One hour remaining...

I admit I have struggled...not with writing these devotions down, but with blogging them. A "blogger" I am not! I don't know the first thing about it. Actually, that's not true...I know only the first thing. Tonight, my oldest daughter who is very much in favor of my becoming a blogger, spent a couple hours running me through the process...setting up the blog...teaching me some lingo... and then, "Ok, so do you think you could get on here and type a blog?" "Sure," I said with no intention of typing a blog for a really long time. Off she went to her room.
My task before bed was to move some books to a new bookshelf my husband spent his New Year's afternoon putting together. In the process, I found myself drawn to the pages of The New Inductive Study Bible. I'd been meaning to look something up in it. Mission accomplished, I had to check to see how Oswald Chamber's My Utmost for His Highest rang in the new year. I was struck by his words "I am determined to be absolutely and entirely for Him and for Him alone." Later Chambers relates to his reader how when we are asked to be our "Utmost" for Him "we begin to debate." Guilty, I am for I have debated this blog. I have challenged myself to wait and write many and then slowly add them to the blog. "Soft launch" I would call it. That makes perfect sense.
Yet, here I am with "one hour remaining" of January 1, 2013 typing as fast as my mind and hands will allow to hurry and be obedient because more than anything else in this world I want "to be absolutely and entirely for Him and for Him alone" as Chambers so eloquently put it. I do not want to go to bed this night having soft launched. I want to have wholeheartedly been obedient to the One I love more than any other!
So here's the heart of it all: I love the Word of God...to read it, to study it, to let it teach me and train me, to let Him love me through it, to have Him reveal Himself to me through it...it is my absolute favorite to have Him "meet me in the lamplight." One day, I will tell you the story of how I came to meeting Him there. For today though, here are a few of the scriptures that brought me to the point of meeting you here...all from Psalm 119 as I questioned my LORD about whether or not a blog was his will...
²⁹ v. 29 Keep me from lying to myself;
    give me the privilege of knowing your instructions.
I know you are laughing...clearly He has had to intervene lest I lie to myself about all of this. He is ever faithful.
¹⁰³ v. 103 How sweet your words taste to me;
     they are sweeter than honey.
v. 105 Your word is a lamp to guide my feet
     and a light for my path.
¹³⁰ v. 130-131 The teaching of your word gives light,
     so even the simple can understand.
¹³¹     I pant with expectation,
      longing for your commands.
v. 147-148 I rise early, before the sun is up;
      I cry out for help and put my hope in your words.
¹⁴⁸     I stay awake through the night,
      thinking about your promise.
And one final v. 162, "I rejoice in your word like one who discovers a great treasure." I fully believe that our LORD wants us to take our own discipleship seriously. If you are looking for someone to journey with, then I invite you to "meet me here" and we will seek His treasures together. Special thanks to the long departed Oswald Chambers whose words still prove powerful today...certainly he challenged me to obedience when only one hour remained...with 19 minutes to spare...1st blog posting! Thanks Emily for helping me get set up and for encouraging me to make a go of it.
Thanks to you my first readers for your time and attention. I wonder how the LORD might have spoken to your heart to teach or challenged you...please feel free to leave your comments and please come again any time.