That's what friends are for!

Many years ago at the little country church I attended, altar calls were the norm.  Most every service the invitation was given, as well as the opening up of the altar for those who just needed to come and pray.

One Sunday morning, to my surprise, this woman whom I considered to be a pillar of the church, stood up, looked my way, nodded at me as if to say "Meet me there," and headed that way.  Thinking she must want me to pray with her over something, I arose and went to the front of the church with her, got to my knees beside of her, and then listened to her apologize to me over some hard feelings she had had over me.  Dumbfounded, I could only stare as she continued speaking in a tone of authority.  She apologized and said we were to go on because it wasn't even hardly worth speaking of.  Being young in the faith, I agreed, we prayed, hugged, and...we went on.

How simple it was!  She made no bones about being wrong for her negative thinking but...but she also was so assured in her faith and--I guess--in me as well that she knew this matter would be resolved without any fanfare.  She knew her Bible, knew her God, and knew this was the thing to do to maintain fellowship with Him and with me as well--even though I was unaware of her harsh feelings over an incident that I cannot even recall.  

What was the result of this action?  Well, as I mentioned, I was younger in the faith then than I am now so it showed me the way to live the Bible, to live the verses that were being taught, and to be a doer of the Word instead of just a hearer.  She taught me something that day that had to do with forgiveness, sure, but she also taught me that I could rely on the older women in the faith, not necessarily just in age because she and I were similar in our birth years. 

As children of God, we are commanded to look out for one another in many ways.  My pastor is beginning to teach the church those ways on Sunday mornings through the book of I Thessalonians should you desire to know more.  For those of you who don't live nearby, you can watch the videos of these teachings at https://www.facebook.com/clarkschapel.baptistchurch

In conclusion, this issue of forgiveness is tough--but only if we let it be.  Why not choose instead to deal with things that have caused discord and do it in a matter-of-fact method instead of holding grudges and losing out on fellowship and peace?  Yes, I do know some things are harder to let go of than others because this is an issue I have struggled with for decades now.  But, when I look back on this episode of my life, perhaps had I allowed myself to be mentored to more, studied the Word of God more thoroughly, and realized how important some people are to me--more so than the hurts I was holding onto--my life might have been more peaceably lived.  Instead of the weight of these burdens around my neck, on my back, and stifling my heart, perhaps I could have lived that joy-filled life of abundance that God has promised to me when I follow His commands.  

Let's pray!

Dear Lord, thank You for this memory of Tammy Williams and how she affected my spiritual walk when I was still a toddler in the faith.  I pray that her example will stand firm in my mind as I stand before You, realizing that no good comes from holding onto bitterness.  May I choose the good things instead, Father, as I mature ever more in Your Word is my prayer.  Amen.

It was me!

As we continue our exploration with Mark 11:25--Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions--a couple of things are still standing out to me that I'd like to muddle through.  Got your boots on?  Great!  Join me now as I seek to make things more clear.

The other day, my grandson got very upset with my husband--and he wasn't even around!!  Turns out that the little guy wasn't feeling so great, he got a little whiny, and suddenly remembered that PawPaw had not put up the slide for the pool this summer.  Oh, was he furious!  It didn't matter that the pool had been taken down nearly a month ago, nor that it was explained way back when it was first set up that the slide wouldn't work out this time.  Nope.  My little bundle of emotion was beside himself and he was crushed and mad that the slide was not in the picture this year.

According to his Mama, he pouted, sulked, and even cried for nearly 30 minutes over this incident.  Guess he remembered he had something against his brother, huh--err, excuse me, his PawPaw, that is.  

Do you think this is what Jesus was referring to when He made the statement about forgiveness?  Hmn.  Being mad over a slide seems pretty ridiculous, doesn't it?  But hang on a minute.  When I ponder some of the things that have irked me, maybe they are even more petty than this.  How much time have I spent holding a grudge or refusing to let go of a debt that I felt was "owed to me" when in actuality, the account was never charged to begin with?  Some of this results from simple misunderstandings rather than true crimes committed against me.

Case in point:  this weekend we went away for Labor Day.  Long story short: don't ever be spontaneous and head to the beach when it's this time of the year AND when there is a race going on nearby.  The hotels were all filled for miles around Steve and I wound up driving all the way to Myrtle Beach and then on back to Columbia before we were able to find a place to stay.  There's a lot more to this story as far as insights into our verse but I may save them for another blog.  After our comedy of errors, we finally found a place to stay and then decided to spend the next day around Concord.  Finding a hotel with a business center in it was one of the things I especially wanted and we did.  We found one, checked in, and then quickly found out that they did not use Google Chrome on their systems so we checked back out within minutes.  

While looking at my credit card transactions online yesterday, I noticed we had been charged for three rooms when we only stayed in two.  I could surely recall the last one we stayed in 'cause we had specifically sought it out from staying there in December.  However, from the Saturday night fiasco, I thought the one we checked into and back out of was the one showing on my statement as processed rather than pending.  I gave it a day to see if it'd go away but no, it was still there this morning so I called to get it cleared up.  The lady on duty was quite nice and we chatted about what had gone on.  Long story short, she was going to look into it and call me back when she got the matter settled.  However, the more I pondered it and checked and rechecked again to make sure the mistake wasn't on my part, yeah:  you guessed it.  It was!  

What happened--other than my own goofiness--you might ask?  Well, to begin with, this hotel was the most expensive one we stayed at.  Obviously I wanted it to be the one taken off.  (Hello, Greed, my ol' friend.)  Next, it wasn't the "brand" we usually used so of course they had to have been the one to make the error.  Lastly, if I had really taken time to think about all of this clearly, I would have seen that this hotel was in Columbia not Concord, which is where the continuation of the fiasco of our weekend jaunt took place.

So, I called with shame on my face and tried to get the woman I had spoken with to tell her of my blunder. Well, wouldn't you know that the devil is not happy when we try to acknowledge our mistakes so he let me speak to a different gal and then had the absolute gall to have the phone cut off!  Grrrr.  But--instead of it making me mad--I called right back, wound up talking to the original lady who promised to apologize profusely to the other woman, and we took care of my boo boo.  We were laughing when it was all said and done and my head will keep this hotel chain in mind the next time Steve and I decide to be adventurous.

Do you see it, friends?  We mess up.  In our haste, we often make assumptions because we want to justify that we spent that much money.  We want to deny that we would make such a foolish choice when our defenses are down, and we just wanted a place to rest our weary heads and bodies.  Ahem.  I'm not just talking to the choir right now, am I?  Being tired, weary, frustrated, and feeling the need to just...to just...to just be "taken care of" --even though it may only be for one night--is no excuse to let our battle gear slide.  Do you not know by now that when we expose ourselves to temptation that that is when the devil is the craftiest, the most wily, and the most seductive?

Okay, let's wind this up.  Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions.  Sometimes it's so much easier to look for someone else to blame for our mess ups than it is to face the fact that we invited them into our lives.  We cry that we were taken advantage of, that we were cheated, that we were wronged when the truth is right there in front of us.  It was me that initiated the fight, the quarrel, the misunderstanding.  Oh no, not always but sometimes, sometimes, girlfriends, we are just as much to blame.  Maybe even more.  So then, when we stand in front of God with our prayers and our pleas for absolution, we are confronted with our own guilt and if we are to have peace with God (and don't we all want that?) we must confess to Him that we too need to be forgiven.  The good thing?  He said He would!  He said He'd forgive us.  How about that?!  

In closing, we saw the movie "War Room" last night.  The premise of the story is that we need to talk more to God and let Him handle our battles.  The main character went from spending little pieces of time with God to spending hours in her prayer closet.  When she got real with Him, He did marvelous things in her--in her.  Yeah, He answered some great prayers on her behalf but the key point is that she was the one most in need.  Before she could finger point, she had to deal with her own life.  Like me, she found out there was plenty there to keep her in communication with God like never before.  Let's do that now, friends, as we humble ourselves and ask Him to cleanse us and heal our wounds.

Dear Lord God, how I am convicted once again that it's me who makes for most of the troubles in my life.  My lack of attention to details, my haste to get things done, and my forgetfulness of keeping my battle gear on often make up the majority of my anger issues.  I cannot count the number of times I have blamed others for things, gotten mad when they responded in hurtful ways, and then acted to You as though I was the wronged party.  Oh Lord:  how do You put up with me?

Sigh.

Lord?  Right now as I pray to You, many things vie for me to ask You but I cannot do this until I confess.  I am the one in need of prayer this moment, Lord. My hotheadedness, my impatience, my poor planning have all led me to make choices that have had repercussions and/or consequences that often I felt were unjust.  But I cannot in all honesty blame others for things that would have turned out so much differently had I first done my part.  First.  So, once again:  it's me, it's me, it's me Oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer.  Thank You for also standing, ready to help, to heal, and to forgive me.  Teach me the way of Jesus is my plea now and I ask these things in His precious name, Father.  Amen.

Another 'Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song'? Maybe. But then again, maybe not.

Gooood morning!  Yes, it's early but I just couldn't sleep!  I am so excited to share with you--and challenge you to join us--my and Steve's latest verse that we are exploring.  For you see, we have been less than thrilled with our current way of Bible Study so we did what any normal soul would do:  we went back to our original way of choosing a verse, journaling about it, and then discussing it. Oh my:  I think that if it indeed it ain't broke, don't fix it!

So, without any further ado, here we go.  Our plan is to on Monday evenings choose a verse and do the above to it.  However, to enhance our study, we are going to chew on this verse, memorize it throughout the week, and then re-visit it on Friday evenings and see what we each gleaned about it.  This will come from a variety of sources, such as messages overheard, everyday chatter, songs, life, and whatever else our Lord uses to bring attention to a better understanding of the chosen passage.  Let's face it:  we all have busy lives and planning our time with the Lord is paramount to a peaceful fellowship with Him.  Yeah, some might say we are "penciling Him in" but you know what?  That makes it more exciting and as I wrote above, I'm pretty excited to see what God is going to teach me and Steve this week as the topic of forgiveness is revisited.

Here are my notes from last night.  As you will read, there are quite a few things I shall be looking for enlightenment on this week!

The first thing this says to me is to not pray while standing up.  Problem solved!  

Hmn.  My attempt at humor leads me to examine my prayer life.  In truth, I usually am in a chair or the bed when I pray.  Am I unintentionally not giving honor to God?  When a guest arrives, is not the custom to stand as a sign of respect?  Mmn hmn.  In church, most prayers are done while on our feet.  In so doing, we are acknowledging God in His holiness.  So maybe I need to change my altitude and rise when I pray.

Next, that dreaded word:  forgive.  Yet (my mind argues as I write) shouldn't it instead be a blessed word, reminding me of what is no longer being held on my account and for which I no longer am responsible for?  I think so!    Do I carry grudges?  Is someone I am near to doing things that really get my goat?  Are there feelings of resentment that I have towards another that I have yet to deal with?   This verse says when I forgive, God will also forgive me of my transgressions.  I wonder:  does this mean He will forgive me my part of this infraction or does that pertain to Him forgiving me of ALL of my transgressions?  I should follow up on this.

Lastly, why the distinction of "your Father in heaven"?  Was there confusion about who has the power of forgiveness?  Hmn hmn hmn.  

As Steve and I discussed my thoughts and his, we were left with quite a few questions, a couple of which I shall now list:

1. How responsible am I for my brother sinning against me?  For instance, when our gsons fight and one gets his feelings hurt or blows are thrown, how innocent was the other in the argument?  There are two sides to each story, right?  What part of my grudge is from my own immaturity, ignorance, or am I just an unwitting soul who is being persecuted?
2. Have I gone to my brother first to try to resolve this issue or am I letting it eat me up, maybe even talking to others about it, and then when I am reminded of it during prayer time and/or communion, realize I haven't done my part to fix this?
3. Who is to blame, be blamed, or is any blameless? 

In closing, I hope you will be challenged to examine this verse more deeply.  After all, we must study to show ourselves approved, right?  Whew.  I may have my work cut out for me this week!  Let's pray!

Dear Lord, thank You first and foremost for this sense of excitement in doing my Bible study again. It's easy to get dry and nonchalant when reading Your Word but I don't want to be lukewarm, Father.  I want to be hot in my pursuit of knowing You better and of understanding the scriptures.  Increase my desire to know Jesus more is my prayer and it is in His name that I pray this.  Amen!