Welcome to One Minute Scripter Study, a Come Follow Me podcast.

We are your host, Kristen Walker Smith and Kelly Black.

Hey friend, it's Kristen. Grab your scriptures and let's dive into Deuteronomy 6 verse 24.

Now, when I was 15, I went to a steak dance and I immediately fell in love with a boy I saw. He was adorable.

And I just knew that my life would be perfect if I could get him to fall in love with me.

And so I spent the following months on a crusade to get this boy to notice and befriend and

hopefully fall in love with me. Well, my plans seemed to come together when my crush asked during a slow dance,

Hey, Kristen, would you go on a date with me?

And I immediately said, yes, when and where?

And then came his crushing reply.

The date was to a concert that would happen before my 16th birthday.

At the time, 16 was the church's established age when dating could begin, and I knew my mom wouldn't let me go.

I reluctantly told my crush I couldn't go, and my heart was broken.

I resented so much that 16-year-old rule with all of my teenage heart. It wasn't until years later

that I began to appreciate that God's commandments aren't restrictions. They're his way of keeping us

from getting hurt. Moses told the Israelites, the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes for

our good always. I'm sure I would have been fine if I'd gone on a date

at 15 years old, but I can also see how learning to be obedient has created a wall of safety around me

and drawn me to God regularly. Even though commandments sometimes felt like the worst restrictions,

I now see they were some of my

biggest blessings. So the takeaway of the day in five words or less is, commandments are blessings

from God. Thanks so much for being here today and for coming closer to Christ with me one minute

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