Pam Padgett ... member of the body of Christ
Friday evening I was upstairs for a few hours, working and talking on the telephone. When I went downstairs I was shocked to see that the dogs had chewed some holes in the heated throw I keep on the sofa. They had even chewed through at least one of the internal wires!
I especially liked this heated throw because it was larger than other throws I have had in the past. Now it could no longer be safely plugged into an electric outlet for heating.
I was upset that the dogs did this. But instead of turning to God with this, I rationalized away that I was upset:
"Its spring now so I probably wouldn't have used the throw much until next year." (Snow is expected here tonight and sometimes it snows even in May) ...
"I can easily get another heated throw." ...
"Its just a heated throw. Not worth getting upset about."
Then Saturday, I was talking with Joan on the telephone. We were laughing about something concerning her cat, and I brought up what the dogs had done to the heated throw and said something like "I'll have to see what I can do to get back at them."
As soon as this was out of my mouth, I was troubled.
When Joan and I finished talking a few minutes later, I began talking with God about what I had said.
But as I started to do this, a thought came saying: "You weren't serious in saying this. It was just said in fun. There is no problem."
Immediately another thought came from the Holy Spirit, which reminded me That which comes out of my mouth shows what is in my heart. This is truth.
Luke 6:45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good;
and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil:
for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.
As soon as I heard this, I knew the devil was trying to stop me from dealing with this matter. I was also grateful that the Holy Spirit brought truth to me.
So I diligently started dealing with this, telling God how I felt about the heated throw, telling HIM that I was upset about this, upset that the dogs had been so destructive and also that now I'd have to deal with getting it replaced. And I asked God to help me and to clean up my heart.
As I was praying I was reminded of two things ...
- When I purchased this throw, I had purchased another, identical, one as well. The other one was upstairs in a spare bedroom, unused. I had completely forgotten about having it! There was no need to even get another one.
- I had gotten busy on Friday and had not taken the dogs for either a walk or for a run at the the dog park. Its very seldom I don't do one of these things. When the dogs get home from a walk or run they are calmer for the rest of the day. But on Friday they had been inside the house with me most of the time except for a few short periods in the small side yard. They never had a chance to get worn out and calmed.
Thinking on these things, I was no longer upset at all. It was like the resentment I had in my heart was gone.
When I tried to rationalize the matter away, it didn't deal with the problem and I even spewed the resentment in my heart out of my mouth.
But when I turned to God, there was real help.
Also I learned Sunday night that I obviously had concerned Joan needlessly over all of this. She was planning to send me a heated throw she no longer uses, and was trying to work through what box she could use and how to get it ready for shipping. I was glad to have the opportunity to tell her about the second throw already here which God reminded me of, although I should have told her as soon as God helped me with the problem since I had previously told her about it.
Lots of trouble to ourselves and others when we don't deal correctly with problems.
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