Pam Padgett - teacher
Psalm 34:14 Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.
Recently I needed to deal with two matters and, in each matter, the way to go became clear as the Holy Spirit sorted through the matter showing the way of peace and ways that would not lead to peace, giving me the opportunity to turn from what would not lead to peace, and go in the way of peace.
peace:
freedom from disturbance
mental calm
free from anxiety, distress, dread
absence of war or strife
One matter had to do
with having gates replaced at my house. The wood was splitting and the gates were falling
apart and dragging on the ground making them very difficult to
open and shut. I talked with two different handymen about replacing the
gates. At first they each seemed interested in doing the work and said they
would get back with me, but didn't do this. When I contacted each of
them a second time but received no response, I did not continue trying to work with them. It was in my heart that to continue trying to get a response could lead to strife and would not be a way of peace for me.
Another man came to look at the job and I was shocked that I
immediately wanted him to leave, but didn't know why. (I don't recall ever before having such a strong reaction to someone.) I tried to
convince myself
that there was something wrong with me, for he hadn't said anything offensive. But I also turned to God and asked HIM what was going on in this? Then the man turned around and I saw that he had very long hair pulled back into a
pony tail. It is a shame for a man to have long hair, and I think
this is why I was so troubled as soon as I saw him. (Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him? 1 Corin. 11:14) Even before I saw
his long hair, I think the Holy Spirit was bringing to my attention the
shamefulness of this man. I was troubled, not at all in peace, and knew I couldn't have him do the work.
One man came and looked at what needed to be done and gave me an
estimate. But I found that when I spoke with him, he often complained about other jobs. Although he seemed competent, I was
troubled by his talk. I tried to convince myself that he would be
working outside and that I wouldn't have to talk with him very much. And it appealed to me that he said he could start the job within a few days.
But when I prayed, I was reminded of his complaining and believed I
was being shown there was a problem with this man, that I would be
troubled, and this was not the way for me to go.
As I continued praying, I was reminded of a man who has done
landscape work for me. I called and spoke with him and he said they do
this type of work. Interestingly, before he came to look at the gates, I
kept being reminded of tension wires I have seen on screen
doors and wondered if wires like this might be needed on the gates.
When the landscape guy came, he carefully looked at the current gates
and pointed out that they had not been built to evenly distribute the
weight. Although I know nothing about building gates, what he said made
sense to me. He also said he would put tension wires on
the gates and would use all new hardware, which I fully
agreed with. (Others wanted to re-use as much of the existing hardware
as possible.)
The landscape guys built and installed the gates this past week with no problems at
all. The gates look very nice, are very sturdy, and open fully very
easily.
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Another matter in which I was led as I sought peace had to do with
getting my hair cut. For 4-5 years a woman has cut my hair in a
way I like and can manage. But I was always glad to leave her shop and
found myself putting off going for another hair cut until my hair was
really bothering me. There were several other hair stylists at this
shop talking, and popular music playing, so the noise level was high in
the shop. But mostly the spirit in the woman who cut my hair troubled me.
By the time my hair was bothering me again, a couple months had gone by
and I would focus on how nice my hair looked when this woman cut it,
and I minimized in my mind how I wanted to get away when there. Her ability to cut my hair as I liked was like a "hook" that kept me going back there.
But the last time this woman cut my hair a few months ago, I walked out of her shop,
got into my car, and immediately turned to God saying that I never
wanted to go back there. I asked God to help me remember how troubled I
was and to help me find someone else to cut my hair. Even if a haircut
from someone else didn't look as nice or wasn't as easy for me to
manage, I didn't want to have this woman cut my hair again. I continued
praying about this over the next several weeks.
At one point I remembered that one of my neighbor's hair is about the
length and style of mine and looks nicely cut. I asked her who cuts
her hair, and found that she goes to a shop about 45 minutes away and
through lots of traffic. As I prayed, I felt dread about making this
drive. Similarly, I noticed the hair of a woman in a dog class and
asked who cut her hair. She told me the woman who cuts her hair had a shop in this area at one time but then got married and now lives
across the state. She comes here periodically to cut
hair. This arrangement troubled me. I had no peace about either of these options, and continued praying.
Then I remembered a card I had gotten in the mail advertising
businesses in a small town not far from where I live. One of those
businesses was a hair stylist. When I remembered this card, I prayed
asking God if this shop might work and had the thought to look online. I
found that this shop has a small website telling about it. One of the
two stylists there specializes in hair that sounds similar to mine. I
called and spoke with her, and decided to schedule an appointment.
The shop is small and quiet. There are just two stylists, and rather than popular music, there was pleasant instrumental music softly playing in the
background.
And I found that I enjoyed talking to the woman who cut my hair.
When she asked what I enjoy doing, one of the things I told her is that I
am a Christian and enjoy reading the Bible. She said she is also a
Christian, then asked me where I go to church. When I told her I don't
attend a church, she immediately said that I probably
talked with and keep in touch with other Christians. I told her this is
true, and told her about our little church group with people across the
country and also that we have a blog.
She said her parents were
Spirit-filled Christians and in the area where she grew up there
were churches of three denominations (she told what those denominations
were but the only one I remember is Catholic). She said her parents
found they couldn't go to any of those. So, as they would meet other
Christians, they invited them to their home for what they called
fellowship meetings. She said this is how she was raised, with Christians
meeting at their home and her dad preached.
She was very interested in the blog and seemed to immediately understand what we do. I
told her of a dream God gave to
Joan showing to start the blog. She asked how people find the blog and I told her I had
prayed about this and my attention kept being drawn to advertising, and
that we now have ads on the internet that help people find the blog. (Before I left I gave her a card telling about the blog and
how to get to the blog on the internet and she thanked me for it saying she wanted this information.)
At one point she said she first learned about the internet when her children were
young. She stayed home caring for her children and heard reports about
harmful things on the internet. She thought these harmful things would
pop up on the screen unexpectedly, and she was afraid to have internet
access in their home, wanting to protect her children from such things. I enjoyed hearing how she watched over her children, wanting to protect them from harm. It caused me to be grateful to God for the way HE created us to do this.
We talked about other things as well while she cut my hair. The time went by quickly and I didn't want to flee. And I like the haircut and am able to easily manage my hair with this haircut.
Our flesh often tries to work things out quickly and on its own, trying
to ignore or minimize anything that might indicate a problem. But we can turn to
God, trusting HIM and willing for HIM to work the matter out as HE
wills, and wait for HIM. God's way for us in the matter will work, and is the way of peace for us.
James 3:17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure,
then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of
mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without
hypocrisy. 18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace
of them that make peace.
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Comments by Joan Boney
Hearing this story helped me greatly.
It is time for me to go for inspection of car for car licenses. For the past two years, I have gone to same place for this inspection and both times I was afflicted by lewd talk and lewd manner of the man in charge whom I believe to be the owner.
The last time, his speech was so bad to a young woman who was sitting there as he made sexual overtures to her, a married woman, that when I left I "swore" I would not return to that place the following year. (this year)
But as time passes, we often weaken. We get to thinking, "I can stand it ... It wasn't as bad as I thought."
But it was as bad as I thought.
And when Pam told me this story about the hairdresser, I was warned about returning to this inspection station. And I heeded the warning and plan to look for another inspection station and to pray about where I can go for this other than where I have gone where the man's speech is lewd.