The Bible promises that, for those born again, the Holy Spirit will reside in our hearts and begin to yield His fruit through us. It's not always clear to me that His nurturing and pruning are, in fact, bearing fruit through my life. So, I love those times when I'm tested and can look back on the episode with the peace and comfort of knowing that yes, He is indeed at work even in a wretch like me.
For instance, this morning one of the moms on a homeschool curriculum group I visit needed urgent help solving a math problem for her middle-school child. Her question was, "What fraction is one-half of 1/4?" She added that she has searched high and low and all of Google for the answer, but can't find confirmation that she is correct.
Well. The old me would have posted a knee-jerk reply something like: "OMG! You need to put the pencil down and step away from the text books. Run immediately to your ISD and enroll your kids while they still have a %#$@ @#$# chance of making it to adulthood with a couple of brain cells intact!"
That was the old me.
The new me deleted the temptation from my inbox and allowed one with greater grace and tact answer her question.
Of course, I'm still a work in progress. I couldn't resist blogging about it.