Knockin' On My Heart

That would be the Holy Spirit doing the knocking on my heart. Some days it feels like all day long I'm feeling convicted about one thing or another. Today there were two such occasions that really got my attention.

This afternoon my daughter was needing some correction, and instead of obediently receiving it, she decided to throw what could only be described as a temper tantrum. She doesn't do this sort of thing very often, but sometimes she gets so upset, and just can't figure out a better way to let it all out. Today, as she started getting herself all worked up, I immediately said a quick prayer for patience and to be able to show mercy like God shows to me. **Knock, Knock, Knock** Watching her scream and cry for no reason suddenly gave me a different picture. I could just imagine my Father in Heaven watching me sometimes when I don't want to obey. He must see me the same way that I saw my daughter. While I was telling my daughter, "If you'd only obey, you wouldn't have to feel like this.", I could hear God saying, "Pam, do you hear yourself? Just obey, and everything will be better." After calming her down and administering some correction, I received the love of my daughter in the warmth of her hug. Just as I still love my Father after I have to be corrected.... and amazingly, He loves me.

I also read a blog post this morning that has stuck with me all day. It's over at A note from Theresa, and it's basically about how we interact with our husband. Honestly, when I first read it, I thought, "Yeah, yeah, nothin' new. I know, I know." But God's Word doesn't return void and it stayed with me, lightly giving that **Knock, Knock, Knock**. I had to examine how I interact with my husband. Do I always lift him up and give him a gracious response? My husband and I joke around constantly, but I've noticed lately that my humor seems to be turning into sarcasm more and more. I use the sarcasm in joking ways, but sarcasm can be a tricky thing. It can also express annoyance or anger. Examining the words I've said, I can see that sometimes I do use them to mask what I'm really feeling towards him. I'm sure that I'm not fooling him though, and that must hurt. I'm glad that God brought this to my attention so that I can be sure to make my husband happy to dwell in the corner of the housetop with me ;) [Prov 21:9]