Sneezing Grace

I know this one sounds silly, but it's not as silly as you think. Someone that I know has such a loud sneeze that it hurts my ears! It's almost like that extraordinarily loud sneeze creates suction in my ears and causes a slight, temporary pain.

 When this happens, I always want to get upset with the person who sneezes. I don't, because there's nothing that they can do about it. Instead, I just grit my teeth and get frustrated with that person. Even though that person doesn't know I'm upset by their loud sneezes, God doesn't like that anger in our hearts!

 Today, I tried something different. I've been trying to use brief prayers in my daily life to be more gracious to others. I decided to use a brief prayer instead of gritting my teeth. I asked for Sneezing Grace and you know what? As soon as I prayed for it, the excessively loud sneeze didn't bother me. Pretty amazing, if you ask me!

Example of a Brief Prayer

But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they. Acts 15:11

I was with someone who was scooping up some free popcorn. They didn't ask me if I wanted any. The person told me that I should get a bag of popcorn and then took it from my hands. They wanted me to get the popcorn for them to eat later.

It's such a silly thing, but it really did irritate me. Didn't that person think about whether I wanted some or not? Couldn't they have asked me if I wanted some before they took it from my hands? I found myself getting frustrated at that person. Then, it popped into my mind that that's not what Christ wants of me. He wants me to be gracious to those who irritate me, but I was too frustrated to be gracious at that moment.

What I prayed was, "Popcorn Grace," and immediately Christ calmed me down, so that I didn't respond to the person in a less than positive manner. Although the "Popcorn Grace" prayer was very brief, I was asking Christ to please give me grace with this popcorn situation, so I would respond in a gracious manner, and He did! It amazed me that He knew and understood my brief prayer and granted me that grace, so I could be more gracious as an example of how He works in my life! I have continued to use these brief prayers which are changing my life and my response to others. If Christ can do this for me, He can most certainly do it for you, as well. Try it...what can it hurt?