{"id":7479,"date":"2022-11-23T07:30:00","date_gmt":"2022-11-23T12:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=7479"},"modified":"2022-11-20T18:49:09","modified_gmt":"2022-11-20T23:49:09","slug":"mara-is-my-name","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=7479","title":{"rendered":"Mara is My Name"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/20200202_200313-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7106\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/20200202_200313-1024x768.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/20200202_200313-300x225.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/20200202_200313-768x576.jpg 768w, http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/20200202_200313-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/20200202_200313-2048x1536.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Me: Hello, what is your name?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Prodigal:  His name is not Mara.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Me:  Well after reading let&#8217;s make sure of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hi Mara!&nbsp; What your name is not Mara?&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mara is&nbsp;found in the bible in Ruth 1:20 \u201cDon\u2019t call me Naomi,\u201d she told them.&nbsp; \u201cCall me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter.&nbsp; Why was Naomi bitter?&nbsp; Her life did not look like she had imagined it.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At this point in her life, she should have been with her husband and her two sons.&nbsp; She could even imagine the happiness that would fill her heart with waiting for her first grandchild.&nbsp; That was not her life though.&nbsp; She had no husband and no more children.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She was bitter.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bitterness&nbsp;is&nbsp;feelings of&nbsp;anger or&nbsp;hurt&nbsp;because of a sense of unfair experiences that have happened.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When we get married there is a dream.&nbsp; We often imagine in our mind all the wonderful memories we will make&nbsp;during our life together.&nbsp;&nbsp;We don\u2019t imagine the struggles that will take place in between those memories we make.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You have married a sinner and you are a sinner.&nbsp; Add being together in commitment for 50 years in a sinful world, that will equal your struggles.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One day after one event though you had enough.&nbsp; You were tired of the unfair experiences.&nbsp; Your heart began to keep locked away a part that was bitter.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now you tell yourself you will deal with that bitter heart, when your spouse deals with his sin.&nbsp; My dear friend the Lord is saying, I deal with each of my children separately.&nbsp; Your bitterness is really against me.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Your bitterness is saying that&nbsp;God&nbsp;did not keep&nbsp;His&nbsp;promise.&nbsp; The promise that you can have joy.&nbsp;&nbsp;That&nbsp;doubt&nbsp;brings whispers when you go to sleep.&nbsp; When you are putting the dishes away.&nbsp; They began sometimes as you are pouring the milk in the glass.&nbsp;&nbsp;The bitterness grows silently,&nbsp;in its tucked away spot.&nbsp;&nbsp;The dark cloud in your heart whispers, is God like&nbsp;those men that I have seen?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Maybe you could be called Mara?&nbsp; Maybe it is difficult to say that?&nbsp; But if that is your name, God already knows.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Lord&nbsp;answers with a heart of compassion.&nbsp;Come&nbsp;to me&nbsp;my daughter, so I can make you white as snow.&nbsp; He is saying I need to clean you up.&nbsp; You can be clean no matter what sinful behaviors your husband has been participating in this week.&nbsp; You can feel joy because I am loving you.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Lord can be trusted and cleaning your bitterness is the good that the Lord has for you.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lord help us.&nbsp; Help us to see bitterness that has taken form in our hearts. Help us to repent.&nbsp; Lord help us to be as white as snow.&nbsp;Bring us that joy that you promised.&nbsp; The promise that can happen in our imperfect lives.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jennifer Van Allen&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">www.theprodigalpig.com<\/a>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.faithincounseling.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">www.faithincounseling.org<\/a>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Me: Hello, what is your name? Prodigal: His name is not Mara. Me: Well after reading let&#8217;s make sure of that. Hi Mara!&nbsp; What your name is not Mara?&nbsp;&nbsp; Mara is&nbsp;found in the bible in Ruth 1:20 \u201cDon\u2019t call me Naomi,\u201d she told them.&nbsp; \u201cCall me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=7479\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Mara is My Name - The Prodigal Pig<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This is a devotion that talks about how we need to watch our for a bitter heart and to give our heart to the Lord.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=7479\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mara is My Name - 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