Re-apply, ladies!

So my office "roomie" is a dear Southern lady...I know, in Indiana?! How funny! But she's about as S'uthe'n as they come! It's great! I have thoroughly enjoyed sharing an office with her. We have great conversations, and she has the occasional meltdown " I could be YOUR Momma!!!"---"I could have 3 grandbabies!!!" But, we can typically move on from there...shortly.

Part of her job is "dean of girls"---meaning she gets to deal with a lot of the behavioral issues in the female students. I have learned sooo much from listening to her counsel these girls. And counseling is really what she does...she deals with the HEART issues...not the behavior...but what causes the behavior. She asks them the hard questions. And she doesn't let them get off easily with not answering. She pushes...politely...firmly...really, I think it's a Southern thing! Sometimes I have to hold back a snicker when one of the girls thinks they can get around her questions...silly girls, I think, she has you pegged! Today's ABF lesson and sermon were the perfect exclamation point to the events of this week for me. Where does our Hope come from? What kind of fruit am I bearing? What's happening on the inside? Am I allowing the Word of God to create a NEW me from the INSIDE out?!?!? Today at church, it was...as if I was sitting at Susan's desk being asked the HARD questions...except I had the Righteous Judge asking me...the One who knows the truth...the One I can't hide the hideous within me from. Wow! I'm thankful that the Lord is not done with me yet because I truly have much to learn. I am amazed that he persists...lovingly, tenderly, firmly...pulling me to Him. Why go anywhere else?! But yet, I stray...I go out on my own...I attempt to do it MY way. Thank you, Lord...forgive me.

Well, one other lesson that this dear Southern LADY is trying to teach me---Re-apply! Lipstick that is! She gets after me because my "lipstick philosophy" (as if I really had one) is that I apply once a day...then come what may...I only re-apply the next day. So on a regular basis when she's re-applying she'll say something like, "Carrie, I'm re-applying...wouldn't you like to too?!?!" It's probably a good idea, but more importantly I need to work at "re-applying" my heart to godliness...striving to be more like my Savior.

So--re-apply, ladies!