Scripture

Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.

~Ephesians 4:31-32, NLT

Quote

 Prayer is an acknowledgement of our helplessness: We will never pray as long as we think we can work things out for ourselves.

~Billy Graham {Wisdom for Each Day, p.267}

At some point in your life time, you have probably had a doctor take a little rubber tomahawk and wack you just below the knee. He is checking your reflexes. He strikes a nerve just below the knee and the foot jumps. This reflex happens automatically. You don’t think about it. It is not premeditated or controlled. Peter said in his first epistle, So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. These trials or test, they just pop up; they come when we don’t expect them and they catch us off guard. I was headed to the Terrace the other day to visit and a semi hauling feed was in the left lane and he would not merge to the right. He had traffic backed up for a mile and he seemed to be enjoying himself. When I finally saw a little day light I moved to the right lane and passed and as I passed, I sat down on my horn and motioned for him to get in the right lane. I erupted like a volcano and then when I had a chance to think about what I had done, I felt about an inch high. I was having a great day until the moron ticked me off. 

Later I realized that God is trying to teach me to be patient and I am failing every single test. Trust me, I did not think about what I was going to do, I just erupted and then I thought, where did that come from? Billy Graham said that when the trouble hits, we tend to respond in negative ways. He put fear first but I think number one, at least with me, is anger. We can also respond to trials by becoming discouraged and depressed. When I read Dr. Graham devotion, I thought about the verse in Ephesians…Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you. What do you get when you squeeze a lemon? Whatever is in it! The ignorant truck driver did not put the anger in me, he simple drew it out. The anger is my problem, not his. Lord help me respond with kindness and patience instead of anger and frustration.

Extra

Love this weather. June is making some stew today. I do believe we have seen our last heat wave for the summer. We went back to the doctor yesterday; the meds are not working and the eyes are no better. I got a steroid shot and some new meds but my eyes were worse this morning instead of better. Compared to others, it is small potatoes.

God bless you! Have a great day and thanks for reading the blog.