Christ_empowered
Member
OK. Me, yet again. I posted a long post in another subforum about how hard it can be for me to forgive 70x7. Eugene posted some stuff, I edited it. Then, I got to prayin', and...
wow. I prayed for my enemies, those who despitefully use me and those who speak all matter of evil against me falsely. God has made me able to do that for a while now, and I'm thankful. I mean, when I first got saved, I was an angery ball, and I pretty much wanted God to go Old Testament on my enemies. --sigh--
But, yeah; this time, I prayed for those people, my parents, etc., and I felt...touched, from on high. Mellowed out, genuinely peaceful, more...human, somehow.
Anyway, I got up from praying and headed into the kitchen. I knew mama was somewhere downstairs because the washing machine in the utility room was going and the little girl dog was barking at me. I was thinking "snack time," so I popped open the freezer, and...TURTLE TRACKS ICE CREAM! (by Mayfield, no less...yes, I --am-- a Southerner...).
My dad got it for me. He also got me yet another big bottle of fancy, flavored creamer (I'm a heavy coffee drinker). This time, its Sweet Cream, which is actually one of my favorite flavors (sweet, but not overwhelming...).
I know: "dude, you're nearly 33. What are you doing?!?!" Thing is...I had all kindsa phsycial problems (true story: I may have had cancer...no medical treatmen, cuz "losers" don't matter in America....), and now The Lord has blessed me with good health, intelligence, a new way of being, more maturity and...my parents.
In the past, I was wretched, miserable, unrepentant. For a while there, I'd been saved, but I was still obviously pathetic. Happens. Now, The Lord has seen fit to move mightily in my life. I'm healthy, smart, I have a light in my eyes, my face is...well, I can work with it (I'm apparently considered "too pretty," but I think maybe thats because I was ugly for a while...). Thanks to Christ, I'm alive at all...and life, my life in Christ Jesus, goes on.
This is a Praise Report. Today is another day in which I am alive, healthy, smart, free and safe, living with my (loving, kind, long-suffering) parents. I have been spared a felony. I have been off probation for 6 months. The Lord even willed that the lawyer my dad hired was able to get a charge he got dismissed expunged/erased from the record (where I live, that's a process...).
Life goes on. The neighbors yell about "jail" and "prison" and "warrants" and such, so it gets nerve-wracking at times. I dunno. They also yell about me having a "public defender" and a "felony," so clearly there's some inaccurate information going around. I dunno. I realize now that I spent most of my life at the very bottom of the totem pole, and that's...rough. I see it now. I wasn't "good enough" even for 8th grade honors, much less that state college I went to. When you're at the bottom of the totem pole and you mess up...God help you. Odds are fairly good you won't find many people who will, that's for sure.
Rambling. Now, The Lord has seen fit to bless me and move mightily in my life. I don't know where to go from here, what to do, etc., but...for someone who was expected to be "dead by 23," a life like what I have now is a bona fide miracle, no matter what people around here say.
I Praise God for His goodness.
wow. I prayed for my enemies, those who despitefully use me and those who speak all matter of evil against me falsely. God has made me able to do that for a while now, and I'm thankful. I mean, when I first got saved, I was an angery ball, and I pretty much wanted God to go Old Testament on my enemies. --sigh--
But, yeah; this time, I prayed for those people, my parents, etc., and I felt...touched, from on high. Mellowed out, genuinely peaceful, more...human, somehow.
Anyway, I got up from praying and headed into the kitchen. I knew mama was somewhere downstairs because the washing machine in the utility room was going and the little girl dog was barking at me. I was thinking "snack time," so I popped open the freezer, and...TURTLE TRACKS ICE CREAM! (by Mayfield, no less...yes, I --am-- a Southerner...).
My dad got it for me. He also got me yet another big bottle of fancy, flavored creamer (I'm a heavy coffee drinker). This time, its Sweet Cream, which is actually one of my favorite flavors (sweet, but not overwhelming...).
I know: "dude, you're nearly 33. What are you doing?!?!" Thing is...I had all kindsa phsycial problems (true story: I may have had cancer...no medical treatmen, cuz "losers" don't matter in America....), and now The Lord has blessed me with good health, intelligence, a new way of being, more maturity and...my parents.
In the past, I was wretched, miserable, unrepentant. For a while there, I'd been saved, but I was still obviously pathetic. Happens. Now, The Lord has seen fit to move mightily in my life. I'm healthy, smart, I have a light in my eyes, my face is...well, I can work with it (I'm apparently considered "too pretty," but I think maybe thats because I was ugly for a while...). Thanks to Christ, I'm alive at all...and life, my life in Christ Jesus, goes on.
This is a Praise Report. Today is another day in which I am alive, healthy, smart, free and safe, living with my (loving, kind, long-suffering) parents. I have been spared a felony. I have been off probation for 6 months. The Lord even willed that the lawyer my dad hired was able to get a charge he got dismissed expunged/erased from the record (where I live, that's a process...).
Life goes on. The neighbors yell about "jail" and "prison" and "warrants" and such, so it gets nerve-wracking at times. I dunno. They also yell about me having a "public defender" and a "felony," so clearly there's some inaccurate information going around. I dunno. I realize now that I spent most of my life at the very bottom of the totem pole, and that's...rough. I see it now. I wasn't "good enough" even for 8th grade honors, much less that state college I went to. When you're at the bottom of the totem pole and you mess up...God help you. Odds are fairly good you won't find many people who will, that's for sure.
Rambling. Now, The Lord has seen fit to bless me and move mightily in my life. I don't know where to go from here, what to do, etc., but...for someone who was expected to be "dead by 23," a life like what I have now is a bona fide miracle, no matter what people around here say.
I Praise God for His goodness.