Difficult People Can Be Very.....um.....Difficult

A few years back I was having an especially emotional day and trying to get some chores done around the house. My highs and lows were getting to me, so I knew without a doubt that the others in the house had to be feeling the tension of dancing around my occasional bouts of temper. I had been prescribed an anti-depressant while I had been hospitalized for surgery just a few months back, so I had become unaccustomed to these emotional swings, and found them to be very unnerving.

My married daughter had come for a visit, and she, along with my husband, were in the kitchen. My daughter was doing some baking, and my husband was reading at the kitchen table. This was a peaceful, every day setting, but I just wasn't feeling that peaceful, and I didn't like the unsettled feeling.

I was doing laundry, and as I bent over to load the clothes from the washer to the dryer I made a passing comment, more to myself than to anyone else, but loud enough that the pair in the kitchen overheard me.

With my head tucked into the dryer I said, "I don't think my Zoloft is doing a very good job today."

Without a skip of a beat my daughter and her dad glanced at one another, and together they remarked, "Oh-oh."

Funny? They thought so. So did I, to a point. I seldom mind being the brunt of a joke or light moment, but I don't like having a bad effect on others. The thought of them having a tense moment caused by me was more unsettling to me than the Zoloft not working. I don't like making others feel uncomfortable, and yet, that's exactly what I unintentionally have done most of my life. My off-beat sense of humor makes some people get wide-eyed and not a little ill at ease, not knowing just exactly what I am saying.

Additionally, I am too blunt in some of my observations, I am not one to shy away from a good debate, and I am entirely too opinionated. Again, these are characteristics that put many people off. I have prayed, confessed, repented, and sworn to do better many times. Yet, I continue to slip back into these bad habits far too quickly.

I continue to ask the Father for help, and I know that He is continually working on me and my ways. This isn't a cry for help from anyone. It isn't a subject that I would welcome input from anyone on.  I'm just saying....

But I sure do need a lot of prayer and patience from my friends.

And, meanwhile, this little anecdote continues to serve up chuckles for my family, and, that, I like.

Reaching Out To "Gomer"

Last night I attended church, and the pastor there mentioned the book of Hosea. Hosea tells about Gomer, his wife, or is it Israel that the story is about? Theologians can't decide, so I'm sure I can't. Nevertheless, I choose to believe, for the sake of my story today, that it is about a woman of, shall we say ill repute? That's the nice way to put it. God told Hosea to marry her, even knowing what kind of woman she was, and Hosea obeyed. And he didn't argue with God, and he didn't fuss or complain about it, and he didn't complain about her. He just simply obeyed God.

Since the day I first heard the story of Hosea I have had a very soft spot for it. I have always thought I would have liked to have known Gomer. She was a very interesting woman and most certainly required a lot of understanding to really know her. Some would call her evil and dirty, not worthy to be thought about except with disgust. Some might give her a chance, but never a second chance. Even to the people who didn't know God she would have been considered trash, filthy, stinking garbage. But, with all my heart I believe that these are the dear ones who need God's people the most, to love them, to encourage them and wrap their arms around them, draw them close enough to really smell them, and show them the true love of God.

People like Gomer have never experienced real love. Lots of times they have been mistreated to the point that they believe there is no such thing. Some have experienced physical intimacy and deceived into believing that this is love. So, they search and search for a love that never comes, building walls against people, living lies with bad reputations and no thought for anyone but themselves. It's a black pit of hopelessness that they dig and can never find the way out. And all the time all they want is to be wanted and loved.

Amazingly, I definitely have known some Gomers. Some of the Gomers I've known I had to leave behind due to their lack of response to the Truth or due to their total disdain of it. A very few of the Gomers I've known are now healed and love God and are loved by God's people, and they walk in Truth. They are miraculous stories of how God never gives up on us, never stops loving us even when we may be garbage.

If we say "yes" to God as Hosea did, we can reach out to every unbeliever, no matter how evil or filthy we believe them to be. Under all that filth is a child that God loves and wants in His family. When I turn away it's possible that I was the only one that God could use to help win that one that He loves so much.
And then God uses that new child of the kingdom to reach out to others. Imagine. Gomer can be out there winning souls for Jesus Christ!

I don't want to say "no" to God. I don't want to have to answer for the soul that didn't come because I wouldn't obey Him. As a former "Gomer", I know well how different a life can be when you know the Truth. I understand the miraculous effects of coming from a life of lies and filthy rags to being a "sweet perfume" to our loving Father. I know intimately the majestic Father, His Son, and His Spirit that leads my life and makes me, imagine it, more like Jesus every day.

I pray that each one of us can meet and learn to love a "Gomer". There is so much that they need to know about what true love is all about. And we have so much to learn about the wonderful miracles that God performs even today. There is a chance for each one, for God loves each one specially and completely, no matter how they smell.

God, Talking To Himselves

                         

One day God was sitting back, looking over mankind as He always does, and He decided that today was going to be the day. He'd been planning this for a long, long time, and He had everything in place that He needed. So God, in His infinite wisdom, called together His committee, His Son, and His sweet Holy Spirit and looked at Them lovingly.

"I'm ready to get started." God told Them. "I know You are excited to finally do this, so I'm going to lay it all out for You. Take notes if You need to."

God's Son and The Holy Spirit looked at each other and rolled Their eyes. Since when did They ever need notes to remember everything? God knew this, and He knew that They had rolled Their eyes, though He hadn't been looking up. God chuckled to Himself knowingly, and the others chuckled with Him. "We have such fun together," They all thought to Themselves.

So, God continued talking to Himselves, "You know I have had my eye on that little girl in Nazareth that we created a few years ago, and we were right, she's perfect for this mission. She's old enough now to conceive a child, and she just recently was chosen by that guy Joseph that we talked about. I like him. He's a good Jewish boy, a little older than she is, but still, I like him."

"Yes, yes," interrupted The Holy Spirit,"but I still don't understand why in God's name, oops, sorry Sir, we put her in Nazareth. It's suppose to be Bethlehem!" His eyes opened wide, "Hello!!"

"I know, I know," answered God. "Calm Yourself. I've got this all worked out. You worry way too much, You know. You need to trust me on this."

"Yeah, well I trust You, I just don't understand why sometimes You just do things the hard way, kind of screwy. No offense, Sir."

"No offense taken. It's those foolish humans that make Me do things the hard way. If they'd just listen and do what I tell them. They trust Me even less than You do." God shook His majestic head in dismay. "Now, I've got everything covered here, so listen up. Son! Are You listening?"

"To every syllable, My Father." 

And God smiled.

"Okay. That Augustus guy in Rome has decided he's a big shot, and he wants to know how many people he can count that he can make cow-tow to him. What a jerk! So he's ordered that they take a census, and everyone will have to go to the city of their forefathers to be counted. Get it? City of their forefathers?"

The Holy Spirit sat straight up in His chair. "Oh, sure! I get it now! Bethlehem! That's the city where Benjamin and David came from. Whoa!  This is just way cool!"

God is thinking how bright that Holy Spirit is.

 "But, wait a minute."

"Oh, no." thought God. The Holy Spirit was thinking again. 

"Okay. From Nazareth to Bethlehem. Isn't that like eighty miles or more? Won't that girl have to go eighty miles while she's pregnant, I mean VERY pregnant? Like, H-U-G-E pregnant! God, are You sure You've thought all this through?"

"Sometimes You are so exasperating. Didn't I say, 'Trust Me?'  I'll see to it that she and the baby and Joseph get there safe and sound. What's the problem? Eighty miles of good road with a few of their friends tagging along for company, and I'll make sure they've got the best donkey on the market, brand new, never been ridden. It's gonna be a cakewalk! Yes, she'll be a little uncomfortable, but I'll take care of her. You've just gotta trust me on this."

God's Son glanced at The Holy Spirit with disdain then turned back to His Father. "Abba, this sounds perfect. I know how diligently You have planned this, and I know, without a doubt, it's going to be fantastic. I'm ready to go anytime. Just give the word."

God thought He heard kissing sounds coming from The Holy Spirit, but He decided to let it go. "Kids." He muttered and moved on.

"It's going to be very important for the girl's sanity that we get her out of Nazareth to spare her of all those sharp tongues wagging about her. Sheesh. I've got quite a few stories about them I could repeat, but I won't......yet. Their day will come if they don't change their ways. Well, that's why I'm sending You there, Son. Okay! Let's get the lead out! Holy Spirit, You've got that star ready to go? And We've got to get those guys from the east moving, too. I'm counting on You!"

"You can count on me, Sir! I've got everything on my list ready." The Holy Spirit said this with pride, then realized He had revealed something that maybe He would have liked to have kept to Himself.

"Well, You know, Sir, sometimes I do have to write things down, You know, just in case."

They all smiled and quickly dispersed to accomplish the great task.

"We are such a cool team," God thought. "Lombardi ain't got nothing on Us."

NO MORE POWER

At the end of October most of the northeast states were pelted with heavy snow over a  weekend.  Pictures of power lines and trees were shown laying on the ground weighted down with the snow.  I read it on the computer news.  "MANY HAVE NO POWER AFTER THE STORM". 

I guess that's always the way it is, isn't it?  When you are weak and the storms come along unexpectedly you are destined for a downfall.  The heavy snow causes the smaller limbs and the weaker, some even dead, trees to fall and are destroyed.  The power lines that were not replaced with underground cable were vulnerable to the harsh winds and snow.

How strong are you after, or during, a storm?  Have you done the preparation needed to withstand not only the every day problems, but the days of tragedy and pain? 

Cities across the nation should plan ahead for the easiest transition when the storms come.  Even when they are most prepared they still can experience total shutdowns.  But as a people of Jesus Christ we must prepare daily with God's Word and be fortified with His love. power, and protection against total shutdowns.

PAY ATTENTION!

Sometimes I have something very serious that I want to say to my husband, and I need to have one hundred percent of his attention.  Past history has proven to me that if he isn't paying close attention he will only hear part of what I am saying.  He hears what he wants to hear, or he just doesn't get all of it due to trying to do more than one thing at a time. 

Now, multi-tasking is a gift that most men don't have, but they have been deceived by demons and other men who have told them that they do.  I'm convinced this is a conspiracy to shut out the world of wives who are talking non-stop at them.  That is not me.  I am not one to inundate my world, nor my husband, with endless chatter.  So, when I have something important to say I want him to stop what he is doing and listen carefully.  If my husband does not shut off the TV, or if he doesn't stop what he is doing I can lay odds that later he will have everything that I said twisted and formed to shape what he thinks I said, not what I said. 

There have been many times in our marriage that I have wanted to relate important (at least to me it is) stuff, but I just can't get him to stop and totally focus on me.  I will, at this point, just stop and say, "Forget it."  He will respond somewhat feebly that he is listening, but it takes no effort at all for him to go back to what he was doing.  He's really not interested.  He actually couldn't care less.  He is doing what he wants to do, and I go away frustrated, sad, angry, and/or hurt.

I often hear Christians say, "Gee.  God really never talks to me.  I wonder why.  My friends say that He talks to them, so why wouldn't He talk to me?"  I think it's time to wake up and smell the coffee, dear one.  God isn't going to talk to you if you're not going to stop and listen.  As we have heard it said over and over, God is a gentleman.  He's not going to come into your house without calling first and receiving an invitation.  He knows where He's not wanted, and He will not intrude uninvited.

I must make certain that in such a busy world I must stop.  Stop everything.  Yes, it's possible for even the most busy person to stop.  Take five.  Sit alone with Him and listen.  Read a verse.  Then tomorrow take ten.  Read a chapter.  And we must always listen.  We must open the door and ask Him to come in and give Him all our hospitality.  I believe that if Jesus walks by and you are too busy vacuuming, too busy watching your shows on television, too busy with Facebook, or too busy with your work He is going to say, "Forget it.  Maybe I'll come back later."  Then again, maybe He won't.

Saved or Rescued

Is there a difference in definition between "saved" and "rescued"?  According to Webster there is very little.  But, in reflection of certain situations, I believe there can be a difference, one that may be ever so slight, and yet ever so important.  I even believe it can be the difference between life or death.


My dear friend Webster says that saved means to "deliver from sin".  I admit that I was a little surprised for the dictionary to take this fairly religious point of view on the word. The second definition was to "deliver from danger".  I looked up the word rescue and found, "to free from confinement or danger, to save, to deliver".  The differences may not be enough for one to normally comment on, but I believe I see a difference.

A few days ago my husband and I were talking about a situation that we have with our adult son.  His marriage is ending, he has no dependable transportation, no job, no place to go, and of course no money to achieve any of these. These problems, and many, many more, are long-standing, and over the years his cries for help and then abuse of the helper have caused him to alienate family and friends alike.  He has, as the saying goes, burned all of his bridges and has no one to go to, and he has no where to go.  His closest family has explained to him time and again that his hope is not in what his family or friends do for him.  His hope, and at this point, his only hope is in Jesus Christ who can and will turn his life around.  Our son has stedfastly refused to take this step in his life, and consequently his life is unbearable for him.  His last phone conversation with me was to say that he has nothing to live for, and he wants to end his life. 

There have been circumstances in this man's life that have caused him to believe that the world owes him, that his family owes him, and he has lived this way for so long that he knows nothing else.  How does someone watch two hardworking parents all of his growing up years become an adult believing just the opposite of what he saw? I can't answer this.  I can only rely on what I believe.  I believe in a Savior that can lift a lost man up from his grave of sin and despair and plant him on solid ground.

Today I am recognizing more and more a generation of adult children with this same mindset.  They don't want to work, let alone work hard.  They don't want to do a job that they consider not theirs to do.  They want at age 25 what our generation didn't have until we were 50, and they want it given to them.  This generation of which I speak has been pampered and spoiled with money and technology, and they have come away believing that they deserve it simply because they breathe.  We forgot to teach them that all these things in their lives wouldn't make them happy.  The things only cause them to want more.  There is only One way to happiness, and they don't seem willing to sacrifice to have it.

Yes.  I forgot to tell him because I didn't know Christ until my son was 15 and his brother was 17.  I didn't know the Truth, so how could I teach it to them?  But I cannot take the guilt upon myself when I have presented the Truth over and over to them.  As adults, my sons have continued to hear the Truth, then walk away to continue their lives of sin and depravity.  They have made their choices, and I am not responsible for their false thinking and bad decisions.  But I am responsible for praying for their salvation and deliverance.  My job as a "mommy" is over.  But my job as a believer in Christ demands my diligence in prayer, and it demands my unfailing and unconditional love for my sons whom I love beyond measure.  My greatest comfort is knowing that their Creator loves them infinitely, and because of that love He will pursue them for as long as it takes for them to recognize how much they need Him.

I am continuing to pray, and I am expecting great things from God for my sons.

I'LL DO IT MYSELF!

I have a husband who, bless his heart, thinks if I have come to him with a problem that I want him to fix it.  I think this may be God's fault because I've read that most husbands think this way.  But all I really want is to talk about it to someone.  I just want him to listen to me, then I'll go take care of it.  I wonder if the reason for this is that, usually, men just don't talk, bless their hearts, unless they have to.  If they don't need help why would they talk?

Think about how God must look at this conundrum.  On one hand He watches a woman telling her loving husband about the kid in the back of her class who just won't follow directions and can't keep his hands to himself.  When she's finished her rant, dear, sweet, loving husband begins to recite a list of all the things that she needs to do to correct this youngster.  He may even have the audacity to put this list in writing for her.  "Follow these (my) guidelines (instead of yours), and you will have no more problems." This is what she hears him saying.  Her next decision will probably be to never talk to him about her job ever again.  "I'll do it my own way!  What does he know about it, anyway?"

On the other hand is the loving husband who is home from work, tired, just wanting a little peace in his world, and she's got a problem, and, God forbid, she wants to talk.  "Fine," he thinks to himself.  "I can take care of this for her, and then I can get back to peace and quiet.  This can't be too difficult.  It's a child, for heaven's sake!  Why can't she do this herself?  No.  I have to do it for her!"

Wanting to "take care of things myself" is typical in hundreds of different scenarios, not just between men and women.  But I wonder if it is one of the biggest chasms between man and God.  God is in control, but man wants to do it himself.  God says to man, "Trust in Me."  And man says, "I have to do something!"  "How can it be resolved if I don't do something?"

The writer of Hebrews says, "Faith is leaning toward God in complete confidence and trust in His power, wisdom, and goodness." (Amp. Bible. italics added)  Many times our faith needs feet and hands to accomplish God's power and wisdom, but first comes the faith, the knowledge of and intimate relationship with God the Father and His Son.  When we "put on the armor of God" then we will know the power and wisdom that we need to answer our daily problems because the constant in our lives, the Holy Spirit, will guide us through.  Yes, sometimes I may still need to talk it through to a friend.  But all I will need in the end to solve or alleviate my problems will come from the Counselor, God.  He does good work.  Even at my best I'll probably make a mess.  God's Word is the best resource I can ever need.