A Mary Heart ... Joanna Weaver Wk 7: Kitchen Service Blog 7: When I'm Truly Stinky Pages: 81 - 983/30/2017 "The fruit of our lips: ''Let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise--the fruit of lips that confess his name"' "The fruit of our deeds: 'That you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God'" "The fruit of our attitudes: 'But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control"' [pg 85] You might remember in December of last year I broke my ankle. It was an ugly mess. Two bones broken at the ankle, dislocation, and surgery leaving me spending the next 13 weeks in a wheel-chair. Ugh! Now I am weaned onto one, YES, ONE, crutch. YAY ~ I have to tell you that even though my attitude is better now, it was, during some of that process, truly stinky! Here's how some days went. I cried. I yelled. I wallowed. And blamed. I missed the ability to do almost any activity, and I wasn't shy about saying so. If you had been around me during one of those unfortunate displays you would certainly not have seen the following: 1. ... me confessing his name ... 2. ... or pleasing him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God ... 3. ... [or that I seemed filled with] 'love, joy, peace patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control' So, I know, you're saying anyone could have bad days in this situation. Right? And I agree. But I can't allow that to stand because as a Daughter of the King I am responsible for my actions. If someone behaves stinky to me, I am also responsible for how I respond. It's supposed to be part of our faith that we actually try to live a better life to honor our Lord. Why is Joanna's passage important? Because she also writes that we 'may be the only Jesus some people see.' Think about that. During those occasions when I was quite NON-Jesus-like what did that example say about faith in general? What did it say about our God? And how is someone supposed to desire to know our Savior when a believer behaves like that? Big questions, but bigger answers ... and it's up to each one of us to try harder on those 'stinky' days. ~ Andi
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