This next excerpt is a continuation of the excerpt I wrote during a difficult time. I was telling my aunt that when a priest was praying for my husband, Tim, and I, he got the word “Job.” I said, “Great.” Below in red are her words to me:

You’re focusing on the negative in Job. Think of the positive in Job. He grew in faith and trust in God. He honored and glorified God by handling his trials with courage. Although, he made some mistakes just like all of us. The Bible told us the mistakes Job made. I never forgot the way God said to Job, “Where were you when I created the world? When I heard that I thought, “If anybody can tell you off, it’s the good Lord, when He’s had it with your complaining nonsense, right?” Often, when I read that, I think, “I better watch my arrogance, because we can be arrogant in the face of God with our complaining and nonsense.” Get serious about what life is really about. Don’t waste your time with self-pity. It stinks.

Self-pity dies hard. It’s not an easy thing to break out of. Our culture is filled with the stink of it. People don’t want to take responsibility for anything anymore. They blame God for the stuff they do. We are masters in self-pity in this culture. X suffered from it, so you got role modeling in it. I’m sorry about that. But it doesn’t excuse you from not taking these opportunities of growth that God has given you plenty in learning how to get over it yourself. Does that make sense to you? In other words, the generations before you haven’t helped, and I’m sorry about that.