AM: During this COVID time, there’s more vice coming up than virtue.

Betty: I’m not sure that we’re actually less virtuous. We might be getting a more realistic view of what God sees. But the fact is, He is loving us where we are. And if for the sake of our safety, He needs to get us deeper in humility, He will continue to help us realize we’re not the cat’s meow we thought we were. But it doesn’t hurt us. It’s actually good for us. It’s like it’s his problem. It’s like, “Okay, Lord, I know that you love us. You’re not fickle. You will be faithful.” See, that’s where faith comes in. You keep applying faith and you grow. 

AM: Yeah, my path doesn’t look pretty and…

Betty:  It’s a minute at a time. You put your trust in God and say, “Lord, carry me…Oh Jesus, I surrender myself to You. Take care of everything.” You’ll grow in that process. No joke. And it seems like the less we focus on ourselves, the more we grow closer to the Lord. So, we have to get detached from what people think of us and what we even think of ourself. That’s all part of dying to our will. 

We can beg the Lord to help us think less of ourself and focus more on Him.” In the beginning, it was all me me me. So, I’d be honest with you if I thought you were going backwards. I would tell you. But what you’re going through is a necessary part of spiritual growth. We’ve got to see the wrong choices we make and renounce those. 

Give this situation to the Lord. Ask the Lord to help you. That’s trust when you let go of what you want and trust him. Then, you open the door for him to actually help you do whatever you’re asking. But when you’re insisting you have to have what you just lost, you torture yourself. Notice the disciples when they first started following Jesus and how they acted when they didn’t get their way. It’s like, “Oh, come on. Grow up guys.“ And the further along they went, you didn’t hear that. 

AM: I have anger and resentment.

Betty: Okay. So, can you say, “Lord thank you for showing me. Keep convicting me to make the right choices. Thank you for helping me to see this.” You actually got a chance to see how you torture yourself inside. Because what you’re doing on the outside, I think you probably do on the inside, namely beating yourself up. It’s time to give that up. There will be enough people who will want to beat you up. They won’t need your help. That’s for sure. With what is going on in the crazy world, we can take the little hard things and offer them to the Lord. Anything that can help bring about a change could actually stop the world from destruction.

AM: I do want to get rid of this Perfectionist. 

Betty: Yeah, I watch her beat you up. She’s not nice at all.  

AM: I need to surrender more like Tim. So, in the spiritual life, God allows these things to surface so we’re tested.

Betty: Yep. And there are reasons. The Lord said there are not accidents in our life. That in itself is something to ponder. He so loves us that everything that comes into our life is meant to be turned to our good. Like even with this situation. You didn’t listen and you lost. Okay, what good can you bring out? It can bring out a stronger sense of discipline in you that when you get a gut reaction, you might turn and really look at it and say, “Is this really something I ought to listen to here?” God wants you to grow thru it.