities he was subject to. Jesus was constantly pushing the limits and breaking the rules of nature and man – teaching in the temple at 12, healing the blind man on the Sabbath, feeding thousands with 2 loaves and 5 fishes, walking on the water, talking to the Samaritan woman at the well and many more. He broke the rules to bring freedom, break the curse of death and destruction, and bring restitution and life.
Obedience has a purpose. There is always a result for our obedience or lack of it. God wants us to obey now with no apparent end result or understanding in site – to trust. He wants us to obey the process – the walk and journey with Him and not place our eyes on the result – to believe. He gives us the choice to obey or wimp out. When facing hurdles, hardships, and challenges in life their will always be a breakthrough if we choose to obey. The joy, glory and victory is in the process of obeying not the end game, result, or final goal reached and it will never make sense so get use to people calling you weird and crazy!
God wants us grow in a never ending obedience, a habitual trust, and walking in the rhythm of a vibrant relationship with Him. Many times the hurdles and restraints that happen seem to be restrictive, disruptive, and impossible in our natural mind, but if we obey and trust God, He brings peace, contentment and a way out that is unknown, unnatural and unrecognizable by our natural means or abilities.
Temple Grandin is an autistic savant and was the subject of a wonderful film in 2010. Temple has the ability to see things things on a higher level and is credited with leading the way to a more humanitarian treatment of livestock winning the 2004 Proggy Award as a “Visionary” by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. She was diagnosed with brain damage and autism at the age of 2 which most people would have said would have limited her ability to contribute to society and flourish. However that diagnoses meant nothing to her mother, family and Temple. They knew God never makes mistakes and that we are valuable and influential in God’s Kingdom.
Temple, often was thrown into convulsions that she has no control over, which limited her ability to function. She spent her summers working on a family cattle ranch as a kid and would help brand the cattle by corralling them into a restraint system. This system held the cattle virtually unmovable so that they could be branded. She began to notice that the cattle would be in a terrific frenzy in the pens waiting to be branded, but as soon as they were put into this restraint system they became peaceful. Knowing that her body would also do the same thing because of her disability, one day she tried it on herself, and it worked. The restraint brought her peace and calmness. She could think and gain control over her emotions and body by sitting in the restraint for long periods of time. It freed her! Her family thought she had really gone crazy until they saw how it worked and now the “squeeze machine” or “hug box” is used in many care facilities for autism today.
I want to be in God’s “hug box” and at rest and in peace. ;I want to have Him restrain me from my stubbornness, compel me to obey and not let me go off on my own and miss the joy peace, and contentment that only He can bring to impossible situations. I want to find victory, glory and peace as He holds me tight and squeezes me with His love and assurance. My goal is the journey of being in constant obedience no matter what happens and to be in a pen with crazy Christians who think and are branded the same – O for obedient.
Mark 6:45 KJB And straightway he constrained (compelled, commanded, told) his disciples to get in the ship and go…
