Humility Breeds Grace

I have a confession to make....I don't like admitting that I'm wrong.  Can anyone relate? It just seems that we girls, when it comes to our house, our kids, our territory, we know everything that goes on, right?

Well, something happened the other day to me that really taught me a good lesson and it goes right along with accusing when we speak. I know y'all are reading this now because we just need to hear this kind of stuff, right? Not that we need to hear about people's negative behavior, we just need to know we aren't the only ones misbehaving.

Anyway, I accused my husband of letting our dogs outside and it really irritated me because I had just let them in. Let me redeem myself just a little here cuz that sounds pretty silly. It's pretty wet here so this time of year I try to limit how long the dogs are out so they don't track in too much mud. See how I am?  I'm already making excuses. Haha! But, I got caught that day and there was no denying it. Jim stared back at me like, "What the heck are you talking about?" That was when I realized I had left the door ajar and the dogs went out on their own. It wasn't a nice accusation either, like "Honey, how come the dogs are outside?" No, it was, "Why did you let the dogs out!!?"

I owned up to my mistake right away, I tucked my tail between my legs and begged for forgiveness. I didn't make excuses either (my learned behavior).  The really cool thing about all of this was Jim's normal reaction would have been to be a little put out and I might have had to earn my redemption. Five years ago, we might not have spoken to each other for days. But he looked at me so sweetly and said, "Isn't it silly how WE say things like that?"  Wow! That floored me, and almost brought tears to my eyes!

I'm telling you girls, EVERY single time I have humbled myself and owned up to my mistakes, God honors it and I receive grace from my husband. His ways always work, every single time. Even when they don't appear to be, they are, you can count on it. I'm having a blast learning how to love the way God wants me to!

~Jeri Heintz