Mysterious Ways

Have you ever heard the phrase "God works in mysterious ways" & kinda rolled your eyes like yea yea yea..........sure He does. I used to think that way then i plain tested this theory out. (yes i conducted an experiment of sorts) Before the end of 2011 ome new neighbors moved in downstairs. The whole moving in process was EXTREMELY loud & obnoxious. At 10:30pm i hear a loud BAM BAM BAM at my door. Here one of the neighbors kids was asking me for plier.....yes PLIERS at 10:30! That was an hour and a half AFTER my kids go to bed & my hunny had to get up at 4am! I told them no in a not so welcoming manner. 15min later BAM BAM BAM!!!! Here is the kids mom at the door asking the exact same thing! That set the tone for the rest of our rock relationship. My bed is against the wall that the door for downstairs open on....not a week went by without some very loud banging, loud people, pounding on the walls & what sounded like some serious physical abuse against elephants! I called & called & called the security people & the office. I cried & pleaded for them to DO SOMETHING! These people were disrupting the peace of our whole building! One day i had had enough! THere was loud pounding at her door * i walked downstairs. Her sister & her man were kicking & pounding at her door with no success. I calmly said "did you know some people work at 4am & need to sleep?" She turned & called me a witch stung by a bee & said "you are the neighbor always stompin on my sis's ceiling shut up" That was it......i made it my goal my MISSION in fact to remove them at all cost. I filed paperwork, called the security till he knew my name by heart & reported every small infraction i could. I rounded up the neighbors & they did the same. Again after about a 1/2 hour of crazy noise i opened my front door. THe neighbor was just steppin out & i said again how my hunny wakes up early & needs sleep. She was nice to my face but the min she thought i closed my door i heard her curse me out! She was screamin obscenities about me & i even heard her tell her mom i smoked crack!!! This BOTHERED ME GREATLY! I was soooooooooooo angry over that comment. I mean ME smokin CRACK?! (i wasn't even rail thin!) I don't know why it bothered me to the point i was physically ready to punch something but it did! I finally just sat down with my head in my hnds & said "God i can't let her do this to me anymore! Please help me! I am giving this problem to you, it's out of my hands. I obviously can't do a thing about her i have tried believe me! I can't take the noise, the ugliness & the threats (yes i forgot that! she threatend to punch me in the face). Lord please give me an oppurtunity to somehow fix this & change her's & my attitudes." Do you know 2days after my prayer i hear a knock on my door. THe neighbors mom & sister are standing there. I am of course wary & ask my fiancee' to "witness" this exchange. The mother says "i am sorry for the way my daughter disrespected you the other night. she ws wrong & needs to tell you so. my other daughter is really nice if you give her a chance. i hope you 2 can work it out." Her daughter then apologized for the incident & callin me the names!!!! I was floored! Here all it took was 1 prayer! I had the in now to speak & squash the problem with the neighbor. I called her & left a vm tellin her i was sorry. She never called back. I saw her & asked to sit down & talk.........again nothing. I said "God why tease me!? You made it seem like you worked it out & she's not responding! I am soing everything right NOW!" Nothing happened for weeks........except i did notice the door stopped slamming, less yelling & no more banging on the doors occured. Hm.......ok i'll take that. This brings me to tonight. It sounded like WWIII using Elephants to run a race against bowlin balls. Im sitting on the couch getting a massage on my bum while tryin to turn up the tv past #45 without feeling deaf or waking the dead! Finally my hunny pokes his head out & says "did you hear that? she said he's goin to jail for that." I decided just in the event there was physical abuse i needed to find out if she was ok. I txt her & no response. The yelling had escalated to a point beyond yelling it was screaming. I went outside & down the stairs. I heard her telling an unknown person to get out & give her back her phone. He is not complying so i kinda yelled "are you ok?" She said no & i offered to call 911. Here it was her cousin tearing her house apart LITERALLY & throwing couch cushions, vases, fake plants, placemats, mail, beer & other objects around. He also had hit her at some point as well. I asked him to leave or i was callin the police. He left all the while yelling at her & she was yelling back. I hugged her & asked if there was anything i could do. Her poor kids were scared out of their minds in their rooms! I felt so bad & a quiet voice said "now Elisa, now you can have an in to show her Jesus's love through you. help her & show kindess." That's exactly what i did. I cleaned up spilled beer, threw away trash, put the couches back together & sorted the mail. I placed statues back in their places, put placemats & napkins back on the table, pushed he couches back against the walls they were pulled out from. I made sure the kids were calmed down, put her pillows back on her bed & set her pictures back up on her coffee table. As i worked she sat & just bawled out the story & i just listened (not my forte if you have ever met me, i usually have ALOT to say). I was a good neighbor & even more a friend. I wasn't judgemental or heartless. I didn't respond the way i knew she might have if it were reversed, i simply did what i thought Jesus would do in my place. I allowed Him to use ME as His vessel of love, to show her she MATTERED! After i was done, she was so thankful. She said "I was so mean & ignorant to you & all you have been is nice to me. I am so sorry!" I told her i HAD been rude to her even if she didn't know, & that i was sorry too. I hugged her & told her if she ever needed me i was upstairs. TALK ABOUT MYSTERIOUS WAYS!!!!! God used our fighting & irritation to test me. Once i gave it over to Him he fixed it to the point He could use ME to minister to her in her hour of need. He knew when & what would happen, but i didn't. How often do we question God's timing, God's ways? Instead we need to be praying to be prepared for what is coming that we don't know about. Thank you for teaching me & using me even when i don't have any clue what i'm doing Lord! I hope next time my faith will be even greater :)