I Passed The Test!

About two years ago, I had an anger monster that lived inside of me most of my life. When I say monster, I mean just that. He was an evil spirit bound inside of me ready to unleash whenever something did not go my way. If we were in a crunch running for time, I would feel the pressing in of the monster or if the kids were pushing my buttons, it was possible that the monster would surface with a look that would send them running. Each time I allowed the anger to emerge and my words set forth like a wildfire, I would confess my wrongdoings to God and ask for his mercy and forgiveness since I had failed the test yet again.

Overtime, with his grace and love, my patience grew and slowly the monster began to die. Each time God tested my tolerance of daily life, the monster surfaced less and less until one day, he no longer resided within my soul. The day I passed the test was one of the most freeing moments in my life. I was no longer enslaved to my emotions, but instead, I allowed the Holy Spirit to reign over my feelings.

What are you allowing to rule over your life causing you to feel bound by chains? Fear, frustration, anger, depression, anxiety, loneliness? Do you have a desire to be set free from a bondage that is holding you down?

Jesus understands what it means to feel trapped within something to which you cannot control. Accepting his punishment on the cross for a crime he clearly did not commit was not his choice, yet he understood the freedom that would come by his act of obedience.

God is not some almighty God who is out to punish people for their choices. He has given us free will and will not impose on our choice. Yet in spite of your decision to avoid Him, he wants to love you and get to know you so he can free you from the entrapments you are imprisoned in. He wants to offer His love in exchange for a relationship with you. Will you accept his everlasting, never changing love?

I can tell you from my own experience, having God’s love fill my heart is better than any day the anger monster reared his ugly head. Although I have not passed every test since we live our lives by refinement, I finally passed the test of anger and exchanged it for love.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. “ (1 Corinthians 4-8)