Issues: Anger

Do you get mad at times? I do myself..Hey, we are all human! However, I sometimes catch myself getting tempered where I hurt people verbally and sometimes physically. It was worst when I was younger when I didn't really know how to control it. I decided to write on this issue after watching 2 siblings fight with each other. I had to raise my voice to tell them to stop and share my personal testimony.

I look back and I try to pin point where I got this "rage" from. First, before I share my past, I want to let you know that I take responsbility of my actions now. Growing up in St. Paul, I lived in a household where there was constant fighting between my parents. I hated it whenever my parents fought (physically and verbally). Well, this really affected me growing-up as I was very quiet and shy in school. I would pretend "publicly" that everything was going well at home as I was ashamed "privately" of what went on. As I was holding everything in, I would sometimes blow up at people. I would take my anger at my love ones. When I had a rough day at work (Taco Bell), I would come home mad! My siblings would know at times how work was once I get in the door.

You know being angry can cause others to be angry or sin?

"In your anger do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent"-Psalm 4:4

Anger Management

I would start learning how to release my anger in various ways as I grew up. When I was tired of getting picked on at school, I would workout at my home-lifting dumbells, doing push-ups, etc... Another way was listening to music-heavy metal! I would play my cassate tapes to different types of bands depending how I felt. One particular band I loved to listen to growing-up was "Metallica". I wold sing to the lyrics in a raging voice upstairs in my room with my door closed!

As I write this, I remember one time my dad came into my room. He didn't say anything, but he ripped my "Metallica" (red devil picture) poster off the wall and left quietly. My dad and I would never say anything about this to this day!

Personal Testimony

I have to be honest, but I've been able to manage my anger as I've grown in my personal relationship with Jesus. It all started back in my freshmen year at UMM-college. I was given a Gideon's small bible, which had a list of how to deal with various issues. I read many verses on "anger", which was "soul food"! I highly enouraged you all to pick-up the Bible and do the same!

Anger is metioned 270 times in the Bible=>biblesearch.com! Reflection

I look back at the "silly-stupid" things I did growing-up. I say to myself-how immature I was. Well, I feel as a grown-up adult, I had to go through those in order to share this with younger people. I want others to learn from my mistake and not repeat what I did.