Frustrating & Blessing

Frustrating:

• Flies in my house and not being able to find the fly swatter
  
• A mouse in the dashboard of my car
• A mild flood in my basement
• A headache perhaps fueled by a pinched nerve in my neck
  
• A mind that still feels like the rain-clouds that have covered Billings for the past few days
• Having Internet Explorer freeze whenever I try to open a blog.
• A house that I can't manage to be in enough to get above "tornado path" status.
  

Blessing:

• Already sort of getting used to my name change
• Knowing that these are truly "light and momentary afflictions." (Sadly, this is because I have several comparison situations that are "in my face" right now, friends who need a lot of prayer.)
• Having a husband who is recently-enamored with my massage therapist and encourages me to get in to see her ASAP
• Having a husband!
• 
• Sunshine and a basement that seems to be drying out
• Firefox! Bacon! Giggling at/with friends!
  
• Timely reminders...

At the first sign of correction, little children often cry, ‘It’s not fair’ or ‘You don’t love me’ and some Christians respond in the same way to God’s chastisement. They hit the self-pity button and declare, ‘I’m hopeless. Nothing works out for me’. Don’t do that. God isn’t against you and he hasn’t forgotten you. If you give up, you learn nothing.

... When you go through hard times, bitterness is waiting at the door, offering you fellowship. ‘What a terrible time you’ve had,’ it says. ‘How cruel they’ve been! How unjustly you’ve been treated.’ But bitterness isn’t a friendly companion; it’s a vile weed which puts its roots down deep into people’s personalities. Not content to disfigure just one soul, it grows up searching for others who might be willing to draw near. If you yield to its offer of companionship, a root will grow in your soul and you’ll defile many others.

The only way to withstand bitterness is to make sure that you don’t miss the grace of God. Grace, like an effective weed-killer, can get to the root of bitterness and destroy its power. But you must deliberately obtain grace. You must make a specific choice to refuse bitterness, not once but many times. Bitterness will repeatedly knock your door and you must always send grace to answer it.

(READ THE WHOLE THING, it's short -- "Grace or Bitterness" by Terry Virgo)