But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit Galatians 5:22-25

I think today was a "test" day.

Ever have one of those when it seems almost everything is testing your resolve-- testing to see if you live what you say.

Hey there--Are you going to let the fruits of the Spirit--love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control--rule in your life today?

Just one instance... the company we have our Internet service through has been 'correcting' a billing error for almost two months now--and it's still not fixed. I have a long list of of names and ID numbers of customer service supervisors who assure me that they are taking care of making sure the billing is properly credited for services they over-billed us on. Each one assures they are making the correction and yet it is still not corrected. It would probably be easier to resolve if the company had a central customer center, but no... I've talked to these agents in various parts of the world--Panama, the Philippines, the Caribbean, etc. It's almost impossible to get an American, and when I've asked to be connected to one, I'm told that it's all by chance who you get, and so I'd have to hang up and call back and hopefully get someone I want to talk to.

This is just one example -the businesses I've had to deal with today all had areas of incompetence and not- so- good customer service. Arrgh! Boy did I exercise long-suffering (patience) today. And kindness. And self-control. :)

And then that ever-lurking-in-the-shadows enemy Discouragement kept hanging around trying to impede progress. Seems like at every turn he was laying in my path, trying to trip me up. I had to just keep stepping over him and demanding he move on. What a pain he was! He can be cruel and relentless. The words he screams are harsh and negative. At one point he almost had me close to tears. I made myself be faithful to continue on, despite him.

I did get my Sister Love (above) portrait painted today.