\u201cPrima Donna\u201d means \u201cdiva and temperamental\u201d. I don\u2019t claim to be her, but I sure acted like one. I know \u201cfessing-up\u201d is good for me when I confess to God. And, I fess up to ME, too! Since, I am my own role model and mentor, I consistently encourage ME! Being aware of what we say and do sure keeps us striving to be better. James 5:16 says: \u201cConfess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.\u201d My \u201ceach other\u201d seems to be me most of the time. Here\u2019s my pitiful Prima Donna story:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I drive the distance to Sally\u2019s Beauty Supply for their hair products special: 4 for $20. I present my four products to the cashier. She asks if I want a bag for my purchase for 15 cents. That\u2019s when my cheery disposition goes south! I respond: \u201cReally? No, I don\u2019t.\u201d I think: “Charging for bags?” Then, my bill total is $39 \u2013 NOT $20. Argh! The check-out tablet reads: \u201cIs this correct?\u201d I say to the gal \u201cNo, it\u2019s not.This total isn\u2019t correct.\u201d She responds \u201cOh! That\u2019s because two of your products aren’t on sale!” Me: \u201cEven though the sign clearly says 4 hair products for $20? Just forget it.\u201d And Prima Donna promptly divas herself AND her \u201c\u2018tude\u201d out of the store into her car. I hear God\u2019s gentle voice: \u201cYou can do better than that!\u201d I ask Him for forgiveness. He forgives, but I’m ashamed of me AND my ‘tude!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
God\u2019s forgiveness, as sweet as it is, often doesn\u2019t keep us from \u201cpaying for our mistakes\u201d. I\u2019m sure He is smiling from ear to ear as I type this blog. Next day, I am about to pay for my gas at the pump and realize I am missing my credit card. OH NO! I left it in that tablet at Sally\u2019s. I call and ask about it. The gal says: \u201cOh yes we have it.\u201d I express my apologies and commence to go into my \u201cChristian-ese\u201d words \u201cGod keeps a tight leash on me and this time, evidently I broke out of the leash. I am so, so sorry.\u201d I think to myself after asking for God\u2019s forgiveness AGAIN, \u201cThis requires penance. Penance means a voluntary self-punishment as an outward expression of repentance for having done wrong.\u201d Oh, yes, I deserve this shame. Now I need and want to make amends to compensate for my behavior and to sing my \u201cdiva done wrong\u201d song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I stop and buy these \u201cFall\u201d decorated cupcakes as my penance. I carry them into Sally\u2019s. You know how dogs’ ears go back and their heads are down when they do something they know is wrong \u2013 I just know that is the way I looked as I walk back into Sally\u2019s and repent: \u201cI brought a peace offering.\u201d She smiles and says: \u201cYou didn\u2019t have to do that.\u201d And I reply: \u201cOh yes I did. I\u2019m not like the person you saw yesterday. I want to be a God pleaser who is filled with God\u2018s love in my actions and reactions. You all didn\u2019t deserve what I gave You.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The enemy of our souls \u2013 the thief, stealer, and destroyer (John 10:10) wants to trick us into situations like this. I continue to learn from my mistakes and determine to raise the bar in my life. I want to be held accountable to the One who never had a \u201c\u2019tude\u201d. Coming clean to others when we\u2019ve said or done something that is out of character as a follower of Christ is humbling, but so remarkably close to the Father\u2019s heart.
\u201cCreate in me a clean heart, O God, renew a right spirit within me.\u201d Psalm 51:10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cPrima Donna\u201d means \u201cdiva and temperamental\u201d. I don\u2019t claim to be her, but I sure acted like one. I know \u201cfessing-up\u201d is good for me when I confess to God. And, I fess up to ME, too! Since, I am my own role model and mentor, I consistently encourage ME! Being aware of what we…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13548,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19265,19264,19262,19263],"tags":[1519,8695,3576,19260,1955,19255,19261,159,1090,19253,19254,2266,19258,12877,19259,5197,13952],"class_list":["post-13547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-confess-your-sins","category-diva","category-penance","category-prima-donna","tag-attitude","tag-clean-heart","tag-confess-your-sins","tag-destroyer","tag-disposition","tag-diva","tag-humbling","tag-john-1010","tag-mentor","tag-penance","tag-prima-donna","tag-role-model","tag-self-punishment","tag-shame","tag-stealer","tag-temperamental","tag-thief"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13547"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13547\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13550,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13547\/revisions\/13550"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}