Every person, no matter how calm they may seem, struggles with the wrong use of anger. Often, those with the greatest anger are blissfully unaware of how much it affects us.
Our anger can display itself in multiple forms, so it is difficult to identify its every expression. While it is clearly seen in rage, it is just as powerful in self-loathing, sarcasm, irritability, and thoughts of revenge.
Looking back, I had always been angry about something. For forty years it had been a regular part of my life. Like a teapot simmering at 211 degrees, it only took some small thing to bring me to a boil. Despite this, some people never saw my anger because I was masterful at hiding it. Others regularly avoided me knowing how painful it could be toward them.
If you had asked me then, I would have excused and downplayed my anger issues. I would have told you, "Sure I get angry, but I'm no different from anyone else!" But, deep inside, the ongoing cost of anger was sapping my life and destroying the most important relationships in it. Those decades of ongoing anger finally came to a point of reckoning.
Six months after being pressured out of a business startup, where I had been a co-founder, I was filled with anger, bitterness and resentment. Inside that anger was corrosively eating away at my emotional stability. As it did, I slowly began what would become a painful descent into despair and depression. What I had sown over the decades was finally bearing fruit.
In that dark place I finally had to admit that my anger was too powerful to be excused, merely managed, or blindly ignored. It had brought me to this darkness, and I wanted out. But where should I start?
Over the next months I became convinced that if God gave us Anger as part of our emotions, I must seek His insight to find help with it. That journey, and how it changed my life, is what led me to create this in-depth workbook on Anger.
I don't know if this workbook is for you, but if you are struggling with anger or feeling discouraged with how anger is affecting your life, I invite you to take a positive step toward a better life.
Discover how Anger works in your life and find answers to these important questions.
- How is you anger holding you back from a better life?
- What is the purpose, place and origin of human anger?
- What does your anger most often appear?
- How does God's anger differ from yours?
- What are the faces of your anger?
- What are the patterns of your anger?
- What is your family tree of anger?
- What are the underlying fears that feed your anger?
- Which personal rights and expectations underly my anger?
Armed with answers to these questions, you will be led through a biblically-based process that addresses the roots beneath your anger and offers you freedom from being controlled by it.
When you have finished this study, you will have learned practical ways to daily leverage forgiveness, reconciliation, and even setbacks as you move forward. Plus you will have completed the most in-depth study of anger that most people will ever do and understand better who your are. Then as you regularly apply what you have studied, you will find a new life that expresses anger God’s way.
Note: This workbook, has been designed to work best in a small group study of two to eight persons. We have tested and found that the discussion and weekly accountability of a committed small group provides greater benefits to the participants than working individually. You will find that almost everyone is interested in the topic of Anger and are curious to learn more about how it works in their lives. In the workbook are proven steps on how to invite and organize a small group study on anger. Plus you can access the resources available on our dedicated website.
Rob McMillen struggled with the power of anger starting in his teenage years and continuing for 4 decades. Whether it was expressed in rage, sarcasm, self-criticism, irritability or withdrawal the results were the same. Others were being hurt by his anger and its expression while he was being kept prisoner by his choices. Even though Rob appeared to be successful as a husband, father, businessman and active church member, he was unable to free himself from his next angry outburst. That changed when God stepped into the situation and began transforming Rob’s anger.
