Let’s say you are going about your day, happy and perfectly content. A small obstacle arises, no big deal. But the woman you are faced to deal with in the obstacle, she is raging mad! She blows it out of proportion, blaming you for the cause. What do you do? Do you let the woman bring out the worst in you, and react with rage? Or do you calmly respond and continue on your path towards a solution?

In the natural, we want to react. You know, God worked in me early on concerning reacting to another’s choice of tone. As I mentioned before, I grew up in a dysfunctional family. Lots of anger in the family, mainly between my dad and myself. He would get angry and I would react just the same. I was 22 when God began to show me how to respond rather than react. But it took me having an awareness that when other people get angry, it’s reveals the condition of their mental state. A state that I did not want to be in. With that, I quit hopping in the passenger seat, so they couldn’t drive me there any longer!

Your ministry calls for loving people, all types of people. Not just the happy ones. We need to respond with an understanding that the one raging angry is not happy with herself and continue to show her Christ’s love. “Hatred stirs up quarrels, but love makes up for all offenses.” (Proverbs 10:12) We have a choice to react with hatred and keep the vicious cycle rolling. Or we can respond with love and stop the cycle dead in its tracks. People are worth so much more than their emotions portray sometimes and everyone is worthy of God’s love. It’s time we start being a living example of His love to those who need it most.

Ashley Fordinal is the Children’s Church volunteer at Family Life Church in Sulphur Springs, TX.