Follow Me

What happens after the glamour of obeying the call fades? What happens when "follow Me" leads down a dark alley or a weed-strewn path? Perhaps you can relate to me when I admit that I tend to forget that if I am following then He is preceding me. He walks in front He gets there first! Once I "take [my] everyday, ordinary life...and place it before God as an offering," the next step is to "[embrace] what God does for [me]" (Romans 12:1-2, MS). He goes before me, stays with me, and monitors my future path--dark, dreary, or absolutely euphoric as it may be. An older friend of mine once put it this way: It's as if He surrounds us with a circle of His love. [You both precede and follow me. Psalm 139, GNB.]This she said from her devoted life in the throes of widowhood, leukemia, and a dying daughter. Thankfully, God works from the inside out, because many times the view from the outside of me is entirely stinky. If I could just recognize what He wants from me and do it, rather than taking on the "Make me!" attitude of the culture around me! If only I would allow Him to grow me into the person He sees in my future, rather than dragging my feet like a petulant child at the door of a toystore whose parents have already purchased her birthday gifts! The better way to get at God is to grasp Who God is and what He does, yet I keep on trying to get at God from who I am and what I can do for Him (Romans 12:3). I am just not a good follower. I keep getting out in front and saying, "Come on, God." He's waiting to hear me say, "After You..."