INSPIRASUNS

Quite the title of this little blog today, I guess. It’s true, though. Satan takes great pleasure in watching God’s children become angry, lash out, and be unhappy. He knows that in those moments, he can get into our thoughts and encourage more of the same. He loves to egg us on, tell us behind the scenes that we’re right to be upset, that it’s the other person’s fault, and that they deserved our actions.

There were several instances yesterday where I found myself in that state, being angry, I mean. The first was totally out of my control (the situation was, my actions were totally in my control), a situation that occurred with several friends of mine. I was as supportive of them as I could possibly be, telling them that I was here for them, in whatever way I could help. But…I was furious with the way they had been treated.

The second instance took place in the post office, of all places. I went in to pay the box fee for the golf group I oversee. It was a few minutes after five, and as I walked in towards the counters, the two male clerks behind them were yelling, literally yelling at people as they came in, “We’re closed!” There was still a line of three or four people waiting to be served, but the clerks were screaming at everyone else in the lobby that they were closed. I was totally dumbfounded at this behavior. I looked at one of them simply to ask if I could leave the payment in our PO box. As I started to say, “Sir, can I?”… He immediately cut me off and yelled, “NO! We’re Closed!” Well, something snapped in me, and what came out was pretty forceful and not pleasant. Yep, I had come right down to his ugly level. The second clerk yelled over to me, asking me to bring the payment to him so he could take it for me. I thanked him, saying loudly, something along the lines of, “At least one of you has the ability to interact appropriately with the public!”

Well, that was a fun time, wasn’t it? I was shaking when I got back in the car and told my husband what happened.

As I thought about these two instances this morning, I realized how differently I could have handled both. I asked Father for forgiveness for the way I handled them. Satan had fun with me yesterday, and at the end of it, how did I feel? Not good. Imagine what would have happened if I had, in the first instance, just stopped and prayed for my friends in their situation, instead of stewing and getting angry.

In the case of the post office interaction, I could have simply come back when they were open, leaving with a simple, “I hope you have a good day.” Imagine how satan would have felt if I did both of these things. I would have given him no ammo to ruin my day and evening.

Friends, satan loves anger. He loves to play on emotions that are not good for us. Don’t let him. Step away from the situation and don’t give in to his encouraging ways. It’s not easy, I know. I fell headfirst into the trap yesterday. Let yourself lean on the Lord to get you through those situations. Pause, ask for guidance, take a high road, and know that you handled things as Jesus prefers. And…if you stumble and fall into Satan’s ways, again, pause, and ask the Lord for forgiveness, and guidance to handle it differently the next time.

We’re human, we make mistakes. But…the good thing is, Father forgives them, and will help us be better if we let Him.

Have a good day, friends, today will be better than yesterday 🙂 .

Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.