I want to make you happy...

2 Corinthians 2

Contemporary English Version (CEV)

 ¹I have decided not to make my next visit with you so painful. ²If I make you feel bad, who would be left to cheer me up, except the people I had made to feel bad? ³The reason I want to be happy is to make you happy. I wrote as I did because I didn't want to visit you and be made to feel bad, when you should make me feel happy. ⁴At the time I wrote, I was suffering terribly. My eyes were full of tears, and my heart was broken. But I didn't want to make you feel bad. I only wanted to let you know how much I cared for you.  

Forgiveness

 ⁵I don't want to be hard on you. But if one of you has made someone feel bad, I am not really the one who has been made to feel bad. Some of you are the ones. ⁶Most of you have already pointed out the wrong that person did, and that is punishment enough for what was done.    ⁷When people sin, you should forgive and comfort them, so they won't give up in despair. ⁸You should make them sure of your love for them.
    ⁹I also wrote because I wanted to test you and find out if you would follow my instructions. ¹⁰I will forgive anyone you forgive. Yes, for your sake and with Christ as my witness, I have forgiven whatever needed to be forgiven. ¹¹I have done this to keep Satan from getting the better of us. We all know what goes on in his mind.
    ¹²When I went to Troas to preach the good news about Christ, I found that the Lord had already prepared the way.¹³But I was worried when I didn't find my friend Titus there. So I left the other followers and went on to Macedonia.
    ¹⁴I am grateful that God always makes it possible for Christ to lead us to victory. God also helps us spread the knowledge about Christ everywhere, and this knowledge is like the smell of perfume. ^15-16In fact, God thinks of us as a perfume that brings Christ to everyone. For people who are being saved, this perfume has a sweet smell and leads them to a better life. But for people who are lost, it has a bad smell and leads them to a horrible death.
   No one really has what it takes to do this work. ¹⁷A lot of people try to get rich from preaching God's message. But we are God's sincere messengers, and by the power of Christ we speak our message with God as our witness.

Merry-go-round

World English Dictionary

merry-go-round
— n
1.	another name for roundabout
2.	a whirl of activity or events

I have many delightful memories having to do with merry-go-rounds. 

From a tottering young age at the Kid's Kingdom...

...to the full grown age of 20 with my friends at the Delphi park.

I came to a conclusion. Life is a merry-go-round. 

There was a song written in the 1970s by Donovan. The music is definitely the cliche hippie 70s sound, but take a peek at the beginning lyrics:

Beneath the weight of the world I can be found//Among the chaos and the wheel, scattered all around.//On the wild windy wave I'm tossed, cast away and lost,//Now I understand what those sad songs say.//Make up your mind to be happy,//Life is a merry-go-round.

Life is a whirl of activity and events. 

As I searched for real-life photos of the aforementioned parks...I realized my enjoyment of being twirled on a merry-go-round was much more frequent as a child. Why? Because I had someone I trusted to spin me.

My father can spin a merry-go-round better than anyone, faster and longer! (at least he could a decade ago)

And I trusted him. I knew that my daddy was right there if I needed him.

Then, some time in life I was jaded. I think it's commonly referred to as maturity. Sadly....I think I lost my childlike faith. 

Who is my Daddy? 

Do I trust Him to spin me?

Do I believe He will never leave nor forsake me?

Even if my teddy bear flew off in the spin...would I still believe He restores?

"Life is a merry-go-round. Make up your mind to be happy. "

How?

{Philippians 4:4-7}

 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 

Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation,

 by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, 

present your requests to God. And the peace of God, 

which transcends all understanding, will

 guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Forgiveness

"Love keeps no records of wrong."

Most always, when someone apologizes, I semi-automatically quip back with "Forgiveness abounds."
I started saying that Summer 2010 and I like to believe I coined the word (figuratively).

Yet, I notice myself having difficulty with this elementary task.
You see, it's hard when it's a past deed that left you broken for months. How much more difficult is a on-going deed?
It's called the gift of forgiveness, but is it a gift if it's not known?

"Let go so the Lord can take control. Forgive."
Yes, but how?

You can forgive someone that cut you once, but....can you forgive when there's currently a knife stuck in your heart?

I've read "forgiveness is giving up hope for a better past."
Basically looking forward to the future, what's done is done, no turning back But...what if there's no future on that path, what if you're at a dead end?

Lord, I give it up. Please help me forgive like You do.

Make a path from this dead end, as only You can do.

I love You,  and I trust You.

Hear my heart's cry.

Control.

Confession: I have control issues.

It's worse then most people could imagine.

It's not in every happening in my life. Actually, I don't have the issues with my person to person interactions at all.




Solely in my circumstances, my surroundings, my life, and the path I walk on do I come across this issue. I notice it coming up when I'm outdoors in overwhelming weather. The emotion stirs my heart. I feel my blood beginning to pump faster and the emotion built up in my limbs makes me want to run.

Some people say it's a trait of a personality type: laid-back versus go-get'er
I'll have to disagree in my situation. I believe for my issue is the result of trusting God.

Let me clarify: i love not being in control


I've yielded to the Lord....
and it means the end of control.

I LOVE IT!
It overjoys me to be reminded that I'm not in control.
It's the reason I like to go outside and see some of the things He's created.
I love to see the stars, think about how small I am.
I love to stand in the wind, have my hair blown about and tip over in the power.
I love to watch a storm roll in, shiver with expectancy of the magnificence that is about to be displayed.
I love to feel the thunder, blinded by the lightning that follows.
I love to not see my next step, but know the end result - God being glorified.
I love to being abandoned in my heart of hearts, knowing He holds it.
I love to trust Him enough to use me as He wishes, and know...know the extent of His love for me.

I have a control issue. But if anything, a picture more representative of me is this: