Women's Battle

"And best of all, as the highest portraiture of Jesus, try to forgive your enemies, as He did; and let those sublime words of your Master, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do," always ring in your ears. Forgive, as you hope to be forgiven. Heap coals of fire on the head of your foe by your kindness to him. Good for evil, recollect, is godlike. Be godlike, then; and in all ways and by all means, so live that all may say of you, "He has been with Jesus." -Charles Spurgeon

This is definitely something I have to work on myself. I used to so easily forgive! In a lot of ways, I still do. It's just when you befriend someone and they betray you more than once, it hurts deep down. Then when you see them again, you wonder. Are they smiling at me to my face because they genuinely want to? Or are they smiling at me and thinking something evil in their heart? I know there is a point of forgiving but not necessarily taking them in as a close friend again. I want to go beyond that. I want to see them, be able to say hello with a smile, and truly mean it. To not harbor a darkness in my heart toward them.

Today is February 11th so I read Proverbs 11th correspond with the day. This was in the chapter.

12. "It is foolish to belittle one's neighbor; a sensible person keeps quiet. 13. A gossip goes around telling secrets, but those who are trustworthy can keep a confidence."

Verse 12 is a struggle for me but not verse 13. I never tell a friend's secret unless I thought it was common knowledge and not a secret by accident. Then I feel like a turd. But... The first verse, I think can be a common problem amongst women at times. That is one of the hardest things for women. It seems in order to feed our self esteem, we have to look down on others and find something to belittle them. It's an ugly game women play. That verse spoke to my heart and so I thought I'd share it. :)