God's GraceI

I just wanted to share a quick word or two of God's grace. Tonight when I received that call from my sister, my first reaction was anger. Normally that would carry on for a day or more. I had a habit of holding in anger and frustration. Knowing the harm it can do, and how it is not good to carry on a heavy load, I prayed about this very thing.

Tonight, the Lord lightened my heart right away. I started thanking Him for things He's been doing, then prayed for my parents and sister, and then He told me ever so gently, my daughter, let not your heart be troubled, I am working with your parents. I will take good care of them. I felt this calmness come over me. Then He told me, (actually prodded me to quit what I was doing), and write the post after this one.

For so long I've struggled with impatience, with grudges, with carrying excess baggage. Do any of you do that? I try to take on the problems that I see others struggling with rather than taking it directly to the Lord. I am still a work in progress for sure. I should have prayed right then and there with my sister, gave her encouraging words that would have brought her comfort right away. Instead it was, "What??? I can't believe it! What is their problem? Can't they see what they are doing? Why can't they stop this pettiness? And on and on I went. Did it help my sis? No, it sure didn't. Eventually we did calm down, tried to make the conversation positive, but it should have, could have been handled a lot differently.

But praise God, He talked to me right away, I was open to Him this time and let Him work through me instead of my usual stubborn, "great, now what am I going to do? I need to do this and that, and..." It does absolutely no good. Taking on a negative, angry attitude gets you nowhere except for more heartburn/acid reflux. My first thought getting off the phone, "I'm going to be up most the night again tonight trying to figure this all out. I'm not letting anyone hurt my parents or possibly send them to an early grave." Heart palpatations that had finally subsided came back and are still happening even though I've calmed down, as it takes time to get back to normal.

Was it worth it to get all worked up? No way! All I can say is, "Thank Lord for once again coming to my rescue. For opening my eyes and my heart to realize that anger will do nothing. Frustration never solved anything. Being positive, praying, and getting insight from Him, oh yeah, now that's the ticket. I love you daddy. You are an awesome God. All the glory goes up to You. Thank Lord Jesus!

Isn't God great?! He works with us, He teaches, and often times we do not realize right away. I love it when you feel Him working in you. I love it when He transforms us. I can't thank Him enough for all that He does.