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Determine which things please the Lord.

Ephesians 5:10

When your plans are interrupted, when your rest is stopped short, when your comfort is unattainable, how you react proves your faith. When the unexpected happens and the unwelcome comes, what you do reflects your heart and your commitment to love the Lord and to serve him no matter what he asks. Obedience is proven not on your good days or in the things you saw coming but in the dark nights and shocking situations. God’s Word is for those moments as well as the planned ones.

You don’t get a free pass to sin when life is just too hard. Sure, God offers forgiveness for all the God Girl does, but the beauty of faith is found in your sheer determination to believe no matter what’s going on around you and to do what’s right no matter how you feel. Determine what pleases God and do it. When you commit to that kind of trust and obedience, you get perseverance, character, peace, and hope. Each time you reject your dark and sinful nature and do the opposite of what your emotions are yelling at you to do, you get stronger, and doing the right thing the next time gets easier.

But obedience isn’t all about duty; it’s really about true love. It’s something you do for the love of your life. And just as an added bonus, it brings true freedom from those painful emotions and the challenges of life! God’s commandments are designed to make life better, not to make it more miserable. No matter how crazy or counterintuitive they might sound to the world, they really are for your benefit. When you trust him, you trust what he says—all of it. How much of God’s Word do you trust with your life? If the answer is all of it, then you are a true God Girl.