Nip it in the Bud!!

Hi there :)

I don't know who out there is familiar with Dennis Swanberg, but he is a really funny guy. He is a Christian comedian that does several amusing impressions. One impression of his that I always enjoy is Barney from the Andy Griffith show. (Yes, this is going somewhere. I am explaining my title.) He has this joke where Barney is asked what to do about sin. His answer was to, "Nip it in the bud!" :) See there that explanation did not take terribly long now did it? Yeah, I know.

So that is what I am blogging about tonight. There is something that I need to nip in the bud. Well, maybe yank from the root; I think it may have grown a flower by now. My mentor told me this afternoon that I have a root of bitterness. Sounds like a terribly ugly thing, huh? Well it is indeed quite grotesque. In my defense, I pointed out that I have been making an effort to make sure to walk in love and be kind and patient with the person that we were referring too. (I know a little bit, a lot actually about the importance of staying away from strife and contention.) But she pointed out that while I have not come out and said anything ugly about the person, I have not really shouted their praises either.

My first thought was I don't really have to be buddies with a person to walk in love toward them. Honestly, I really don't like this person. There I said it. It is rare that I don't like people, actually. I like most people. Actually it is not just a random don't like that person kind of thing. I have very specific reasons, and they are justified. This person has been deceitful, and just not very nice. But justified or not, like the person or not, I ultimately answer to God. And He clearly has told me to love.

Bitterness, from the first thought, is a fiery dart of the enemy. Oh and He has plenty of reason to aim it at me. God is doing great things in my life, and I am stepping out on faith in several areas. I do not have time for strife. That is why I have been just praying for this person, and trying to walk in love toward them to the best of my ability. Unfortunately, by the conversation I had tonight with my mentor, I can tell that my ability is abundantly inadequate.

Tonight I had to do children's church. (Yes, this is related, I promise.) I was the one that was taking the kids out to the bathroom. Every time I went out, I could hear my pastor preaching. Guess what he was preaching on? Staying away from strife, how it is a trick of the enemy sent to keep us from the blessings, God has for us. YES LORD, I HEAR YOU.

So what do I do now? The only thing I can do is ask God to change my heart. Do I think I am wrong about the person, not at all. But this is not about her. This is about me. This is about Him. So I must allow Him to fix the thing that has gone wrong in me, so that I can be the Rosalind that He would have me be. I am not sure what all that entails, but somehow I think it might hurt. I will probably do an update on this when I find out. lol :) But anyway, that is what is on my mind tonight, and that is what I wanted to blog about.


Yeah I know...Pray for me

God bless and Goodnight,

Roz