Okay, so, here is my little spiel on obedience.

One: My school fees- which were $6,400 all together- have officially been paid for. The last $1,500 or so were all paid by the same person, who has asked me not to reveal his/her identity.God told them to pay for the rest of my outreach... Guess why. Because this person was convicted by my faith. :o What. Isn't that crazy?! Apparently, God has given me the gift of faith. Which rocks(: But, on obedience- if this person wasn't obedient, I wouldn't have my school paid for! So praise the Lord for His goodness... Sometimes obedience is hard, but it's so important. 




Two: (Bear with me on this one; it's a lot less straightforward) You guys might know about Ryan McPherson, who was one of my pretty close friends. He overdosed in 2010 and passed away. It was, and it still is, really hard for me. I could go on and on about him, but, for the purposes of this story, all you really have to know is that Ryan was super important to me, and I loved him a lot. I totally would have married him. Anyway, after he passed, I went back to visit his family in Dallas, and his parents let me keep one of his tye-dye shirts, which is one of my most prized possessions. I wouldn't consider myself to be materialistic, but his shirt was definitely something that I couldn't see myself being okay with parting with. There's a boy who  lives here on base names Simeon- he's 10, and he is super awesome. One of the guys who did his school here in LA, Carl, was one of Simeon's best best friends. He overdosed a little while ago and passed away as well... Apparently, I look a lot like Carl, and the first time Simeon saw me, he cried. Anyway, see the similarities? So, to make a long story less long, God told me to give my Ryan shirt to Simeon. I cried. I was seriously so sad, but I knew in my heart I would do it because God asked me to. *Sigh* I gave it to Simeon one day, and I explained a little of the significance of it to him. I'm pretty sure he teared up a little. He hugged me super hard, which he doesn't ever do. He came back a few minutes later with the shirt he had been wearing in his hands. He gave it to me, and he said, "Same shirt, same story." It was Carl's. It touched my heart; I cried so much. When you're obedient, especially in the hardest things, God smiles. He loves obedience, and He rewards it. If I hadn't listened to God, as much as I didn't want to that much, I wouldn't have had that incredible experience, and I might not have been able to reach into Simeon's heart like I was able to. God's amazing. The biggest thing He taught me from that experience, aside from BE OBEDIENT, is that God is bigger than any material thing we would have. He champions all, and He is totally worth giving up everything, even things we hold close to us. 

So, listen to God. He is the best Father we could ever have! 

Love you guys. Blessings. 
Ash