I will Obey with All My Heart.

Today was such a productive day for me; I finished laundry, sent off some photos, wrote personalized support letters, received my YWAM application, chatted with two lovely friends (Melanie & Sarah), took photographs of the beautiful Rachel & Cortney, saw a HUGE fire across the street from me (as well as bonded with neighbors & please be praying for those whose house was in the fire), but most importantly, today I spent some time with my Lord.

I wholeheartedly believe one's time spent with the Lord is never finished; you are constantly spending time with God during the day...whether it be in your conversations with others or in your daily routine of life (having fun, going to class, going to work, whatevs). I have learned the Lord uses those times as great opportunities to spend time with Him, but when it's just you & Him, how much more beautiful & intimate it can be. Today I thoroughly enjoyed what God whispered into my heart.

"This is love for God: to obey His commands." -1 John 5:3


". . .I will keep Your law & obey it with all my heart. Direct me in the path of Your commands, for there I find delight." -Psalm 119:34-35


To LOVE my God, is to OBEY His commands/decrees, but there is so much more to just simply obeying, it is obeying with ALL of my heart & to find DELIGHT in His decrees. According to Dictionary.com, the word "delight" is defined: a high degree of pleasure or enjoyment; joy; rapture. To me, it is to taste of His commands & find joy in them, to embrace & love them with everything I have to the point of wanting nothing else more than to obey them. In obeying (truly obeying), the feeling (y'know, the giddy feeling, the feeling everybody wants to feel) of love is felt by our Father. Now get this:

"This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God & carrying out His commands." -1 John 5:2


Not only does embracing God's commands & obeying them shine our love for our Father, but also shines our love for our fellow children of God. What are the two most important commandments Jesus declared?

"'Love the Lord your God with all your heart. . .& the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.'" -Matthew 22:37&39 


(professional diagram below)

Overall, what God taught me today was that in loving His decrees & delighting in obedience, I am, in turn, expressing my deep love for Him, as well as for my brothers & sisters (which is obeying the greatest commandments). It's like a never-ending cycle of love & obedience, haha! God is good isn't He?




Today was a blessed day, but I can't wait for tomorrow; watching the sunrise to welcome in the month of April (gonna be a rad month) & I am so excited to share tomorrow on this blog-thing-a-ma-jigger. Please continue to pray for provision for Costa Rica; I got a ton of support letters done today, so we'll see how God works through those. Also, I am beginning my YWAM application, the Outback to Safari DTS, & the prices are a little overwhelming, so please be praying that God will shut the door if this is not the path I am to head down & if it is, that He would provide. Still waiting to hear back about Ethiopia; I'll let the blog know, in turn letting you know! :)

If you desire to see some photos from the shoot with Rachel & Cortney, you can click on the link to the right of these posts under "Photography," simply click on the "I desire to view Abigail's photography" link. (: I'll leave you with a small preview:

"Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, 'This is the way; walk in it.'" -Isaiah 30:21