IT COMES WITH TEARS

(Post by: Lilly Hobbs)

Has God ever told you to do something that didn’t make any sense to you whatsoever? I’m talking crazy weird that you didn’t really want to share what He told you with anyone else because you feared they might think you’re wacked?

Yeah. I know that feeling all too well.

A recent personal experience comes to my mind when I think about being obedient to what I know God wanted me to do, even though it seemed crazy.

On our drive home from visiting Rocky in jail in September of 2019, (refer back to this blog post to learn about Rocky’s story: https://thefew.blog/2019/10/07/a-thousand-times-over/) I felt like God wanted me to get serious about praying over that whole situation. I’m talking praying about/giving things to the Lord that I didn’t even want to start thinking about, let alone pray for.

Getting serious about praying would mean that I would have to wrestle with what Rocky had done, and what the future had in store for him since he had made some really awful decisions. I think what the Lord was trying to teach me was how to forgive the hurt, and also love unconditionally.

So, as we were driving home and I was wrestling with God about the whole prayer thing, I specifically remember Him telling me to pray whenever I saw 111 or 1111.

That’s it.

The Lord obviously didn’t tell me that in an audible voice or anything, but as I was just sitting there listening, I knew that’s what He wanted me to do. Pray whenever you see 111 or 1111.

Y’all, I just have to admit, I literally thought that this “request” was the silliest/dumbest thing ever. I thought that I would only be praying 2/3 times a day at the most.

Boy was I so wrong.

111 or 1111 started popping up EVERYWHERE. All over school assignments, our social media pages, whenever I looked at my phone, I felt like I saw 111!

As I was looking up verses to use in this blog post the very first one that came up was Deuteronomy 11:1 (seriously??) which says, “Love the Lord your God and keep His requirements, His decrees, His laws and His commands always.”

Here’s what I want you to take away from this post, so grab your notebook or scrap piece of paper because I want you to write this simple phrase down…

Sometimes obedience comes with tears.

It wasn’t easy for me to get serious about praying for Rocky that much. I’m just being honest here. It continually brought back feelings of hurt and questioning within me about why the Church didn’t want to step up and do ministry.

Sometimes my obedience to God and doing what He wanted me to do, meant that I had to shed a few tears and push through in order to walk this “Jesus thing” out.

If you’re listening to God and trying to be obedient, it’ll come with tears, and that’s a great thing.

Is it going to be hard? Yes. Will it challenge you in ways you don’t want to be challenged? Yes. But you will grow and become more like Jesus every single time you choose Him even though it might be hard.

2 John 1:6 says, “And this is love: that we walk in obedience to His commands. As you have heard from the beginning, His command is that you walk in love.”

Now, you may be wondering, “Ok Lilly, what in the world was up with the whole 111 and 1111 thing?”

Let’s fast forward to January of this year, (2020) Rocky was being released from jail, so my dad and I went down to find him a place to stay and help him look for a job.

He was released on a Wednesday afternoon, so Thursday was our first full day with him. On Thursday morning we went to pick him up. When we walked into the little hotel room, Rocky mentioned that the house phone that was in the room had some numbers that wouldn’t work when he tried to dial.

So, naturally, we walked over to look at it to see if we could ask the front desk for a different one that he could use until we got a cell phone.

Guess what the first thing was that I noticed on that old, beat up house phone? It was the line on the left side of the phone that had the after hours/attendant dial number on it.

I’ll give you one chance to guess the number that was labeled in bold.

#111. (See the actual phone in the picture above.)

I almost lost it. For five whole months I had been praying and praying and being obedient whenever I saw that simple line of numbers that God had given me late one night on our long drive home.

I had no clue why God had asked me to do it, but seeing 111 on that house phone was total confirmation to me that I had clearly heard from God, and that I had followed through with what He had asked me to do.

Because you are Christ’s, you can hear straight from Him. You have to make the choice however, to be willing and obedient when you do hear from Him.

You may be the only one willing to shed some tears, but rest assured that our God works mightily through the few, not the many.

“Are you placed where others are sitting down idly, doing nothing? Rise to the work with all your powers; and when the sweat stands upon your brow, and you are tempted to loiter, cry, “No, I cannot stop, for I am Christ’s.” – Charles Spurgeon

SO WHAT IS YOUR RESPONSE?

= Has there been a time in your life where you were obedient to God even though it was hard?

= Do you sometimes fear looking like a fool in front of others for Jesus?

= What are you going to do differently?