A Little Light

     This will be a real musing post, because the thoughts I want to put down came from my musings the other day.
     I have often read and wondered what was meant when Peter told Simon the socerer that he had the root of bitterness in him. This is what the scripture says in Acts 8:21-24(amp) (after Simon asked to buy the ability to lay hands on people to receive the power of the Holy Spirit):
    

²¹You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is all wrong in God's sight [it is not straightforward or right or true before God].

²²So repent of this depravity and wickedness of yours and pray to the Lord that, if possible, this ^[a]contriving thought and purpose of your heart may be removed and disregarded and forgiven you.

²³For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in a bond forged by iniquity [to fetter souls].

²⁴And Simon answered, Pray for me [beseech the Lord, both of you], that nothing of what you have said may befall me!

      Wow! I would hate for an apostle (or pastor) tell me I was in the gall of bitterness. But for years that terminology didn't mean anything to me.

    For one thing, it seems a little redundant. Gall is bitter, and bitterness is bitter, sharp, causing pain, grief or misery. And how do you get into a gall?

   Well, the other day I was mulling this over after I had read it in the Bible again, and what came to me was that the "gall of bitterness" could be in ME. And I sensed that perhaps it was in me, because I was entertaining some resentment in my flesh. And I saw quite clearly that this is what Peter was talking about, or at least  what the Lord gleaned out of that passage for me.

     There are times that I let my feelings get hurt, then that little (or big) hurt sits inside my heart and festers. Then I get my feelings hurt again and it adds to that first hurt. One of the meanings of gall is to make sore by rubbing. It can be a small irrritation from someone, but it sits inside and rubs just a little. And then another galling or irritating remark is made, and that sits in there and rubs.

     Pretty soon I have this ugly festering feeling inside that my flesh wants to rub and justify and get revenge for. I feel that all the hurt gives me the "right" to hold this gall against whoever has hurt me.

     Then the scripture from the "love" chapter: :

"It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and  does not act unbecomingly, Love (God's love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self seeking' it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong]."

I Corinthians 13:5 [Amp]

     Argh! Straight to my fleshly heart. Oh, how I want to get even in my flesh, yet here is the Spirit inside of me saying - " You need to let that one go. It's causing a whole bunch of bitterness and gall to grow within your heart and it's trying to crowd all the love, patience, kindness, gentleness, long suffering, joy, peace, goodness,and self control out of your heart where I have put it. Let this hurt go and let God handle it!"

     Conviction! So I go to God and ask for forgiveness for letting the flesh take over (again) and letting that bitterness and resentment grow. And whallla! It's gone. Just like that.

     Why, oh why do I hang on to these little hurts and let my soul scream about "MY" rights? Thank God that when we confess our sins "He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse me of all that unrighteousness." (I John 1:9)

     And now I shall refrain from kicking myself around the block because it took me all these years to figure this out. I will glory in the forgiveness and love that my Heavenly Father gives so freely and go on from here. And pray that my confession and prayer for forgiveness won't be so hard to get to when the next hurt comes, as it will because we live in a fallen world. Thank God for a way out of this mess!

     Hallelujah!!

My Man - Father of My Children

Ah

Here he is

The man of my dreams and

the wonderful Father

of my children.

We were out looking at the skies again

this evening.

Sorry son, the thunderboomers

seem to like to pound

our skies.

Hope the rain is in them thar clouds!!



I have a bunch of cloud pictures

on my phone from last evening,

but I can't seem to send them

to the computer, except thru

facebook.

Oh well, some are there,

some are here,

and none of them do

justice to God's

MAGNIFICENT

light show we have had

tonight.

(Note to Offspring: If you want to see and

hear the awesomeness of God's

skies and thunderboomers,

you'll just have to come home

to experience them. Sorry)



Kansas Skies

I often grumble about the lack of mountains and trees in KS,

since I grew up where mountains and trees were

 at least closer to my southeastern Idaho home.

(The actual area where I lived was

kind of a desert until they started irrigating,

then it was full of potatoes, sugar beets, and wheat).

We could drive a few dozen miles and at least be

in the foot hills!

BUT

The one thing Kansas does have is

 pretty derned good sunsets

 and towering clouds.

These were some of the clouds this evening

 - which I might add produced very little rain on our yard.

It is very disheartening to see thunderstorms

blow up around us on the radar - then to watch

them disapate when they hit the county line,

or the highway 3 or 4 blocks to the east,

or just to the north of us.

We can't seem to beg, steal or borrow

much rain here in our town.

But at least the clouds were gorgeous:

Our lack of rain reminds me of the scripture from

Habakkuk 3:17

"Though the fig tree does not blossom and there is no fruit on the vines

[though] the product of the olive fails and the fields yeild no food,

though the flock is cut off from the fold

and there are no cattle in the stalls, 18 Yet I will rejoice in the Lord;

I will exult in the [victorious] God of my salvation!"

Illinois

Over Memorial Day weekend

we got away to Illinois.

My man went to high school in Waukegan and his folks

lived there for about 43 years

after moving from MN.

We went to spend some time with Younger Sister

and Hubby and one son home from college.

(the other college age son was at our house just before Memorial Day weekend)

Fun kids - all of them!

One of the things we did - that I remembered to take pictures of -

was the Illinois Railroad Museum

in Union, IL.

Of all the railroad museums we have been to, and there have been

several to many,

this one is the one of the best preserved and most diverse.

(The B & O Museum in Baltimore is good too).

They were having a reenactment of some battles from WWII, and

there were Confederate and Union soldiers from the Civil War,

WWI soldiers, army nurses, waitresses, girlfriends of soldiers,

some Italian civilians resisters, several Nazis.

Along with tents and various props.

It was kind of fun seeing all this going on, besides the trains.

We had a very nice time up there in IL, then stopped in Branson

on the way home.

There, we mostly just drove around and looked at the scenery.

And saw 1 show.

The Baldnobbers.

We've seen them several times before, but we so enjoy laughing

at those comedians.

They actually have very very funny CLEAN humor.

And some of it is laugh out loud stuff.

And the music is pretty good too.

Then my dear husband took me to see

the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

He was kind of bored, I loved it.

Anyway, it was good to get away for a week or so,

but not so great to come home to AUGUST in JUNE!!!

Way too early for this triple digit junk.

I'm ready to go to Idaho or Colorado - just get me back to my mountains!!

* * * * *





By Popular Demand:

    Okay - by request of two (yes, 2) people:

     Here are a few pictures of my newly painted kitchen/dining room/stairway to fam room.
Don't know if you can really tell the color or not on these pics, but here they are:









 

     Yes, the wall with the cuckoo clock is a ligther color, and more green. This may be the color that will end up on the east wall (chimney wall) - or not. Time to get rid of the yellow in the living room, but I have to rest up a little bit first. That is a whole lot more wall space for me to try to get covered. But I think I'll use a roller instead of just a brush. There was way too much detail work in the kitchen for a roller....
    So, my "Public," What do ya think? Is this acceptable to the masses (of two)?


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