Humbled by my own pessimism

So, I had some feelings towards a couple of people who had frustrated me and didn't seem to be listening or responding to anything I said or did...And here is my patern of venting again in safe (or thought to be safe) environments...well I told everyone to pray about these individuals and shared my feelings about the situations...

Well here is the ironic thing...they prayed and God answered...

Funny you'd think that would be a given but when I said we should pray I was full of pessimism and annoyance...I don't know in my heart if I beleived anything could come from those individuals, God proved me wrong and showed me that when I am frustrated, instead of venting and losing hope, I need to come to Him with a heart longing for resolution and restoration and BELEIVE that He will answer.

God, forgive me for my unbelief and pessimism, Grow me in my Faith!

Yesterday

Well, I was told yesterday by a few people that perhaps I have a tendency to demand too much out of people, sometimes to the extent that if they don't meet my expectations I will refuse to work with them. Well, I think I dissagree for the most part. First of all, when I vent I am extremely harsh, which is why I vent to neutral parties (my wife and warren) before interacting with the individuals in question. Secondly, I feel very strongly that if someone is going to say that they are going to do something that they need to do it.
The idea that I should tip toe around individuals and not hold them accountable or try to help prepare them to do what they have volunteered or asked to do seems a little pointless. Anyway, thats my 2 cents on their comments...although I do suppose that my venting could be a little more gentle. If you ask my wife she will even tell you that I tend to give people WAY too many chances for redemption, which actually suggests the opposite.

Anyway, I'll take what I can from the comments and pray about it and make some adjustments without compromising who I am.

I had a great meeting with my friend Adrian Wi too yesterday!

We talked and prayed through some things, it was SUPER refreshing to hear truth and to be transparent. It cut off the Devil's attack route because the lies and false thoughts were brought to light.

If you have someone like that in your life...take advantage, embrace and pour into that relationship.

New Phases in Life

So, here we are as a family working out some of the new phases and dynamics of family and pastor life.
Melissa has resigned and is working her way down to maybe a 4 hour a week contract at the most. I am feeling more free to get things done and connect with people than I have in a while, but admittedly its taking a while to find my groove. I'm so used to getting done the things that are URGENT and need doing for tomorrow that my brain is slowly starting to pull to the forefront all the things I've left on the back burner.
I'm feeling better about most things in life right now. My family and my work etc... I actually got a chance to preach again 2 Sundays ago, I loved it...I think. ;)
And I'm in the process of renovating a bathroom in our house so that David Thompson can move in with us.
He is a handicapped guy who was both my Dad and my best man in our weddings. I'm feeling like a lot of the bigger stresses are getting checked off the list which is good. Now its just a matter of adjusting to whats happened and focusing on what is going to happen next.

Giddie-up!

Thanks for your prayers!