Obedience

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
Provertbs 3:5-6

I am so thankful that in the midst of whatever I am going through, when my emotions are telling me to do something different each and every day (or moment) that I have the Lord to be obedient to. If I relied on my feelings or emotions to get me somewhere I would be constantly making decisions and then regretting them ten minutes later. But when God has made clear the things that are to be done to be on His path, the only choice left is whether or not I will obey.

And I can choose not to.
And a lot of times I do.
And things will probably work out okay.
But they will never be as glorious as they could have been if I had just been obedient from the start.

There are always choices. We have been given free will. There are teachings that promise a more abundant life, but the choice is always mine if I will obey. And sometimes I don't. But, if I do, I can live in the assurance that my life is the best that it could possibly be. That if I am living in His will, that it is a physical impossibility for my life to be anything other than the best that it can possibly be. Even when hurt and disappointment come my way.

Knowing God leads to self-control. Self control leads to patient endurance, and patient endurance leads to godliness.
-2nd Peter 1:6

The more I know about God the more I desire to be obedient. And through my self-control and my patient endurance the closer I grow to the Lord. And then, just like with a human being, the closer I grow to someone the more I want to know about them. And the cycle just continues until the end of my life when I reach the goal that is Christ Jesus.

This does not mean I am perfect.
This does not mean I won't fail.
I do. Lots.

But I can rest. I can rest knowing that a path has been laid before me and the abundant life that He wants me to have is before me. The only choice left is: Do I walk along that road?

And I will try.
And when I don't want to, I will ask for the strength to do it anyway.