Faithfully obedient...

Going from a job working at a church with the College Ministry- and feeling challenged almost daily by different thoughts or discussions- it has been a change, being in my own little world absorbed mainly by own thinking. I have discovered over the past few weeks, that I really miss thinking in a way that challenges me. That may seem weird- but I really do miss challenging discussions or questions that make you think before you can just shoot out an automated response. Upon realization that this is something I have been missing in my life, I have decided to try to make sure I am challenging myself to think this way.

Along with being challenged almost everyday, another aspect I miss about working at a church, is having my main focus being on the Lord- not just in my personal life, but in everything that I am doing. I realize that this should be the truth no matter what we are doing in life- but it made it so much easier to be focused on the Lord having ministry as my vocation. In my new place in life, I am not as surrounded by it; therefore, I have a greater need to push myself to keep the Lord on my mind fully. 

Combining those two things together- being more intentional with my focus and challenging my brain to think- it has been a good exercise to really ask myself tough questions as I am reading scripture. It so easy to just read the scripture, because I feel I should, and then shut the Bible, go about my day and not even remember or be challenged by what I've read. That is what I am trying to get away from.

Let me skip to what I've been thinking about today. Here's the passage I read that jumped out at me:

"So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today- to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul- then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine, and oil. I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied." Deut. 11:13-15

A lot of times, I wonder if we make life too difficult. It seems like God is constantly telling us- simply love me- and live according to that love. When it's put that way, it seems so simple. Doesn't it? And yet we humans (aka sinners) complicate things so much with our allovertheplaceness [good word right?]. In this passage, the promise proclaimed is that "if you faithfully obey the commands...then I will send rain"- basically if you are faithful, then I will bless you. The question that plagued me, and that I don't yet have an answer to is- when we feel like life isn't going the way we feel it should, is it because we aren't being faithful?