Renovation of my heart....

So I started a new Bible study small group and it's called Renovation of the Heart. Each week there are exercises to do in order to help "bring home" the lesson that was taught. Well my excesses that I chose last week was to ask two questions. The book said ask a good friend or your spouse....well If I asked Richard, my husband he would have to lie to me because he knows where the couch is if he is mean... ;-) So I chose to ask some close friends that see me in many different ways and situations. The first question was, What are ways in which I mirror Christ when I interact with them. Not so bad right???? I got some really nice responses like, helpful, caring, loving, kind, giving. Boost to my self esteem! Thank you Friends!

Well the second question was, in what ways do I NOT mirror Christ when I interact with them and/or others? Well.....I have to tell you, I was a little hesitant but I knew that I needed to ask this in order to follow what God was asking of me. He needed to knock down some walls in my heart. What I found strange was that all of my friends said the same thing.....I tend to jump to conclusions too quickly without hearing every one's side of the story and I get mad.

Well I be darn....must be the Irish in me. I don't know.... I guess all along I knew I did that BUT I didn't know it bothered people. I do tend to become a little passionate about things and I let me emotions control that. The hardest part of this was not focusing on the second question and how my friends answered it because believe me....I want to know when I did this and how often do I tend to do this and have I ever hurt them by doing this. But that was not what I was supposed to do with that info. I was to pray over that and ask God to help me with those things.

And he is.....SO....for all you friends out there that I tend to jump to conclusions with.....just hang in there....God is working as fast as I will let him work with me on this.

Well my exercise this week is to imagine as if Christ is next to me when I am talking to others. See if that changes how I interact with people or the type of conversations I have. Well....Monday is a bust! Later on that but lets just leave it as it was a BAD day!

So I would recommend to anyone that enjoys a challenging Bible study to do this one. It will surly leave you in the merciful hands of God as he knocks down and renovates your heart and mind.