Geri, thank you very much for your post. I didn't know that about Elisha and the children. I have struggled with this for a while: how children can be so mean and cruel and people behave like they are just kids............. so since Biblical times, children love teasing and being cruel to people because of their looks: thou bald head. It is upsetting how much kids get away with when they are doing so much harm to other kids and adults. it is so obvious that they know what they are doing is wrong and enjoying it. Yes, I immediately thought of you, Heidi, with those kids disturbing you while you were working from home after reading that Biblical example! At first with the kids knocking or ringing your door bell … we can say they were “innocent” and didn’t know. But after you explained nicely you can’t be disturbed … and for them to purposely do it again and then laugh at you when you had to open your door again. That was down right devilish. Like tricks before “trick or treating”. I had an unsaved childhood friend (Jeannie) who had a mean streak. Her family made a day trip to our Jersey shore vacation beach house. I was friends with the next door girl (Wendy) and instead of a doll she wrapped a real turtle in a blanket and placed in her doll carriage. There was a few trees that separated our backyard and moss grew in the shady spot. My childhood friend (Jeannie) suggested we throw moss at Wendy. I didn’t want to do it but she pressured me. So we called Wendy over and then pulled out the moss and threw at her. Wendy started crying and ran back into her house. I felt so bad but Jeannie was laughing her head off and she said lets go into the house and hide. Nobody saw what we did but I had such guilt and was sorry for doing it but Jeannie thought it was “fun”. After Jeannie’s family left … I walked over to Wendy’s house and knocked on her back door and apologized to her and gave her a hug and some candy. A few months later I got saved. Then when trying to witness to Jeannie and quoting John 3:16 to her … it never sunk in … all she said back was “wow that was a lot of words you memorized”. Meanwhile her older brother was friends with my older brother and would often be in our basement. I happened to have a plastic kickball 39 cents back then … now Dollar General sells the balls for $4.00 - $5.00 😳. Talk about highway robbery. I wrote my name on the ball with black marker and put stars next to my name. Well her brother made a comment and said why did you draw Jewish stars? I said because I wanted to. He said but you’re not Jewish! I said no, but Jesus, my Savior, is! He then rolled his eyes. After that … anytime he called for my brother and I answered the phone … I would call out for my brother to come to the phone … then if he asked who is it? I shouted out “its Egypt!” 😂 because I associated THAT family as the enemy. Used to watch the 10 Commandments (Charlton Heston) every Passover with my family. Good times … with the popcorn, ice cream sundaes and lighting candles while viewing the movie. My brother would scold me and say stop calling Michael “Egypt”. So I knew he heard but I didn’t care and continued to do so. 😆 The way I see it the unsaved kids are truly controlled by demons in their actions and lots of times have no remorse for being mean to others, especially to born again Christians … until they get saved themselves. Hang in there, Heidi, your trials in this life will be over soon … rapture deliverance is up ahead :good: and you will be rewarded for being faithful to Jesus and for your testimony! Heidi, I went thru some trying times with my next door condo neighbor when I first moved in. Didn’t know her dog was terrorizing the neighborhood. I was out with my dog and her dog came running after my dog and I was yanked to the ground and pulled thru the mud and my little dog made it underneath an evergreen tree and the branches kept him safe while the 60 lb bulldog tried to bite and kill him (he’s only 15 lbs). I was screaming out for help and the owner just stood there and was laughing at the entire situation! I then silently prayed and a Good Samaritan down the hill heard my cries and my dog barking and came running up the hill and got that bull dog and carried it back to the owner. Meanwhile I asked for help (I had a meniscus tear in my knee and was avoiding surgery) and needed his hand to pull me up from the ground. I thanked him. He said no problem. Meanwhile that neighbor never apologized … just put her dog back inside her place and took off for work. My dog was in shock and scared. I was hugging him and calming him down and called the vet for an appointment to be checked over. Then I went in person to the town hall to see if the neighbor’s dog was up with the shots and low and behold I found out the dog not only wasn’t up with the rabies shots but no dog licenses for 6 years! So the dog warrant guy threw the book at them with tons of fines. They in turn started doing damage to my suv … their elementary school girls kept scratching and denting my vehicle … every day I found another mark … this went on for a couple of months. Then I caught the daughter using the hose and power spraying my open window to ruin my hardwood floors. I was glad I was home to shut the windows and when I went outside … she was laughing her head off while her dad was standing around smiling a devilish grin. I put up with a lot … I had friends praying “remove or improve” fortunately things got better and they moved away!!! There were so many times in my flesh I was tempted to scratch their vehicle back but I didn’t because I knew the Lord is watching and He promises vengeance is His, He will repay us. I ended up buying a lot of car paint and tried to touch up the scratches the best that I could. When it came time to trade in the vehicle … I was amazed … I got a few thousand more than the book value 😂. I thanked the Lord for His goodness! The journey in this life is not always pleasant but its going to get better on the eternal side! :yes: Geri, thank you for sharing. How sweet that you apologized for Wendy and gave her hugs and candy. It's Egypt! that's funny. The trials of this world will be over soon enough. Days are going by fast. Last night, I had weird dreams. It started with me being next to mother in the bedroom while she was sleeping. Demons were trying to attack her and I was praying for protection. Then I was in a huge kitchen, the counters were white (maybe made of marbles) then I went into another big lovely room surrounded by glass (instead of walls, it was all glass) , it seemed like there was much more to explore in that house. I was on the phone with someone telling them I want to ask that lady (whoever she is) to let me live with her and mentioned how much more there is to explore in this house as I looked around me. As I was saying that I remembered "in my father's house are many mansions". Geri, I just read your second post. That was scary with the dog. I am sorry for all the horrible things you had to put up with.
