Praying for the difficult people in your life

There is a difficult person who crossed into my life for a couple of weeks because of a home business. She is homebound and disabled, very needy, quick to cause trouble and discord and to play the victim, claiming that her words were misunderstood and she only meant them as a question, not a rebuke. I am a patient person and worked with her beyond where anyone else would have worked with her, yet even I, tonight, cut the ties and told her to work with someone else.

I wasted time this morning and this evening composing a letter and fussing over the situation. It's time I could have spent sending thank you cards for my business, or writing for my prayer blog, or reading my own scriptures, or even being on time to work.

So after a one paragraph email tonight, I realize I need to stop and pray for her.

Father, forgive me. I am flawed. There were few, if any, good ways through this situation given that this woman had sent a sharply worded email to my company, and given that she has expected everyone to response immediately to her and to buy her product and to send business to her.

What I humbly ask for is that she receive some comfort and some meaning in her own life. She is terribly lonely and angry. She is married, please bless her husband to have the capacity to help with her emotional needs. Perhaps she will never be able to comprehend how she comes across and drives business away. That is of no concern. What I'm sure Thou would love to have happen is to have this woman feel loved, feel appreciated, feel worthwhile. Please send those people and circumstances into her life where she will develop friends and nurture and be nurtured.

Fill my heart, please, with forgiveness for what she brought into my life. And please forgive me for not handling the situation better.

Thou are mighty to save, thank you for guiding me into prayer for her instead of stewing about it all night.

Later...

You know what? Heavenly Father is showing me how I could have handled that situation better.

First, the woman sent a letter to my company. It was forwarded to me, not directly addressed to me.

So the first thing I could have done is send it to her, state that it seems that she has some concerns, and ask if she would be willing to speak with me about them. Period. Then let her re-state them to me.

And I could have prayed before ever beginning to deal with her. I have plenty of pressures going on in my own life and so I just dove in to handle this rather than softening my heart and asking the Lord to show me the way through it.

There is no problem that He cannot solve if we will take it to him, first.