WALKING IN OBEDIENCE

by Teresa Slack

Joshua 6:20 “So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpet, and it came to pass when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, they shouted with a great shout so that the wall fell flat, and the people went into the city and took it.”

We all know the story of the walls of Jericho. The Israelites marched around the impenetrable city seven times and on the seventh time the walls fell and they were able to go in and take the city. What we don’t often think about are the six times they marched around Jericho before anything happened.
As a kid I always imagined marching around a football field or something relatively small. This was a walled powerful city, for crying out loud. A little more than an afternoon stroll. They were also commanded to be silent. Wow. That’s tough. No Ipods. No complaining to the guy ahead of you about how hot it is or how the sentries standing on the wall laugh and cajole as you walk by or why God couldn’t have made the walls fall on the first go-round. Why seven times? We know God has the capabilities to bring those walls down the first time.
The whole point was obedience. God fulfills his part of the bargain after we fulfill ours. If the Israelites had stopped marching after the first time or the third or the sixth trip, they would not have received the blessing.
So why I have I not received the blessings I am promised with my writing? Is God trying to teach me something? Or am I walking in disobedience? I truly believe God put a calling on my life to write. He has given me stories to tell to uplift, entertain, and inspire His children. Guess what? I haven’t done it. Or at least not as much of it as God desires. Writing is hard work. It doesn’t come as easily as non-writers like to think. I have stories God wants me to write, but I don’t make time to write. Or I hit a roadblock in the story so I walk away from it. Remember, I said this stuff is hard. Or I get afraid that I’ll put so much work into a book and then no one will buy it, so I quit.
It isn’t like I’m not busy. I have a full time job. I am a Scentsy consultant, that often turns into another full time job. Plus, all the other stuff that crowds into a woman’s life, like kids, laundry, shopping, making ourselves pretty for our man…. Or not. Anyway, it’s pretty easy to walk away from my writing when it gets hard.
But God gave my stories to me for a reason. He chose me. Why? He could’ve given them to someone more prolific, hard working and motivated. But he didn’t. He has entrusted these stories to me. By not writing them, I am walking in disobedience.
Ouch.
In the last couple of months a few doors have flown open in my writing career. Some pretty exciting opportunities have been dropped at my feet. God has given me yet another chance to be obedient to Him. I don’t want to waste these opportunities.  
In an effort to put together a list of resolutions for 2013 without really making a real resolution, I made a list of things that keep me from writing. Here they are.
1.       Satisfaction of the flesh—sleep, TV, computer games, talking on the phone when I should be working.
2.      Fear of rejection.
3.      Doubt in my writing skills or my inability to complete a project.
4.      Poor time management
Am I the only one who struggles with walking in obedience? Do you feel like you are right where God wants to be? If so, great work on living a life pleasing to our King. Or are there things you need to work on this year to bring you closer to God? Not to mention receiving His blessings?
Here’s to a blessed and prosperous 2013. May we all write the stories the Lord has given us and walk in obedience with Him.