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 :(

Hi all,

My in laws think that they are so perfect and it is driving me out of my mind.
My father in-law has to be in the same classes I am and is of course getting better grades and has to act so smug about it in a not too subtle way. My prayer request? that God would teach them not to act so arrogant and puffed up.
This guy does everything just right and he does it in a way to make others feel small. I pray that the Lord would let him fail once so he would quit acting like he's perfect and his wife would stop bragging all the time. I know how selfish this all may sound to some of you and believe me when I say that I try not to be envious of him, but his subtle in your face attitude doesn't help matters. Please pray for God to give me more grace to deal with this and also help me do better in my classes. I had to be out of class the last couple of days because I had to go to the dentist for dental work done so now I am behind and it's giving him another edge over me.
It's bad enough that this man is a pharisee, but now he is getting a better education that is causing his head to swell up even more. She is really no better than he is and loves to rub it in every time I visit them. Would it be wrong or sin to ask the Lord to send them both a thorn in the flesh to keep them humble? The way it's going now he will graduate before I will if I ever will and it will be even more unbearable to be around them. God help me please.

I hear your cry.

Matt 23:12
For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

There have been many situations where I have been oppressed by people, and when I had genuinely forgave them God brought vengeance on them.

For instance I had a friend who kept mentioning a car accident I had been in to put me down. That same day he dented his father's car. The following day he got into a car accident and was ticketed. He was humbled before me.

I was playing table tennis with a friend. And he was starting to become very arrogant each day we were playing because he thought I was trying to be better than him. In my heart, I wanted us to both become better and have fun. He took advantage of my kindness when I actually gave him a few chances to keep up with me. The next time we played he missed nearly every volley for 40 minutes. He also knocked his ping pong ball up over these benches twice. And because he couldnt retrieve them he had to ask me to do it. He was humbled before me.

Dont try to find a way to bring vengeance for yourself. Be patient with God. In all these situations I told God, "Wow, you didnt have to be that rough with them." In the end, I had more pity on them than I had with a sense of justice.

But this is what you can do and you WILL receive a blessing greater than the anger you feel against your in-laws. Forgive them and humble yourself before them. When your in-law comes to you with a subtle I-am-better-than-you impression...say "yeah, you're better than me." God promises that those who humble themselves will be exalted and those who exalt themselves will be humbled. Have faith in this.

In the day that your in-laws are humbled before you, you must show mercy to them. And forgive them. For it was God who humbled them and exalted you. If you can still love them now and after they are humbled, you will heap burning coals on their head. Dont try to heap burning coals on their head when you rub in how they were humbled. They're own conscience will do that. If you do rub it in it wont. In your heart love them.