Liberation!
Date: April 25th, 2021
Canvas: 18” x 24”
Cost: $700
Go ahead and be angry. You do well to be angry—but don’t use your anger as fuel for revenge. And don’t stay angry. Don’t go to bed angry. Don’t give the Devil that kind of foothold in your life.
—Ephesians 4:26-27 [The Message]
Doug, a pastor at Hope Covenant Church, spoke about how when we do not deal with anger in a healthy way, it quickly becomes a foothold for the Devil. Anger prompts us to act, to protect, to rectify a situation, etc. That is a good thing. But when we hold it in, it turns into “justified” resentment—now we are locked up. So, the foothold becomes a stronghold and broken relationships are soon to follow. Doug said the way forward is for us to surrender to God—forgive—release.
Troy MacDonald and friends rehearsed the song “I Surrender” (Hillsong) prior to the start of the service—an image appeared quickly in my mind. I saw a woman caught up in a storm, fighting at first, but suddenly realizing something...Jesus too was caught in a storm, but he let go of control so that God's love could flow through him to turn the horror of the cross into freedom for all of us. So, she lets go too! She allows Grace to turn the destructive forces in her life into forces for her healing—she’s free! She embraces Jesus himself as her very Life as she lets Jesus love and forgive others through her, even as her. [Galatians 2:20].
Christian religion taught me from childhood to ‘boot-strap’ it—shove my anger down, act meek and forgive (forgive=pretend that everything was okay), but I just couldn’t let stuff go, so I was trapped. It’s taken decades of work for me to know what to do with my anger. And it’s still not easy, but, as new storms hit me each day, I follow, more and more, the example of the woman in the painting so healing and freedom can flow!