In what areas in your life has God been most patient?

[Pilgrim525]

“Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye?” (Mt7:3)

Oh, how many times have the Lord been convicting me on this area in my life? And why do I keep noticing the splinter in my brother’s eye? Because probably I see my own faults and weaknesses in him but I wouldn’t admit having them and thus blame everything on him instead . . . I must admit I continue to struggle against the temptation to be judgmental and critical of others. I judge people easily and become self-righteous. I found out a way from doing so. I focus inwardly. I focus on myself: my faults, my weaknesses, and my own wretchedness before God. I keep reminding myself that since He has blessed me more spiritually, more is expected from me. And if more is expected from me, then I have more things to account for in this life. That realization humbles me and prevents me from being judgmental. But sometimes I do fall and God helps me to rise up again after each fall. He has been so patient with me in this area.

In what areas in your life has God been so equally patient?

God bless,
Nimfa

 

[Lux_et_veritas]

Pilgrim525:

In what areas in your life has God been so equally patient?

God bless,
Nimfa

Too many to count

I’ve been thinking along similar, but not equal lines about his justice. I once thought justice was something that happened when you died, but I can personally attest to the fact that he delivers here and now.

I had some less than virtuous confession habits and wasn’t able to bring one type of sinfulness under control. I felt God telling me he had gotten a little fedup with the nonsense and so he took the screen away and made me go face to face. He made me tell Father how I had disrespected the sacrament and how it caused me to avoid my best chance of help. After two days of wanting to be sick to my stomach at what I felt He was asking me to do, I gave in. That felt like justice. The good Lord showed me how pride led to that behavior and he wanted to teach me a lesson in humility.

Father knows best because it worked. His plan was highly effective and after fifteen years, I’m free and clear, having the right tools to now deal with the issue. God wanted me to tell him that if I fell in this particular manner again, I was to return to the same priest and look him in the eyes again and tell him. Lemme tell you, that was incentive to try much harder than I had in the past, especially since the penance involved the Rosary. I fell on the ladder of temptation, through no fault of my own, and I could hear the Blessed Mother in my heart telling me, “Step down off that ladder now and do not dwell in this temptation. If you climb to the next rung, you will have to tell my Son, through Father, that you have ignored his Mother!”

Now that was a piece of incentive.

So, I guess I can say that He was pretty patient as I made a mockery of the Sacrament of Penance over 15 years in an attempt to hide a long standing problem from any one priest. Surprisingly, none of the priests got into frequency and I never offered, so all I did was confess the sin, over and again, always intending to do better, but apparently not trying hard enough to stop.