I want to thank Jesus/Abba for doing such a work on my heart that I can love those who hurt me. My sister, a monster to me as a child, should be the last person I love. She was an addict, prostitute, serial aborter by age 18. But in our youth she physically and mentally abused me. She has Borderline Personality Disorder and was allowed to dominate our home. But now all the adults are dead. Our kids are grown. We can only speak on tenterhooks. She is so sensitive and defensive. She even hurt me when our mother died in 2014. She's just emotionally toxic. But I love her. I love her because I know that in her world, she is unlovable. Her children are shattered beings who have also become toxic. My love for her, she did not earn or deserve. So I think it's supernatural, and a great example to me of how little God found in LEW all those years ago. I hear in her voice wonder when I call her. I tell her about God but don't beat her with it. I told her that I am always here for THAT conversation. Her birthday is coming up on the 30th and I want to send her a big box of gifts. She would never expect it. I don't know if I can do it, but I'll try. Sometimes the miracles are very small to the naked eye because they reach back into the past and heal those wounds. LEW I think it is in those times that God reveals Himself the most to us. And the most powerfully! I have a similar, though by no means nearly as intense, experience with my neighbor. Where it is similar is in the miraculous way God changed a heart in me that I know for certain I could not change in myself. That is where the similarities end. To most this may not seem like a big deal but to me it was insurmountable, just as your ability to love your sister was most certainly insurmountable. I live on a cul de sac with two other houses in a mostly quiet neighborhood on the edge of a rural county. There are only 72 homes in my neighborhood. The county seat has a population of ~ 130k. I live here because I love peace and quiet. However! :mdrmdr: My next door neighbor has a parrot, a cockatoo, and a macaw that she puts on her porch whenever the weather is nice. If you have any idea of the heinous, clamorous, cacophony of assault they can inflict on the first day of the year that you can open your windows, or any day thereafter, you would understand why this is literally hell on earth for me. I like my neighbor just fine. In fact, she's pretty cool, but this would get me red-faced angry. I thought it was supremely inconsiderate! Then, one day, seemingly out of the blue (because there was NO WAY I was going to pray for this "ruiner" of my peace, other than to ask God to promote her at work and transfer her to Seattle {I live in GA}!) I asked God to change my heart about her. Then, after some days went by, I prayed it again. That became a regular daily prayer. So, God must chuckle when I'm going over to her house to tend to her birds when she is traveling. The power of God to change hearts is, to me, the most astounding miracle of all!!! Way more so than a virgin birth. Way more so that the Resurrection. and way more so than creation itself! That is AWESOME! Yes, He changes hearts. And healing often comes from serving. And those birds are NIGHTMARES. I had one that annoyed me so badly that I GAVE away the bird and the cage and months of food to a family who I KNOW puts animals before people. So now everyone is happy. I like your pointing out of small and unseen miracles! So true! We often pray for the grandiose and visible, while God quietly ministers to heart, spirit and soul His wonders and wisdom to perform! All part of God's goodness, we must continually give thanks for! TR God knows the number of hairs on our head (the very small) and has a name for every star in the universe. (the very big) In all things small and in all things big, let us praise the LORD for his mercy and grace. :good: Thank you for the encouraging testimonies. Psalm 46 has been an encouragement to me. He is our refuge and strength. :amen: Psalm 46 New King James Version God the Refuge of His People and Conqueror of the Nations
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. A Song for Alamoth.
46 God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear,
Even though the earth be removed,
And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
3 Though its waters roar and be troubled,
Though the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah
4 There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God,
The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High.
5 God is in the midst of her, she shall not be [d]moved;
God shall help her, just at the break of dawn.
6 The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved;
He uttered His voice, the earth melted.
7 The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah
8 Come, behold the works of the Lord,
Who has made desolations in the earth.
9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two;
He burns the chariot in the fire.
10 Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!
11 The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah
