Passing the Anger Test

As someone who has battled a lot in the area of anger, I was delighted with myself recently when I consider myself to have passed an ‘Anger Test’ I believe God set just for me! It was the usual rush-hurry day, when I dashed into the car, just in time to collect my daughter from her dancing lesson. Lo and behold, I noticed a small, round mark in the windscreen and thought to myself that a crack was just what I didn’t need right now! Somehow, I let out a sigh from deep inside me and said a quick prayer for extra strength to see me through the day. I even tried to wash the windscreen whilst driving, but alas, the mark remained there and I was convinced that it was a chip that would need to get fixed – a job I didn’t have the time or the patience for, but I chose not to get angry about it. However, when I got to my destination, I took a closer inspection of what I honestly believed was a round chip caused by a stone, only to discover that it was just a stubborn, dirty mark!! I was over-the-moon with joy and thanked and praised God for his goodness! As I calmed myself, I reflected on how much I had grown spiritually, as God reminded me of an earlier time, just a few years before, when the same event happened, but with a very different result – I cursed and swore, ranted and raved, and was left with the nasty chip to be repaired! I like to think that had I reacted in the same way, the chip would have been that, a chip - and not a dirty mark, but because I ‘passed’ the test, the chip was miraculously healed and reduced to a dirty mark instead! I have come to learn through many such incidents that God sets tests for us to pass, and depending on how we react, we either get to redo them for as many times as we need to, or we pass them and progress to the next level in our Christian walk! There are so many things in our everyday lives that can make us angry, but we do have the power through God’s grace to choose not to react to it. Just take a deep breath, say a quick prayer and SMILE!! Unless of course, if it's righteous anger, when it's our action that's needed too... but I'll put that in another blog for another time...