Day 174: Who knew God reads facebook?

This week had its rough points and Friday was no exception.  Overall it was a much better day than I had expected.  Thank you, Lord!  By the end of the day, I was worn out and thinking out loud on facebook:

The good news: we are home and the kids are tucked into bed.
The bad news: it is hard to try to be loving to someone who makes your momma cry.

Honestly, my momma was up half the night in tears about the current situation with Dan's ex wife, Melissa.  Melissa is using Ash's asthma as an excuse to say that Ash can't ride with Momma and Daddy because Daddy smokes.  I would be more understanding of this if Ash had ever had a problem riding with them and Daddy hadn't already said he wouldn't smoke in the car with her.  Momma actually wrote a letter to Ash to say goodbye because she figures Ash won't be able to visit their house anymore either.  I had her keep the letter for now, because we really think it's just about making sure we have to spend eight hours on the road Fridays because Melissa has chosen to do so on Sundays.  Hopefully, I am right and Melissa will not escalate this to the point of ridiculousness.  I wish she could see that this is really not helping Ashlynn.

I have really been trying to appreciate Melissa.  I have been trying to see her as a child of God whom He loves.  I have tried to see her as the woman who is helping to raise our daughter.  I want to see her as an ally. But all I want to do is protect my mom from this pain.  I want to lash out at that person who would do things like this with no regard for who is hurt.  I want to kick her.  Hard!  And if that didn't help, I'd kick her again!  How can I approach a person with a loving and open heart when she made Momma cry?

I have a daily Bible app on my phone.  It doesn't seem to work every day but I had a message this morning.

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.  Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.  Ephesians 4:31-32 ESV

You know, there are times when I struggle to figure out what God is trying to tell me.  Other times, God is not so subtle.