The Potters House

Any piece of clay can be transformed when you land in the Potter's hands. 

Mold me God, to what you want me to be. 

Use me for your work and guide me on the path you chose for me.

Your Calling

Your career is what you're paid for, your calling is what you're made for" - Steve Harvey

Lord, help me find my calling. 

Finding Your Truth

Listening to a sermon by the late Dr. Bob Sanders. He was teaching on 1 John, 2:4 "Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him" 

He continues on and discusses your spiritual gifts. What would happen if the holy spirit made you a report card of how well you used your spiritual gifts and then gave it to your father (God).  I've never thought of using your gifts that way. What would your report card say? What's your truth? This goes along with Steve Harvey's latest book "Act like a success" - talking about figuring out what your spiritual gifts are and how to use them in such a way of being blessed and being in God's favor. I will be doing some self reflection and will post about my gifts, my report card, and my truth. 

Ordinary Days

Dear Mom,

Its days like today that I miss you the most. Today's Friday and right now the house is quiet. Its days like today that you and I would sit and talk about nothing. I loved the way you could give me advice without directly meddling and trying to sway my life decisions one way or another; which is funny because Johnny always tell me that I don't know how to mind my business and I am convinced that I get that from you; I'm sure dad would agree.

All day, everyone has asked me how I am and my automatic standard reply is "Fine" but honestly, I'm not. I miss you and I've found me blaming myself for you leaving. But I keep thinking, if I had only objected you getting contrast for the CT for PE/DVT protocol. Knowing you had chronic kidney issues that your creatinine was too high for the contrast. I keep feeling like that damn Omnipaque was the catalyst to losing you and I could have stopped it somehow.  Had I not let you get that contrast maybe this whole tailspin would have never started and you would still be here with us - with me. I know that if you were here, you would take me into your arms and wipe my tears away and tell me it really wasn't my fault and that it was God's plan - why I'll never know. It has crossed my mind that maybe it was for Missy. In all of her four years of wisdom and innocence, you dying left Elana (who she associates as a child) an orphan and Missy knew Elana needed a new mommy and daddy and that you left her with Johnny and me. It helped her to understand that your parents aren't necessarily who birth you but the people who put in the love and time to raise you and that made her transition of knowing she was adopted much easier for her. I know you would've given your life for her as if she was your own grandchild and in a way she was. I keep playing all of these scenarios in my head and I just feel like I cannot stop spinning.  I miss you and I always will. They say time will heal all wounds, but its as if today isn't included in "time" somehow.

Today's just an ordinary day; its nothing special. I'm sure it's someone's birthday, but no one I know. Today doesn't mark the change of a season or a holiday but its just another day - another day that I have thought about you. So today, I can add a few hundred tears to add to the sea of tears that I have already cried.

Being Sick

I spent this weekend febrile in bed sick. No matter how old you are, you still want your mamma when you're feeling under the weather.  This weekend was no exception for me.

I cannot believe it has been 1032 days since my father went home.  My mom joined him 469 days ago. I was so angry at God for a long time, I felt cheated and betrayed. It seems unfair to have to live so much of your life without your beloved parents. I know Amber probably feels the same way, even though we have never discussed it. I know we both miss them, equally yet we miss each of them differently.  I am finally to a part where I am forgiving God and thanking him for reaching them, blessing them, and ultimately delivering them.

Mom:  I miss you more than words. I think of you often. Now, after 15 months, I can begin to recall memories of you without my eyes filling with tears and a panic rushing over my body.  Still, every fiber of my being aches for you. I miss your laughter, your voice, your knowledge, your kindness, your unbending strength, and your warmth. I am thankful that I can actually experience some of our memories we made together and smile, laugh, and tell stories of how things use to be and share the things you have taught me. You taught me to choose your battles with your spouse but to appreciate the little things. To love others for who they are and not what you want them to be. Each person is a creation of God but their choices can taint their outcomes, not because of God's design but of our flaws. You taught me to take time to say thank you, for the large things and the small, seemingly insignificant things.

Dad:  Some of the hardest lessons of my life, I learned from you. You were always honest with me about your struggle to fit in and helped me get through the tough times I went through being an overweight child. I appreciate everything you did for me. All the band practices you went to, even though you had to wait in the hot car (the gray ghost) with no air conditioning after working a long day in a hot factory. When I played softball, you took me to every practice and even kept my batting average on the fridge. You never complained and you never missed a game. Thank you for being such a great dad and for being there when it mattered.  I miss your humor when you weren't even trying to be funny.  I miss your belly laugh when something really got you tickled. I miss your wisdom, your guidance, and your gentle, yet firm discipline you always provided.

Self Reflection in 2012

I was up all night last night distressed over burdens that my heart and spirit were carrying and have been carrying for quite some time. The first person I approached about my concerns was God. I wanted an answer and I waited for an answer from him as to this conundrum I have been experiencing. I have struggled with depression, anxiety, insomnia, OCD, OCPD, oppression, inadequacy, abandonment, and that all of these issues I have been trying to give to the Lord has been complicated or magnified by grief. I don't feel as if I was anywhere near the end of my grief-process with my father's death when my mother passed a year later. I know there are seven stages of grief and wondered if some people experience them in different orders? 

1. Denial

2. Guilt

3. Anger

4. Depression

5. Upward turn

6. Reconstruction

7. Acceptance

The one I have been struggling with is not even on the list: Forgiveness.  I know we require his forgiveness and that he will forgive us as many times as necessary until we get it right. I know we have been talking about repentance in church and asking for forgiveness is part of repentance (in addition to facing your pride head-on among other things). My struggle though is does God require our forgiveness? Is it necessary to forgive God for the anger/pain/resentment for him taking my parents away? I know that its his way whether I like it or not and that his way is the only way and the right way and I can hear my mom and my Pastor both telling me "You have to get glad in the same britches you got mad in" but it isn't that simple to me. This perspective has been stirring in my soul, in the very root of my spirit.  My spirit tells me that God doesn't need my forgiveness because he's God, but that he will accept my forgiveness. I somehow feel as if I need God to accept my forgiveness even though he doesn't require it for my own repentance, acceptance, and for my own forgiveness for being angry with God in the first place. 

 I went to work today and did my normal job and there was a 2012 calendar that I adored that was inspirational quotes. I looked forward to the new wisdom it would give me every month when I was able to close that chapter and to begin another. So, I spent a few minutes after work today cutting up this calendar and placing those inspirational quotes all over a board that hangs above my desk. I call it my aspiration board. I made the conscious decision today that God will never stop his molding process of who I am and that I do not wish to ever stop aspiring to be a better person.

The images are photographs of different situations with clever sayings to remind you to never give up and to keep fighting for whatever it is you desire; they aren't necessarily Christian based, but basic life advice that would help anyone along his/her journey. This one, for instances, reminds me that how insignificant we feel in our roles with other people, we are all the same in Jesus' eyes and that we are all sheep in his flock and he cares for us equally yet individually.

• Dreams are today’s answer to tomorrow’s question.
• Dreams are logs that feed the fire of our souls.
• Live your spirit’s dreams, not your mind’s.
• There is nothing like a dream to create the future.
• Dreams are necessary to life.
• Dreams are the touchstones of our personality.

Drops of inspiration

This morning, I was on my way to work and I had my window cracked, which is very unlike me. It was a clear day, cool but not cold, breezy but not windy. I was stopped at a red light when a chilly droplet of dew which had been gathering through the open crack landed onto my hand. It was a single droplet and it made me stop in my tracks. It most certainly got my attention.

 

Sometimes its easy to feel unnoticed, as f we are all raindrops in a huge storm and individually our strength is low; I feel like when we bind together and can create a flood. On the flip side of the same coin, it only took one well-placed droplet of dew to grab my attention and to change the whole tone of my day. No droplet, no matter how small, goes unnoticed. Small gestures toward other people can make a huge impact. Whose hand has your droplet touched today?

Making Plans

 

My planner at work - spoke volumes to me. The pouch includes thank you cards for our dept to be given to other departments and sponsors, bandaids, and a serenity prayer bookmark. Give thanks, always be open to healing, and know that God is in control. Was profound to me.

Worthy

wor·thy  (wûr)

adj. wor·thi·er, wor·thi·est

1. Having worth, merit, or value; useful or valuable.

2. Honorable; admirable: a worthy fellow.

3. Having sufficient worth; deserving: worthy to be revered; worthy of acclaim.

Who is worthy of God's love?  In my mind, none of us are as we are all bruised fruit.

To the father, all sins are equally blemishes on our unclean body, soul, mind, spirit, and heart. I have to take a step back and realize that not one sin in his eyes is more sinful than another; it was man that put different values on sin. To God the father, one sin no darker or more unholy than another from a stretch of the truth, adultry, murder, theft, anger, greed, wrath, pride, lust, envy. All must be confessed and covered by his blood.

I was raised in church and was always taught Jesus died for my sins but I don't think I ever made the solid connection on what exactly that meant. He was literally tortured for my sins; not his own. He was treated as a thief and murderer and was tormented and agnoized for all of my wrong doings.

Who decides who is worthy of love?  My love? God's Love? Am I selective on who I give my forgiveness to? Because God isn't. What makes me or anyone else worthy of his love, mercy, grace, forgiveness? Being washed in the blood makes me worthy.

Come to the well. Forgiveness is here.

Thankful

I awoke this morning renewed and thankful for the blessings that surround me. I have this endless energy that just fills me and encourages me to dream bigger, reach higher, and inspires me to never give up. There is a restored hope in my life today that I have been previously unaware of.

Coming Home Again

I have been absent from the blog but am still present in my own journey. This past weekend, my husband Johnny took the weekend off to get some rest and of course I put him to work at home. We built and planted five additional raised bed planters, four 30 x 30 inch and one 52 x 30 inch. I planted sun sugar tomatoes, jumbo sweet cantaloupe, crimson sweet watermelon, and green peas. I'll add photos at a later time as it is raining out at the moment.

We didn't go to church on Sunday because we were trying to get our garden finished and I was so blessed by a visit from Norm and Miriam. She is the most amazing seamstress and made me a purse (which is the most beautiful purse that I've ever had) and brought me two buckets of orange tiger lilies. Johnny took the time and made two trenches for me along the fence row and beside our house so I could plant the buckets of lilies.

I am finding my circles are changing and evolving as I grow spiritually and as I begin to heal. I know God places the people in my life exactly when I need them and he will provide for me and my family. God has put me in a situation over the last two years where I had to use my faith by necessity and not by choice. I am learning that it is easier to embrace God and your path and walk with him hand in hand instead of being forced to go in his direction. His will be done.

Passover to The Well

As some of you may already know, I was absolutely beside myself when I heard the Casting Crowns, Royal Tailer, Matthew West, Sanctus Real, and Lindsay McCaul "Come to the Well" tour was coming to Chattanooga.  I was discouraged because I did not know how I was going to afford the ticket to be able to go and then was approached by DMI concerts to be a volunteer. I was scheduled to help with the event tonight and was all pumped up, excited, and ready to go. I even got there early and was waiting in the car outside the facility, but I just didn't feel "right" about being there. I felt like I should be somewhere else, as God had other plans for me for tonight.

The moment I realized it, accepted it, and thanked God for the opportunity he gave me and providing me a way to go, I decided to follow his lead and wait for his direction.  A few moments later, my cell phone rang; it was a lady from Church. I have been doing my 40 days of lent blogging leading up to Easter and I am doing a seed presentation for the Easter Sunday service. She is one of the two people that do the music and project images to the screen for the audience. She called and wanted to know what the theme of my presentation was so she could 'match the music' and that she was heading to Hephzibah. I went to the church to meet up with her and didn't know it at the time, but I was actually going to the well.

We were supposed to meet another person there but it worked out that he was unable to make it. It was a devine appointment for her and I to be there. We shed a lot of tears and God ended up doing a lot of healing in both of us. He put us together to bathe in God's love and to come together to the well.

Raise the Drawbridge and Lower the Portcullis!

I had a confrontation today with someone and my Danger Will Robinson alarm went off. I have problems letting people in who I shouldn't and pushing away the people I should let in. My alarm system is all messed up and I'm trying to sort it out.

Drudging through the loss

It has been just over four months. I still miss her so much. The realness of her absence is becoming more and more evident with each passing day. I usually close my bedroom door when I come home because when she was here, I could sit on my bed and talk to her, while she sat on her bed just across the hall. I still instinctively look for her; I guess a part of me hoping she is still there. She always smiled; even when she felt horrible, she smiled through her pain. There is a great lesson in that. She always loved children and knew the innocence the splendor they possess and she soaked it up like a thirsty plant in a storm. She wanted as much of that as she could get and then more. She loved every child she ever had a hand in raising and even those she didn't. I did not realize until she was gone exactly how many people she had touched: grown men, women, children, girls, boys, she loved them all. It didn't matter what size, color, gender, orientation, status, religion, or 100 other "deal-breakers" for other people. Mom loved people - period. Another lesson. It doesn't matter what particular set of circumstances occurred to put someone in their current situation. The who, how, when, where, and why is irrelevant; at the end of the day, the details don't matter. You just love them through the storm.

My dad has been gone now for 23 months. When I close my eyes, I still replay the vivid memories of us sitting around playing cards or board games as a family. Both of my parents were fierce card players and my parents had been playing as a team for so many years that anyone who dared to challenge the duo was doomed. When they were teaching my sister and I to play, we would have to divide them up and have them on separate teams for either of us to ever have a chance. Which is funny if any of you knew my grandmother (my dad's mother). She was avidly against cards and would not even allow us to play solitaire in her house. I guess it was my father's "silent rebellion" to learn to be such a good canasta player. My parents use to have difficult discussions over the dinner table as a family and they gave us life advice over cards. I didn't know it at the time. I still laugh though every time I think of my father giving my husband Johnny advice, "Son you can either be right or you can be happy". Daddy never was the type to say much, but what he did take the time to say, he made it count. Therein another lesson.

I miss the crisp fall nights gathered around a campfire roasting marshmallows at Walter and Juretta's house. Dad didn't want to be the center of attention very much, but when he did, he jumped in with both feet. I remember listening to him tell corny jokes and stories that seemed to go on forever but I wish so much I could hear his voice again and laugh at the same joke that I had heard 100 times one more time.

Keep the Faith

Some days it feels like I have to constantly remind myself to keep the faith. A lady I work with mentioned this graphic below at work today and I finally found it and thought I would share. I hope it puts a smile on your face like it did mine. 

This should be my sister (Amber) and I's national anthem; whenever we have a rough day, one of the two of us will sing this to the other. With the "rough patch" - and yes I say that loosely, we have endured the last five years, it seems to be always appropriate - by the way, I'm usually the "mister grumpy gills" in this scenario.  

New Beginnings

April 1st - Not a day of pranks for me but a new month, a new quarter, a new start, a new beginning. . .

This year, as some of you already know, I decided to plant a garden with hopes that the constant tending and attention it would require would give me an alternative place to channel my energy from OCD. I chose to start my garden from seeds for several reasons; the most obvious reason being cost effectiveness, but also seeing the change and progress of the actual growth inspires me. Watching something new sprout from something old, dried, shriveled, and seemingly dead amazes me; it reminds me of the basic miracle of life and the grand circle of God's creation.

Sewing my garden and physically planting the seedlings has really been spiritually symbolic for me. Each day I take the time to check on my garden, carefully moistening the seeds with a fine water/plant food mist and I make sure to nourish them daily.  I watch silently as each day they gain strength and essence from the sun and begin to open up and reach for the sky, as if they too, are desperately trying to remind me to look up for my own strength. Its the small things in my life that heighten my awareness of how much beauty actually surrounds all of us at every moment; the reminder of God's love for us is everywhere if you just take the time to look up.

My Hidden Struggles

OCD - Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

I have been struggling with OCD since a child and sometimes the very essence of it exhausts me, but I cannot stop the repetitive thoughts, rituals, or over-exertion on certain things. I try desperately to find a quiet place, but when I think I can begin to hear the silence, all I can hear is the mindless chatter of my brain. Constantly counting everything, noticing every detail, and my mind cannot slow down long enough to absorb any peace. I obsess over details of the little things and have a memory like a steel trap. Most of my memories are extremely vivid, almost as if I could re-live them at any moment. I have been on several different medications and tried to find some sort of outlet for the excess energy, but I am struggling to find the balance. There is so much in my life that I cannot control and its driving me crazy.

BDD in morbidly obese: 

Body Dysmorphic Disorder for me isn't the traditional definition of it clinically.  For me, I have image issues after weight loss, which from what I understand is fairly common. Even though I am no longer 513 pounds, I still see myself as though I am.  When I look down, I still see the massive person I was. People tell me how good I look after losing 200+ pounds but when I see pictures or videos of myself, all I see is the loose skin and the excess weight I still need to lose; the flaws stick out to me, not the accomplishment. I am not trying to have plastic surgery to look like a barbie doll, but I do still see the person I use to be, and not the person who I am today.

According to webmd:

Body Dysmorphic Disorder

Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is a type of somatoform disorder, a mental illness in which a person has symptoms of a medical illness, but the symptoms cannot be fully explained by an actual physical disorder. People with BDD are preoccupied with an imagined physical defect or a minor defect that others often cannot see. As a result, people with this disorder see themselves as "ugly" and often avoid social exposure to others or turn to plastic surgery to try to improve their appearance.

BDD shares some features with eating disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorder. BDD is similar to eating disorders in that both involve a concern with body image. However, a person with an eating disorder worries about weight and the shape of the entire body, while a person with BDD is concerned about a specific body part.

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People with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) have recurring and distressing thoughts, fears, or images (obsessions) that they cannot control. The anxiety (nervousness) produced by these thoughts leads to an urgent need to perform certain rituals or routines (compulsions). With BDD, a person's preoccupation with the defect often leads to ritualistic behaviors, such as constantly looking in a mirror or picking at the skin. The person with BDD eventually becomes so obsessed with the defect that his or her social, work, and home functioning suffers.

BDD is a chronic (long-term) disorder that affects men and women equally. It usually begins during the teen years or early adulthood.

The most common areas of concern for people with BDD include:

• Skin imperfections: These include wrinkles, scars, acne, and blemishes.
• Hair: This might include head or body hair or absence of hair.
• Facial features: Very often this involves the nose, but it also might involve the shape and size of any feature.
• Body weight: Sufferers may obsess about their weight or muscle tone.

Other areas of concern include the size of the penis, muscles, breasts, thighs, buttocks, and the presence of certain body odors.

What Are the Symptoms of Body Dysmorphic Disorder?

Some of the warning signs that a person may have BDD include:

• Engaging in repetitive and time-consuming behaviors, such as looking in a mirror, picking at the skin, and trying to hide or cover up the perceived defect
• Constantly asking for reassurance that the defect is not visible or too obvious
• Repeatedly measuring or touching the perceived defect
• Experiencing problems at work or school, or in relationships due to the inability to stop focusing about the perceived defect
• Feeling self-conscious and not wanting to go out in public, or feeling anxious when around other people
• Repeatedly consulting with medical specialists, such as plastic surgeons or dermatologists, to find ways to improve his or her appearance

Come to the Well

Lyrics | Casting Crowns lyrics - The Well lyrics

Bruised Fruit

When you go to the fruit stand or the grocery store, have you ever noticed that the only thing left was blemished or bruised fruit? Why is bruised fruit picked over? Perhaps its looks are decieving? Maybe the description word "bruised" is a little harsh, should we just consider it "ripe"? After all, ripe fruit usually tastes so much better and even seems a little sweeter. When chefs pick out fruit to cook with or to eat, they usually go for whatever is in season and whatever is ripe. The most delicious pies are made from the ripest fruit.

Don't be discouraged if your "fruit" is bruised or blemished. God created you just the way you are, bruises and all.

Awakening and acceptance

God awoke me this morning to a heart full of a message that was not for me and a forbearance to deliver the message to the appropriate person.  It took me a while to figure out who it was supposed to go to. I talked to my friend from church who I thought needed it and I felt God leading me to tell her the message. Which I do think it was for her, but I found out later at work who it was really for. When my pastor and I discussed my gifts, he said not to worry about trying to find a place to use them or that God would drop in what I needed and would bring the people the messages are for to me. He was right; God did just that.


His grace also whispered to me a partial scripture, Ephesians 11-13, which my initial instinct was to look up Ephesians 11:14 - but chapter 11 did not exist in this book. I had to seek out the particular chapter to which the verses belonged to see the message he was trying to convey to me during the wee hours. I did find the passage - it was Chapter 4.

Ephesians 4:11-13

New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, ¹² to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up ¹³ until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Our Bible studies/sermons in Church have been about seeking the "presence" of God and building the "relationship" and losing the religion; encouraging us to listen to God and be attuned to his presence and being open to receive things, not just blessings but requests and suggestions. Defying your old nature in every situation and to always pick up your cross and follow him. Even if that means spending more time than you thought you had and digging a little deeper to find what he has right in front of you.  So, after reading the passage and spending a few minutes in silence with God, I decided to seek the amplified version and read the entire chapter.  

I feel like Ephesians 4 sums up what it means to be a Christian. I know regarding marriage, the bible says to "leave and cleave" but I felt like it almost applied here to leave your old nature and cleave to Christ and the new lifestyle. Everything else will fall into place. 

Ephesians 4

 ¹I THEREFORE, the prisoner for the Lord, appeal to and beg you to walk (lead a life) worthy of the [divine] calling to which you have been called [with behavior that is a credit to the summons to God's service,

    ²Living as becomes you] with complete lowliness of mind (humility) and meekness (unselfishness, gentleness, mildness), with patience, bearing with one another and making allowances because you love one another.

    ³Be eager and strive earnestly to guard and keep the harmony and oneness of [and produced by] the Spirit in the binding power of peace.

    ⁴[There is] one body and one Spirit--just as there is also one hope [that belongs] to the calling you received--

    ⁵[There is] one Lord, one faith, one baptism,

    ⁶One God and Father of [us] all, Who is above all [Sovereign over all], pervading all and [living] in [us] all.

    ⁷Yet grace (God's unmerited favor) was given to each of us individually [not indiscriminately, but in different ways] in proportion to the measure of Christ's [rich and bounteous] gift.

    ⁸Therefore it is said, When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive [He led a train of ^[a]vanquished foes] and He bestowed gifts on men.

    ⁹[But He ascended?] Now what can this, He ascended, mean but that He had previously descended from [the heights of] heaven into [the depths], the lower parts of the earth?

    ¹⁰He Who descended is the [very] same as He Who also has ascended high above all the heavens, that He [His presence] might fill all things (the whole universe, from the lowest to the highest).

    ¹¹And His gifts were [varied; He Himself appointed and gave men to us] some to be apostles (special messengers), some prophets (inspired preachers and expounders), some evangelists (preachers of the Gospel, traveling missionaries), some pastors (shepherds of His flock) and teachers.

    ¹²His intention was the perfecting and the full equipping of the saints (His consecrated people), [that they should do] the work of ministering toward building up Christ's body (the church),

    ¹³[That it might develop] until we all attain oneness in the faith and in the comprehension of the [^[b]full and accurate] knowledge of the Son of God, that [we might arrive] at really mature manhood (the completeness of personality which is nothing less than the standard height of Christ's own perfection), the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Christ and the completeness found in Him.

    ¹⁴So then, we may no longer be children, tossed [like ships] to and fro between chance gusts of teaching and wavering with every changing wind of doctrine, [the prey of] the cunning and cleverness of ^[c]unscrupulous men, [gamblers engaged] in every shifting form of trickery in inventing errors to mislead.

    ¹⁵Rather, let our lives lovingly ^[d]express truth [in all things, speaking truly, dealing truly, living truly]. Enfolded in love, let us grow up in every way and in all things into Him Who is the Head, [even] Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).

    ¹⁶For because of Him the whole body (the church, in all its various parts), closely joined and firmly knit together by the joints and ligaments with which it is supplied, when each part [with power adapted to its need] is working properly [in all its functions], grows to full maturity, building itself up in love.

    ¹⁷So this I say and solemnly testify in [the name of] the Lord [as in His presence], that you must no longer live as the heathen (the Gentiles) do in their perverseness [in the folly, vanity, and emptiness of their souls and the futility] of their minds.

    ¹⁸Their ^[e]moral understanding is darkened and their reasoning is beclouded. [They are] alienated (estranged, self-banished) from the life of God [with no share in it; this is] because of the ignorance (the want of knowledge and perception, the willful blindness) that is ^[f]deep-seated in them, due to their hardness of heart [to the insensitiveness of their moral nature].

    ¹⁹In their spiritual apathy they have become callous and past feeling and reckless and have abandoned themselves [a prey] to unbridled sensuality, eager and greedy to indulge in every form of impurity [that their depraved desires may suggest and demand].

    ²⁰But you did not so learn Christ!

    ²¹Assuming that you have really heard Him and been taught by Him, as [all] Truth is in Jesus [embodied and personified in Him],

    ²²Strip yourselves of your former nature [put off and discard your old unrenewed self] which characterized your previous manner of life and becomes corrupt through lusts and desires that spring from delusion;

    ²³And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude],

    ²⁴And put on the new nature (the regenerate self) created in God's image, [Godlike] in true righteousness and holiness.

    ²⁵Therefore, rejecting all falsity and being done now with it, let everyone express the truth with his neighbor, for we are all parts of one body and members one of another.

    ²⁶When angry, do not sin; do not ever let your wrath (your exasperation, your fury or indignation) last until the sun goes down.

    ²⁷Leave no [such] room or foothold for the devil [give no opportunity to him].

    ²⁸Let the thief steal no more, but rather let him be industrious, making an honest living with his own hands, so that he may be able to give to those in need.

    ²⁹Let no foul or polluting language, nor evil word nor unwholesome or worthless talk [ever] come out of your mouth, but only such [speech] as is good and beneficial to the spiritual progress of others, as is fitting to the need and the occasion, that it may be a blessing and give grace (God's favor) to those who hear it.

    ³⁰And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God [do not offend or vex or sadden Him], by Whom you were sealed (marked, branded as God's own, secured) for the day of redemption (of final deliverance through Christ from evil and the consequences of sin).

    ³¹Let all bitterness and indignation and wrath (passion, rage, bad temper) and resentment (anger, animosity) and quarreling (brawling, clamor, contention) and slander (evil-speaking, abusive or blasphemous language) be banished from you, with all malice (spite, ill will, or baseness of any kind).

    ³²And become useful and helpful and kind to one another, tenderhearted (compassionate, understanding, loving-hearted), forgiving one another [readily and freely], as God in Christ forgave you.