Update #117

"Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord." Romans 12:19

Marching Cow Bell "Band" - Interlaken, Switzerland

Bless those that curse you. Turn the other cheek. Be kind to those who malign. Yada Yada Yada. But why? Why be nice when they are not. Why bestow grace when they really deserve a kick in the butt…with a pointy steel-toed boot!

I have come to realize if God asks / advises / commands something he probably has a good reason. He tells the Israelites in Deuteronomy not to eat rabbit - no reason given, just don’t eat it. Science, much later, proved humans expend more calories eating hare than they do ingesting it; producing a negative caloric outcome. God knew that.

I looked up the word blessing and was surprised by what the root of the word means. Blessing stems from a Germanic noun for “blood”…literally meaning “to consecrate with blood, sprinkle with blood”…so when you ask God to bless someone you are asking him to cover them with His blood – to sanctify their actions, to redeem their behavior, to bring good out of bad.

When you pray blessing over another person you are asking God to “go get ‘em.” When an incident occurs and we pray blessing upon those who wronged us we are giving God license to “help” the other person. God gave us free will and independence – he won’t act upon something unless we ask him to.

To the other person our prayer of “blessing” may not look much like one. Their lives may begin to crumble, their wrong attitudes and perceptions may begin to change creating chaos, and long-standing acquaintances may abandon them because of their new “outlook” on life. They see disaster, calamity, tragedy and ruin – but we see the blessing of change.

This brings forth the real point…with this new knowledge, are blessings good or bad? Are they for health or harm? Are they to help or hinder? Romans 8:28 says that God turns all things to the good…ALL things. So even if something looks awful and tragic in the beginning it will be favorable in the end; a devastating injury bringing a closer walk with God, a death bringing a family back together, a drawn out illness causing a loved one a slow decline cultivating patience and perseverance of character in the caretaker.

Blessings are bestowed – when asked for. Blessings are beneficial – but not always immediately. Blessings are abundant – look around.

Have you ever been wronged? Have you ever been intentionally hurt by another? Have you ever been slighted, maligned, slandered, belittled, humiliated, shamed? What was your reaction? How did you treat the person who harmed you, your character, your reputation, your family name? What did you do?

Did you bless them?

Updates:

Living – I have an offer! We are currently in the negotiation stage but by Tuesday I hope to be in escrow…Whoopee!

Work – Training is in full swing and we are prepping for our upcoming trips to South Africa and India.

Travel – Redding, CA was fantastic! Work / Play is a good mix!

Requests:

Living – that I’ll get into escrow, all the contingencies will work in my favor, and the sale will go through as soon as the buildings construction is completed.

Work – we have all day training on Saturday and our retreat is April 9-11 – lots to do before then!

Travel – South Africa in May for three weeks for GDOP www.GDOP2010.com

Websites – If you would like to RSS my update vs. getting them by email visit my blog site http://www.denaandrews.blogspot.com/. To find out more about rēp visit http://www.repurposing.biz/ for information.