When a friend betrayed me, I knew I would need to forgive her, but I wasn’t sure that I could. Her words pierced deeply inside me, and I felt stunned with pain and anger. Although we talked about it and I told her I forgave her, for a long time whenever I’d see her, I felt tinges of hurt, so I knew I still clung to some resentment.
Lord Jesus Christ, through Your grace and power as You dwell in me, help me to forgive, that Your love will set me free.
Reading the query reminded me of the advice my mother instilled in me back in high school, and that was always keep an emergency twenty-dollar bill in your wallet. She would often say, “That $20 bill will get you out of more jams than you can imagine!” and over the years it has. Though I digress if I were this woman, I would have slapped my emergency $20 on the table and walked out. There are already clearly red flags that should make her not want to get entangled in such a relationship. I would also suggest to her to get comfortable in splitting the bill. After all, some individuals are on a budget, and others simply cannot recall who paid last time. What I would not do is advise her to follow Resto advice or so called her script. Which reads as follows “Hey (insert name), I’ve been enjoying our time together and want to continue to go out and get to know you more. However, I want to be honest and tell you that it really bothered me when you insist, we split the check because I was going to be out of town. It made me feel like you weren’t interested or didn’t want to invest in this relationship because you weren’t getting something out of it immediately. I like the cadence of paying every other time and knowing that in the end, it evens out. What are your feelings?”- What would you do?
When a woman in Karen’s church was diagnosed with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease), things looked bad. This cruel disease affects nerves and muscles, eventually leading to paralysis. The family’s insurance won’t cover home care, and the stricken woman’s husband couldn’t bear the thought of putting her in a nursing home. As a nurse, Karen had the expertise to help and began going to the woman’s home to care for her. But she soon realized she couldn’t take care of her own family while meeting the needs of her friend, so she started teaching others in the church to help. As the disease ran its course over the next seven years, Karen trained thirty-one additional volunteers who surrounded that family with love, prayer, and practical assistance.
I’ve heard honey never spoils. How is this possible?
Honey has an unusual composition. As you know, it starts with plant nectar before the bees work their magic and the factors that retard spoilage come into play. First, most of the water is evaporated. This low water content dehydrates bacteria. Plus, the resultant honey contains acid, including hydrogen peroxide. The acid also inhibits bacterial growth. And if honey ever crystallizes, you can just set the opened jar in warm water for a few minutes.
One word of caution: Honey must never be fed to babies. Their immune systems are immature, and any botulism spores may be toxic.
