Dealing With FeelingSample

When I’m mad, God helps me forgive.

Sometimes everyone gets MAD—angry, frustrated, hurt, bitter, or jealous. Feeling mad usually means you feel like someone has done something to wrong you. Feeling mad can also come from things not going the way you wanted them to. Sometimes this turns into feeling like God has done something to wrong you. It’s not wrong to feel mad. Jesus got mad when He was here on earth, and God gets mad too.

But mad feelings often quickly turn into sinful choices. Mad feelings are kind of like fire. We want people to know how wrong the other person was so we keep throwing more wood or fuel on the fire to keep it going by thinking about it and telling people about it and holding onto the mad feelings. But we are the one who will get burned by staying that close to the fire. When you try other things like yelling at the person, punching the wall, screaming into your pillow, or trying to get even with the person by hurting them back, those things won’t really heal your heart. You’ll still feel mad.

The only way to stop feeling mad is to forgive. Sometimes that’s easy; you just get over it by time passing and realizing it wasn’t that big of a deal. Forgiveness is really hard sometimes—especially when the person doesn’t deserve it and isn’t sorry. God has the power to forgive even the worst people that have ever lived, and He can give that power to us when we ask. Say this out loud, “When I'm mad, God helps me forgive.”

Talk It Over: Talk about some times God helped you to forgive someone when you were mad.