I’ve been asking around and it appears that every little kid but me was spanked as a child. My parents only spunked me once- i think I was having a hissy fit in a store. A grounding was good enough from me.  I remember that they would sit me at the computer chair (that we still have) for fifteen minutes and I would just spin around in it and make myself sick.  They would ground me from TV, or ground me from my sister. Whenever either my sister or I would get in trouble, the other one would sneak in and comfort her. It was  a pretty sweet set up.  When I was older, I would have to go to my room where I could weep and gnash my teeth at how awful my parents were. School punishment was worse than anything ever. I still dont’ want to talk about it. 

God has been teaching me about spiritual discipline. It’s not pleasant….ever.  I’ve been learning that patience is much like love in that it’s not just a feeling that comes upon you in the middle of the night and then you could wait for days in the middle of sweltering traffic while you’re radio is stuck on the search  mode and your kids are in the middle of World War III.  You have to consciously stop yourself when you feel the anger/impatience welling up in you and make a decision to not care. To let it go. It’s not easy. It’s not pleasant but imagine how fruitful it is! I think lots of times people resent God for teaching them patience or forgiveness through life circumstances but they don’t realize this….

My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves as a father the son he DELIGHTS in.  Proverbs 3:11

God isn’t testing you because he hates you. He’s testing you because He loves you and He wants you to be better and He wants to bless you with all this cool stuff He has.  So, don’t resent God or your parents….