How presumptive it is for me to shake my fist at God when he allows something to hurt me or those I love. There are times when I not only get angry with God, but then I get angry with myself for being angry with him. My anger toward God was pretty intense the day lightning struck a tree right behind my house. The electromagnet field from the bolt traveled through the ground into my home and fried things like my computer, microwave, and printer. It also created problems with receptacles throughout the house.

"God, you got to be kidding," is all I could say after the loud crack.  My right hand tightened into a fist.  Although I should have been thankful I wasn't hit by lightening, I was still upset at God.  After all, he allowed this to happen at a time I was facing so many other problems.  I didn't, however, mention my anger to anyone because I was certain it just showed what a horrible Christian I was. 

Once, when I was speaking on the topic of anger, a women secretly told me that she had been mad at God for 12 years because her fiancé killed himself weeks before their wedding.  She, like me, was embarrassed to admit that she felt that way and felt guilty even going to church. 

I have held a lot of misunderstandings around anger because I grew up with a rageacholic father.  But over the years I've learned the importance of quickly recognizing and admitting when I'm angry at God. Although he accepts these feelings, I ask him to take that energy and help me turn it into something positive. Having those feelings doesn't make me a bad person. It's when I ignore them, stay trapped or stuck in them that separates me from God's love, peace and joy. 

Reflection for Gaining More: What do you do when you have angry thoughts and feelings toward God?  Do you hide them? Do you continue to complain? Or do you own them and ask God to help you handle them in a constructive way?