Have you ever found yourself in a place where you know God is asking something of you, but you really don’t know why He is asking it, and the ask is big? Those are some pretty intimidating moments in our faith aren’t they? I have come to the realization that those very moments usually turn out to be the most remarkable growth points in our walk with God! I have given those particular moments a name. I call them moments of “blind obedience.” Blind obedience moments are usually awkward or uncomfortable moments where God is requiring something from you that doesn’t really make sense at the time. I have actually come to love those times in my life where God requiring my immediate response to a situation at hand. To be honest, these type of moments usually happen at the most inconvenient times for me. Like when I’m already running late, or I am having a difficult day. They never usually happen when I’ve got a lot of extra cash to give, or extra emotional energy to pour into others, usually it’s quite the opposite. It’s almost like when I feel that I need something, God is asking me to pour out a little more of myself for someone else. Have you ever been there? Feeling a little depleted and in that same moment, feeling the prompting of the Holy Spirit to obey a request? After all of these years, I have realized that I should get excited when this is happening. It’s really just a sign that God is up to great things in my life and that He trusts me to be His vessel. How amazing is that?
I’ve had a few blind obedience moments in my life that really stick out to me and I want to share one of them with you! When I was 8 months preggo with our firstborn, Phoebe, I was uncomfortable, couldn’t fit into anything, and my back was constantly achy. I was walking around Kmart with my mom, searching for a certain product that every experienced mother told me I had to own if I ever wanted my child to become anything in this world! Have you ever succumbed to that long list of cool things that will make you a better mommy? So “they” say… whoever “they” are!!! Anyway, while shopping, I kept passing this young mom of 4 very energetic kids. I noticed that she looked exhausted and had plastic shoes on that were badly worn that her big toe was popping out of a hole on each shoe. I however had just gone and purchased a brand new pair of Doc Martin sandals that were the most comfortable shoe I had ever worn! Girls, if you’re not from the 90’s this might not mean anything to you but back then, Doc’s were the coolest shoes. They were also not cheap. We were young youth pastors and it wasn’t like I was going to be able to give this pair of brand new beautiful shoes to this mom and then turn around and just purchase another pair. This was going to take great sacrifice. They were seriously the last thing in my closet that I could fit that made me feel cute! But, I heard the small whisper of God asking me to give this mom with worn shoes my brand new expensive sandals. Have you ever sensed God speaking something but you keep trying to distract Him? Yep, that was me! First off, how weird would it be to just give a girl that I didn’t know a pair of shoes right off of my feet? Secondly, what would I wear home? This conversation went on in my head for a while while we continued to shop. Finally, a mustered up the courage to walk over and ask the lady what shoe size she was. She told me. It was exactly my size. I knew what I needed to do, but still I argued under my breath with God. God, can’t I just go to the shoe isle and let her pick out a pair that she likes, you know, brand new shoes? Wouldn’t that be a better idea? Do I really have to take mine off and give them to her while they’re still warm from me wearing them? This was a moment that I was gonna need blind faith and blind obedience. I didn’t understand. It didn’t really seem like a great idea. I’d rather not part with my shoes and what if she didn’t want to share foot germs with a stranger? But I knew that for some reason this is what God was asking of me so I did it. Right there in Kmart, I took off my shoes and gave them over to her. I simply said, “I want to give you my shoes because Jesus loves you and He wants you to know it.” Do you know what I got back from her? Nothing! Not a smile, not a thank you, nothing! Looking back, it was probably because she was both scared and shocked. In that very moment, I literally became the famous stereotype… I was BAREFOOT AND PREGNANT…IN KMART!!!!
It’s a pretty funny story, and my kids love me to tell it to them, but truth of the matter is that at the end of the day, I obeyed God. To this day, I really don’t know why He required that of me.
But I obeyed and because I did, I believe that God has trusted me with a lot more moments to be used by Him. God isn’t looking for only eloquent words that can wow a crowd in a home run message, or beautiful notes hit while singing a song into a microphone. Those moments are beautiful but I believe the thing He longs to see the most in us, the thing that blesses His heart like nothing else, is our uncomfortable sacred “YES”. He loves it when we are willing to live our lives outside of what is normal. He is pleased when we obey without really knowing the why behind His ask.
It’s so good to stop every once in a while in our journeys and ask ourselves the honest question, “Have I been a good steward of God’s big asks in my life recently?” For me, the reason that I was able to obey God in the Kmart moment, was that I said yes to Him before the opportunity arose. Before I ever gave away a pair of shoes, or slipped in and paid for a family’s grocery bill before they could use their own card, or given a compliment to someone I didn’t know, before those moments, I decided in my heart that whatever God would ask of me, my answer would be yes.
We serve a big, generous God. He wants us to live a life where signs and wonders are the norm. I believe that with all of my heart. But I also believe that maybe the signs and wonders we are seeking, come in what seem to be insignificant little meaningless moments where God is requiring something from our lives that we don’t even see purpose in. I don’t know what happened to that beautiful overwhelmed mommy in Kmart, but I do know that I planted a seed. Or maybe I watered a seed that had already been planted by someone else.
1 Corinthians 3:6 says, “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow.”
I believe with all of my heart that the day I walked out of that store barefoot and pregnant, was a day that God made a seed grow in that mom of four’s heart! I can’t wait to hear the other side of that story in heaven one day. I know that there will be one because I was a part of her seed being grown by God!
I encourage you, obey big! Say yes to the crazy God moments before they even arrive, and watch how God begins to use you! This life of Christian living is meant to be wild! We don’t serve God with a goal to be cute and safe, at least I don’t want to! I want to get my hands dirty, and in my case, my feet too! This life of blind obedience is packed with crazy unplanned moments that will surprise us at every turn! Don’t you want that? Don’t you long to see God revealed in His glory through the pages of your life? Why not choose live to the very fullest?
Rom 15:1-2 MSG
“Those of us who are strong and able in the faith need to step in and lend a hand to those who falter, and not just do what is most convenient for us. Strength is for service, not status. Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, “How can I help?””
So I have a pre-devoted challenge for you. Between now and opening night of Devoted 2018, let’s go on a mission to find someone that we can randomly bless. Maybe even a stranger. I double dare you to put yourself out there, do something that might seem crazy, it might even make you feel uncomfortable or awkward but do it anyway! Let’s be those girls who keep planting, watering and speaking life over seeds and expect God to bring a great harvest!
Devoted Devotional By Rachel Campbell