This blog is the introduction to Angela’s latest book: The O Word: Why obedience isn’t a bad word. The book is now available to purchase at Amazon.

I was ready to bolt, pack up everything, and go. The betrayal was deep, and I was ready to lash out at someone, ready to move onto another life that didn’t include so much hurt and pain.

As the tears streamed down my face, I asked God why He had allowed this to happen to me. I had prayed non-stop about this situation, and I had asked God to intervene on my behalf more times than I could count. I had been obedient to God and had done everything He had asked and look at what had happened.

I had made up my mind. I was done! And then God finally spoke to my spirit. One word that didn’t make sense to my broken heart and soul.

“Stay.”

I was wordless for a moment and then I answered, “No Lord. How can you ask this of me? You know what has been done.”

“Stay.”

“But this isn’t fair! I can’t live like this with the doubts and the fears. I don’t want to live like this!”

“Stay.”

“But Lord…what will people think if they find out? I’ll look weak and desperate!”

“Ask the questions you think you need the answer to and get what you think you need. But stay.”

At that moment, I had two choices. I could obey God and stay in His blessings and the plan He had, or I could go my own way, more than likely on my own without God’s full support.

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Obedience. It’s a tough word for us. It’s a word that we hear and follow more often than we think we do. Our flesh rejects the idea of someone else controlling our thoughts and actions. As toddlers, we push the boundaries of our self-centered world to see what mommy and daddy will and won’t allow. Often the first word spoken by toddlers is no. Please pick up your toys. NO! Please eat your food. NO! Time for bed. NO! Eventually, children come to see where the boundaries are and they try to be obedient to the rules set in place at home, at school, and in society.

When we hit our teenage years, we find more independence and a longing to find ourselves. Boundaries are pushed and some lines are crossed that we wouldn’t normally push. Some decisions that we make during this time have life-long consequences because we choose disobedience. We long for the days we are adults who can do whatever we want and no rules to follow.

But we quickly find out that adulthood too has rules. We must follow the laws of the land. We must follow seatbelt laws and speed limits. Work has rules; we must be there at a specific time, or we face the consequences. Bills must be paid, taxes are due, and a plethora of rules that we didn’t see as children and teenagers. We can’t just walk into a store and take whatever we want without paying for it. We even set our own rules and standards for our lives, expectations that we strive to meet. Obedience is all around us.

Even though obedience is all around us, we often forget the one person to whom obedience is imperative—God.

From the beginning of time, God gave humanity the option to follow Him or not to follow Him. He gave us free will to choose the path our lives would take. A life obedient to God or a life obedient to the things of this world, in essence, obedience to Satan. As much as people don’t like to hear this, there are ONLY two choices: a choice to follow God or a choice to follow Satan. Obedience to God or obedience to Satan. When I see it stated like that, I think the choice is easy. Unfortunately, our fallen world doesn’t see things in black and white like God does. Our world thinks there are shades of gray in between black and white that are acceptable.