I have a dislike for someone

[DorkiusMaximus]

God is going to handle this matter, then you do need to
calm yourself and move in a different direction, than one
that is focused on "revenge". When something is consuming
you it keeps you from living the abundant life in Christ.
You are focused on getting back at her, can you see it's
actually hurting you spiritually and emotionally? No doubt
it's effecting your Christian witness?

God wants you to "chill out" -- calm yourself, then work
towards doing that. Trust God to act justly.

Put into action forgiveness.
Hold high the banner of truth, after it's on your side.

Her heart is darkened by greed and she needs a lot of
prayer, God is near you and has said He's going to take
care of things-- step out in faith, trust and BELIEVE what God
has made known to you.

You can do this.

I needed to hear this too, thank you.

As for OP, I'm praying for you.

 

[znr]

You can do this.

Yeah, I can. Thank you

 

[Chainless]

It seems to me that part of your job would be protecting your work. Which means filing DMCA. You can forgive her and also protect your work. If I worked for a Christian company and stole from them I wouldn't expect them to just forgive me and let me continue to steal from them.

As far as your feelings toward her, one thing that helped me was just realizing and accepting the fact that fellow believers are going to do terrible things and disappoint me. I left church early on in my Christian life due to being hurt by fellow believers. It was something that really put my faith life in trouble. I got to the point of just accepting that fellow believers aren't going to live according to what they say they believe. I will. That's all we can do.

Grace and peace.

 

[High Fidelity]

I'd absolutely take legal action. Some people need to learn the hard way.

 

[znr]

If it was just a matter of legal action that's easy and I do that quite often...but this is, as it turns out, a matter of the heart and I see that I have a bunch of bitterness inside that I have to deal with, which has become my priority above all things - get rid of that trash. Thanks for understanding...yes some people DO need to learn the hard way, amen!

I'd absolutely take legal action. Some people need to learn the hard way.

 

[DiscipleHeLovesToo]

the hard way is the only alternative to grace; to both receiving grace and to giving grace

 

[znr]

If you're suggesting that allowing people to steal my business and exploit me while I sit back take it is equal to not showing grace, that's not what God intends. I wasn't put here on this earth to go poor and crazy while other people get rich off what they stole from me. I don't have to make a career of being upset with these people, but I do need to conduct business as a responsible business owner. As I see it, grace has nothing to do with my issue. It's a matter of being wiser and protecting myself from harm by being wise in the first place - obviously this is my issue. The other day a woman told me she loves the shirt I'm wearing because it has Elvis on it. I almost walked home and changed so I could give her the shirt. Then I felt, suddenly, that enough is enough...it's time to take care of myself now. Enough enough enough.

Or maybe I misunderstood you...but in any case, I am sort of admonishing myself, which is good.

the hard way is the only alternative to grace; to both receiving grace and to giving grace

 

[Pal Handy]

If you're suggesting that allowing people to steal my business and exploit me while I sit back take it is equal to not showing grace, that's not what God intends. I wasn't put here on this earth to go poor and crazy while other people get rich off what they stole from me. I don't have to make a career of being upset with these people, but I do need to conduct business as a responsible business owner. As I see it, grace has nothing to do with my issue. It's a matter of being wiser and protecting myself from harm by being wise in the first place - obviously this is my issue. The other day a woman told me she loves the shirt I'm wearing because it has Elvis on it. I almost walked home and changed so I could give her the shirt. Then I felt, suddenly, that enough is enough...it's time to take care of myself now. Enough enough enough.

Or maybe I misunderstood you...but in any case, I am sort of admonishing myself, which is good.

The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant

Matthew 18: 21-35
Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”

Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.

“Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him.

Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.

“At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

“But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.

“His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’

“But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt.

When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.

“Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’

In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
“This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

 

[boogalaboogala]

It's about betrayal, respect...it's about being preyed on, used as a tool to get something...so yeah betrayal I guess. When I did finally step up and put an end to the thing officially, lots of accusations were made against me.

Today I see that my stuff is flying high on her domain. My hard work, my guts, my brand...being branded into someone elses brand.

The thing is...in this industry (internet marketing) everyone steals. I mean 90% of the people in this industry TEACH each other to rip others off...I've been ripped off so many times I can't think straight. Millions of dollars have been made as a result of my contributions. Most of that money was made by people who ripped my stuff off, ripped my brand off and bypassed me. So, when this person came along and pretended to be a nice person, a morally upright, compassionate Christian woman, I fell for it. She is just the last straw on a long list, but the hardest part is that she used God to do what she did.

I really hope I can move past this quickly, it's eating me alive.

Zeener, it is never easy to do the right thing.. as you can clearly see by your friends actions..
Don't make any hasty decisions in a mood of anger.. it will only serve to make you regret your own actions later..
You have made yourself clear to this co-worker. Now wait patiently till you are calmed down.. this may take quite some time..
One thing that I have learned over the years, is that the stuff doesn't matter as much as the people.. don't let anything come between you and another.. let her have what she has stolen.. and move on.. if she ever comes to you for any reason.. receive her as an old friend.. just be careful not to put her in a position to sin against you again..
I have a sneaky hunch that this will all be behind you in no time..
Blessings sister...

 

[znr]

I have a sneaky hunch that this will all be behind you in no time..
Blessings sister...

For some reason these words touched me.

 

[Christian Soldier 777]

You know, that woman used that same exact scripture to try and manipulate me...right before she conned me. She said "it's better to be poor" ...

I'm just trying to make a living. This is my living and my art, so I am blessed because I do what I love most, create "art"...I get paid to be nutty and weird. I get paid to be myself. This is my living, and my digital art. I wanted to help others, and I did, but I made it very hard on myself because I was naive and did not think about all the people who would loot and bypass me. So in the end, people are helped, and I am in tears because I am not a clever person when it comes to rigging things in my favor. I was a naive person and I wanted to spread the wealth, but I know idea what I was doing then.

Right now I hate my life. All I did was HELP other people put food in their bowls...and in the end I'm crushed by people. And bitter. I would say I am bitter. Just bitter.

I am sorry that you are going through this and I can't imagine how upset you are that you were taken advantage of, but trust what God has told you and ask Him to help you let go. The devil used scripture to try and tempted Jesus in the wilderness. If the Lord said He will handle it, His word will not come back to Him void. I see you leave some great advice to others and would hate to see the enemy turn you bitter. God will not fail you!! You are MORE then a Conqueror!! I will be praying for you†

 

[znr]

Thank you for your encouragement!

I am sorry that you are going through this and I can't imagine how upset you are that you were taken advantage of, but trust what God has told you and ask Him to help you let go. The devil used scripture to try and tempted Jesus in the wilderness. If the Lord said He will handle it, His word will not come back to Him void. I see you leave some great advice to others and would hate to see the enemy turn you bitter. God will not fail you!! You are MORE then a Conqueror!! I will be praying for you†

 

[dreamer30]

Sorry if I didn't read it right, and my post got deleted. But I was wondering, what if you put a copyright signature underneath your art. You might think, well it really belongs to God, but it's ok to have a copyright signature because you don't want anyone stealing it from you. I don't really see a problem with someone copying me if I were an Artist as long as they make their own imprint on it. And not copy word for word or drawing for the exact drawing as is. But other then that , if she is literally copying you, tell someone to talk to her about it or get her sued.

 

[JennyGirlz]

Let it go, before it consumes you.
You are bigger than this. Right?

 

[parsley]

In any business, there is a continual barrage of people trying to take advantage. So taking a calmer stance is good-- not letting the opposition bowl you over. There is an emotional win that some people enjoy, stabbing and pinching.

As for legalities, you have every right and need to pursue your property. If she takes advantage of you, she will teach that to others, and they will assume it's okay.

Small things you can do:

1. Send her a certified letter with return receipt. That provides dated evidence that you tried to contact her concerning the terms of the agreement.

2. Let her know that you plan to file copyright for each authored/created item.

3. Let her know that you may take legal action, and give her the name of an attorney. (One you know is helpful, so she doesn't call them first.)

4. Put metadata tags on any files you have. If there are a lot, get them into something like Bridge, and gang-edit them. The files will already have a date stamp on them, so make sure those aren't removed.

5. If it seems appropriate, let her know that so far you have not defamed her publicly, and would like to keep it that way. She will know there's a lot of damage that can be done, and hopefully will not play ridiculous games.

6. Let her know that you recognize it takes time to remove files, and you will give her [one month] to remove all files. If she makes any profits from the files that have not be removed, you will need the full amount of the profit within 30 days of the sale/income.

If within 30 days she has not removed the files, you will send her a bill for hourly compensation for work you have completed. (Be careful how you word this or she might just say fine, and ignore it.)

(If she plays dirty, then contact her site host and let them know she has illegal content on her site.)

I fully understand the need to forgive, but there is no company that would want their employees to bow down to a thief and give away intellectual property. It is a given that you have rights to it, and not a matter of generosity or kindness to give that up. What you worked hard for is yours. Forgive, and expect ethical behavior of others.

Some people just don't know, so educate her while you communicate your intent.

 

[znr]

Yes.

Let it go, before it consumes you.
You are bigger than this. Right?

 

[Radagast]

As for legalities, you have every right and need to pursue your property.

That much is good advice. Any ongoing intellectual property theft should be dealt with. Any communication with regards to that should be done with advice from a lawyer, however.

And there's a lesson here for next time: partnerships need clear written agreements.

 

[boogalaboogala]

That much is good advice. Any ongoing intellectual property theft should be dealt with. Any communication with regards to that should be done with advice from a lawyer, however.

And there's a lesson here for next time: partnerships need clear written agreements.

i think the only lesson learned here radagast, is to not invite you to the next party..
i cannot get over how quickly you want to involve the law.. i am guessing that you never read the part about settling your differences out of court.. that my friend is in the bible..
wow... grace is one lesson that i would have thought all true christians would have learned...

 

[Radagast]

i cannot get over how quickly you want to involve the law.. i am guessing that you never read the part about settling your differences out of court..

Of course it's better to settle out of court. I was responding, however, to parsley's advice.

First, lawyers don't necessarily mean court; lawyers are experts on what your legal rights are, and they can provide professional advice on wise and unwise ways of handling things (we may also have one of those US/UK language differences: if I had intended court, I would have said "barrister," not "lawyer").

Second, some of the communication suggested by parsley should really be reviewed by a lawyer first. For example, a lawyer might perhaps advise strongly against anything like #5. Sometimes it's best to pay a lawyer to write the letter.

Third, lawyers know what questions to ask the client. Did you ever...? Did you say...? Did you sign...?

Fourth, even good options like mediation are best informed by knowing what your legal rights are.

Finally, this kind of trouble really is much less likely if people begin partnerships with clear legal agreements as to who owns what.

 

[boogalaboogala]

Of course it's better to settle out of court. I was responding, however, to parsley's advice.

First, lawyers don't necessarily mean court; lawyers are experts on what your legal rights are, and they can provide professional advice on wise and unwise ways of handling things (we may also have one of those US/UK language differences: if I had intended court, I would have said "barrister," not "lawyer").

Second, some of the communication suggested by parsley should really be reviewed by a lawyer first. For example, a lawyer might perhaps advise strongly against anything like #5. Sometimes it's best to pay a lawyer to write the letter.

Third, lawyers know what questions to ask the client. Did you ever...? Did you say...? Did you sign...?

Fourth, even good options like mediation are best informed by knowing what your legal rights are.

Finally, this kind of trouble really is much less likely if people begin partnerships with clear legal agreements as to who owns what.

got it.. i completely understand you now..
ps> i am canadian, not american.. infact we use your same grammar.. the americans spell most things different than me..
i once had a girl in seatle that i met on a dating site years ago. tell me that i was spelling everything wrong.. words like colour.. and centre, or metre.. they spell that, center & meter.. and color.. lol..lol..
anyhow.. if you intended it in the light that you just spun it in.. then i want to say that is sound advice.. take care