Learning so much

Okay, I am learning so much lately, I don't even know where to start. First off, did you know that "kindness" is a fruit of the spirit? :) So, I think that I had forgotten that. I prayed with my lovely on Sunday night that we would be more kind to people. Then realized that when I think of the Fruit of the Spirit, I think, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience...............and that is as far as I get. I forget: Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control. Wow! There are 9. How many am I exhibiting. I am not trying to be hard on myself here. I know that I can indeed show these on any given day. But are they soaking up my existance? Are they overtaking all that I am so that people see Jesus more and more? I am not sure. But I am more and more glad to be aware of it so I can try.

Yesterday when I was praying with my sweetie, I just really realized that for years, I have been tricked into thinking that I am not praying correctly. "You know, we don't know God's will so we have to be careful how we pray." "We need to remind God of his promises and of his word." this non-sense goes on and on. this is a bunch of crap! We don't have to have any formula. Except for the following:

Our Father, who art in Heaven, holy is your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give me what I need for today. And forgive me of my sins as I forgive those who sin against me. Keep me from temptation. Deliver me from evil. Yours is the Kingdom, and the power, and the Glory forever and ever. Amen.

Something else that we need to remember, is that God is our father. Now, I in recent years, have been getting to know my father. It has been hard until now, he was not around when I grew up. I think that is why it took me so long to understand God's fatherly love for me. Because I just really associated it with earthly father, who was far off from me. But things are better now and I am enjoying my relationship with my earthly dad. okay, back to my point, God is a great dad. It is okay for us to ask him for things. We are human. We want, we need, ext...but the truth is, If it is not in our best intrest, or the best intrest of the person we are interceeding for, God may not answer the way we wish him to. But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't ask.
Hopefully this will make more sense with an example. Adam's uncle John has cancer. We want uncle John to live. So we pray that God will heal him. We love uncle John and don't want him to die. That is not selfish, that is normal human emotion. So we ask our father to help. He will do what he sees fit, but he is not annoyed with me for asking him to heal uncle John.
My friend Cindy's mom Linda is also sick with cancer. We want her to live and see her grandchildren. That is okay:) We will continue to ask for God to heal Linda. If he does, it is a brilliant testimony of God's gracious gift of life. If he doesn't, he has another plan. I know both John and Linda are in God's arms though, and so whatever the outcome, he will be glorified.

Bit of a rambling post. Hope you have a great rest of your week.