By Keia Blair

Since the beginning of this whole journey, I have learned more of what it looks like to follow the voice of the Lord, even though it may not gain people’s approval, not everyone will support you and it might not be the easiest or most fun.

But being obedient to the Lord is one of the sweetest things because he will always work through your obedience.

When I heard the voice of the Lord tell me to go on a mission trip around the world for nine months, I nearly fell over. Being obedient to the Lord when he called me was one of the hardest things I have ever done but definitely one of the sweetest. Through my obedience, the Lord blessed me in so many ways and made coming on this trip possible.

While following the voice of the Lord meant a lot of sacrifice, the blessings outweigh everything else. It wasn’t too long before I left for the race that I sat down and told the Lord that I was going to go wherever he led me and I was going to do whatever he commanded me to do.

And that was the start of the Lord commanding me to do some crazy things, some things that probably would have never happened if I didn’t understand the fruitfulness of obedience.

This trip has been full of obedience to the Lord in listening to his soft, sweet voice direct and guide me, even though most of the time, that means doing things that I don’t necessarily want to do. Sometimes, following the voice of the Lord is hard.

I want to share a little story with you about a time when I wasn’t obedient to the Lord and how the enemy attacked me through that.

Every Thursday, my team and I go to a local clinic to clean. While we were there recently, a woman was brought on a bike to the clinic who was severely ill. She was so ill that she couldn’t even walk.

We proceeded to finish cleaning, we prayed over the clinic and then we jumped in the van and headed home. It wasn’t until we were already 10 minutes away that I felt the Lord telling me to go back and pray over this woman. I immediately questioned whether or not I should ask our driver to turn around so I could go back and pray over this woman.

Even though I knew that he wouldn’t mind, I hesitated. I was in a van full of people, so I decided not to ask because we continued to get further and further away.

When we got home, I went and sat on my bed and just began to pray over this lady. I felt so guilty because I wasn’t obedient to the Lord in this moment. I began to question that if I would have been obedient, if the lady would have been healed, but the Lord spoke to me and reminded me that that is the enemy attacking through my disobedience.

And even though I wasn’t at the clinic praying over this lady, the Lord was still going to work, and his healing hands were still going to be on this lady.

I learned a few things that day. That being obedient to the Lord isn’t always easy. It won’t always please those around you. That being fully obedient to the Lord is hard sometimes and pushes us way outside of our comfort zone. That in times of disobedience, we have a God who meets us where we are at, we have a God who shows us grace, a God who teaches us something through every situation.

That day, I learned what it felt like to not be obedient, and that is something that I never want to feel again. I was reminded of what it feels like to be obedient, and I learned that I will always be obedient to the Lord in whatever situation I’m in simply because through my obedience, the Lord is given space to move, space to work and space to show his goodness, his faithfulness and his power.

It’s through our obedience that we see the Lord’s power. It’s through our obedience that the Lord does miracles. Be obedient. Give the Lord space to work through you. You won’t regret it.

Keia Blair is a Seymour native who attends Cincinnati Christian University. During her nine-month mission trip around the world, she is submitting a series of blogs that will appear in The Tribune. Send comments to [email protected].