Thomas_muntzer wrote: ↑Sat May 24, 2025 1:10 pm
wow temporal1 what a situation. I hope you can solve this situation with your love one
sorry it’s taken so long to respond. i don’t know how to respond.
Isaiah 46:4
Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you;
I will sustain you and I will rescue you.
Temp, I can feel the weight of all these years in your words. You’ve tried so hard to help someone you care about deeply, and it hasn’t gotten better. That kind of long, painful hope is exhausting. It speaks to your faithfulness, even when you feel worn down.
You started this thread years ago with such insight: that anger is often just the tip of the iceberg, and underneath it are harder feelings—grief, fear, shame, helplessness. I wonder if some of that might be true not only for the person you love, but also for you.
Anger often comes from real hurt. But if we stay in anger too long, it can quietly harden into contempt—the sense that someone is beyond hope or not even worth trying to understand anymore. That’s when we stop being open to what God might still want to do—not just in them, but in us.
Our brains interpret what we feel. The same physical feeling might become anger, or grief, or longing—depending on how we name it. That gives us a kind of quiet power: we can choose how we carry what we feel.
And Psalm 139 reminds us:
“Search me, O God, and know my heart… and lead me in the way everlasting.”
Sometimes the most powerful step isn’t doing more to fix someone else—but asking God to search our own hearts, even when we feel like the ones who’ve been wronged. That’s not weakness—it’s wisdom, and courage.
It’s good that you’re trying to stay close. But it’s also important to care for your own soul. God sees both of you. And he’s not finished writing this story.
0 x
1. Are we discussing the topic? Good.
2. Are we going around and around in a fight? Let's stop doing that.
3. Is there some serious wrongdoing or relational injury? Let's address that, probably not in public and certainly not for show.
Bootstrap wrote: ↑Thu Jul 31, 2025 7:04 pm
Temp, I can feel the weight of all these years in your words. You’ve tried so hard to help someone you care about deeply, and it hasn’t gotten better. That kind of long, painful hope is exhausting. It speaks to your faithfulness, even when you feel worn down.
You started this thread years ago with such insight: that anger is often just the tip of the iceberg, and underneath it are harder feelings—grief, fear, shame, helplessness. I wonder if some of that might be true not only for the person you love, but also for you.
Anger often comes from real hurt. But if we stay in anger too long, it can quietly harden into contempt—the sense that someone is beyond hope or not even worth trying to understand anymore. That’s when we stop being open to what God might still want to do—not just in them, but in us.
Our brains interpret what we feel. The same physical feeling might become anger, or grief, or longing—depending on how we name it. That gives us a kind of quiet power: we can choose how we carry what we feel.
And Psalm 139 reminds us:
“Search me, O God, and know my heart… and lead me in the way everlasting.”
Sometimes the most powerful step isn’t doing more to fix someone else—but asking God to search our own hearts, even when we feel like the ones who’ve been wronged. That’s not weakness—it’s wisdom, and courage.
It’s good that you’re trying to stay close. But it’s also important to care for your own soul. God sees both of you. And he’s not finished writing this story.
all true.
current “wisdom” is to walk away from toxic people, toxic relationships. tempting! often easy.
not this time.
i realize i may not see resolution in my lifetime. it seemed like such a small thing to ask.
i continue to pray for the work of the spirit, and submit to its way and time.
i think i remember lesterb had a close problem he struggled with. i’m not sure if it was resolved before he passed.
it happens.
0 x
i’m perfectly comfortable with an older, wiser, more docile Trump.
”Try hard not to offend. Try harder not to be offended.” Robert Martz