Matthew 5:10

Greetings,
Isn't this fall weather giving us a gorgeous sky? We are so blessed by the Lord in His nature. Do you feel blessed today? Have you counted some blessings?
When I look at the scripture for today I tried to think of a good story and here's what I want to share: Mattew 5:10 "Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
When we were in Europe, one of the camps that we had in western Czech was attended by a lady from the states that had been born in Hungary. Her name is Maria and as the camp progressed we realized that she was only there so that she could get a free trip back to her home country.
She didn't want to teach and Chuck and I had to take care of her classes and the fall out onthe first couple of days as this problem became evident. The students rebelled and justifiably. She also seemed to direct all of her angst against me. There wasn't anything that I could do right. Even her team members noticed and tried to correct her bad behavior. They were embarrassed.
When we were finally done with the camp and back in Prague for the team to sightsee and then leave, Maria needed to catch a train to Budapest. The night before she left, we all were going sightseeing and to supper.
As we were walking to the trolley station, Marie started in being really nasty to me. Her team members jumped all over her, but it didn't stop her bad behavior. Finally I stopped and faced her. The whole team was gathered around watching what was going to happen. Many times through the week the team had talked about how patient I was with her.
So, I was put to the test and because the Spirit allowed me to see through the week that I was being persecuted, not by Maria, but by warfare, I was able to handle the persecution with grace. I apologized for anything that I had done or said that might have hurt her. I was sincere and she knew it. It took her completely unaware.
It was hard for her to accept my apology. Everyone gathered said that I wasn't at fault, but I knew that in order to diffuse the situation, I needed to apologize. Whether I had done anything or not. I took the darkness of persecution, and exposed it to the light, therefore the hold of persecution was disarmed.
When we got on the Trolley, Chuck was worried about me, so I quoted Ephesians 6:12. I wasn't hurt by Maria because I saw it for what it was: warfare because we were doing the Lord's work. I knew that Maria was being used. Satan loves to use those that are weak in their faith to persecute others.
My witness to all of the team was important, as a teaching tool. Hopefully the Lord used that time to help them see what was going on so that they wouldn't be harsh with Maria when they met up again, back at their home church.
It wasn't me that handled this situation well, it was the Spirit in me handling everything well. I just got to see the Spirit at work and to have His comfort as He dealt with the persecution.
Not all problems in life are persecution, but many are and we need to know how to handle them, with God's grace.

Grace abiding,
Sandy