Here is another blog post I pulled out of the archive. I wrote this back in 2015. I pray this encourages, teaches and blesses you!

On 2 separate occasions just this week, God has allowed the opportunity for me to see how a soft answer turns away wrath.  Very simple, yet everyday situations caught me this week and I had to make myself stay calm and be kind.  And I purposely did this because I am trying to discipline myself to be in a Christ like mode at all times.  It’s not easy to always be kind and giving and loving to people, especially when we live in a world full of people who are hard to love.  This is not always easy to do but because I always want people to see the God in me, I have to remind myself when anger or frustration begins to rile up…that I must resist it.  Resist allowing the enemy to use me in a way that will be hurtful to someone else.  Don’t get me wrong, there is some life situations that will get me upset, but it’s how I react to them that God is paying attention to.  Be angry and sin not.  (Ephesians 4:26) If my anger causes me to cuss someone out, or hurt someone’s feelings, or discourage someone, or hit and be violent to them….that is wrong.

In one of the situations, I was bringing my son to his 1^st day of summer camp.  On this particular morning they were very unorganized and couldn’t find any of his paper work or registration papers and the woman I was dealing with really wasn’t being very nice to me.  She kept saying that she couldn’t find his folder as if I never signed him up for camp.  But I felt in my spirit to be calm and be kind to her.

While waiting, God was showing me that my son was paying attention to everything that was going on.  If I had gotten angry and acted out, my son would have started his first day of summer camp with the same angry energy, probably feeling confused and not knowing what to do with or about these feelings that I had given him.  We have to be mindful about how we behave in front of our children.  We are their first teachers, their first role models.  Thank you Lord for showing me that!

Despite the way she was treating me, I answered her very nicely and waited patiently. Now look at God….while this woman is telling me she doesn’t know my sons name, 3 different young ladies who work for the summer camp came out at different times and they all knew my sons name and stated they saw his folder when they were setting up.   One of the young ladies goes inside to look for the folder and comes back with it saying she found it and everything is accounted for and he is all set!

I was thinking…”Wow God, look how you did that, this woman was sure my son wasn’t signed up but you sent 3 different people who knew his name!”  What the enemy meant for evil, God made it for good! (Genesis 50:20)

We walked into the building, I pulled my son aside and prayed with him for covering through his day and I watched him go into his room.  God gave me peace throughout my day, and I know it was because I chose to follow His will by reacting in a Christ like manner.  I chose to show them the God in me instead of get upset and yelling and cussing folks.  I refuse to allow the devil to use me in any way.  I don’t entertain his antics.

The other situation was during my lunch break.  I ordered a dish, but first asked if there was meat in it, I don’t eat pork.  She said there wasn’t but when I got back to my desk, opened up the box…there was bacon in it! My first thought was to be aggravated and bring it back to them!!!  But on my way over, my spirit reminded me that a soft answer turns away wrath.  I brought it back to the store and approached the cashier to explain what happened.  That didn’t go well because she didn’t speak English LOL so I went looking for a manager.  This guy said he was the manger but when I asked him again, he really wasn’t the manager LOL (these are all lil situations that should get me even more worked up to be angry, right?!) I asked if he could help me, and explained my situation in a calm and kind way.  I walked out of that restaurant not with my small order I originally wanted but a LARGE order of something else!

I’m sharing this to help you to choose to imitate Christ.  Reacting to situations with anger or frustration is to react in your emotions.  When we react in our emotions, the end result is never good.  I pray this will also help you to see the many ways throughout our day that we can choose God.

For some of us, this may be a bit difficult at first because we are used to reacting in a rough manner.  You don’t have to choose that way.  You can choose a gentle answer, a soft answer.  You wouldn’t believe how easily that will calm down a situation and how pleased God will be of your effort.  God will jump to attention and move on your behalf when he sees that you are choosing His way. If you forget the first few times, its ok…tell God your sorry for reacting that way, pray and try again.

The only way we can know if we are staying in the will of God and living a life that pleases Him is by knowing what He expects of us, knowing the promises He has set aside for us, knowing his Word.  Read your bible.

Proverbs 51:1 ~ a soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

One step at a time, one day at a time.  Every day is a new day to make positive change in your life.

I’ve posted a survey I found online asking you questions about Christlike attributes. Sit for a moment and take the survey/quiz. Sit where you are in this area. It’s exercises like this that help you to gauge and see where yo are in your Christian walk. We need to assess and stay accountability like this often.

Thank you to ideadoor.com for the image and courtneyaitken.blogpost.com for the surveys