September, 2010:

Have you noticed lately how angry the world is? I mean, have you really noticed? Everywhere you look– on tv, at the supermarket, on the internet, people are increasingly angrier and angrier. Why is this? What is the cause?

“Do not hasten in your spirit to be angry, for anger rests in the bosom of fools.” Ecclesiastes 7:9

I remember thinking this very thing a few days ago while watching the early morning news. There was a story, and video, of adults at a peewee sports game who were physically fighting. Why? What did that accomplish? I was reading a few tweets of some people I’ve newly found, and saw that they had been ‘attacked’ because of their faith, by seemingly angry people. Why? What did that accomplish? I log on to facebook and I see people constantly complaining about this and that, and constantly posting how this made them mad or that made them mad; or how they hate their jobs or bosses or co-workers. I go to the supermarket and am not met with smiles and happiness, but frowns, rudeness, and fast-moving angry people. I drive down the road and if someone next to me thinks I’m driving too slow, I hear their horn and see them sporting their middle finger. Politics has turned angry. Even the blogging world has turned angry– where people leave vile comments full of hatred and disdain. Everywhere I turn, people are angry. Why?

“So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” James 1:19,20

I go to a high school football game and hear parents yelling profanities and rude things to the coach because their team is losing. I walk around during half-time only to see one father got angry with another, and one walked away with a broken nose. Why? What does being so angry accomplish?

I’ll tell you what I think it accomplishes. It keeps God’s children separated from Him. It keeps people from loving strangers. It keeps God’s children from sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with their neighbor. It keeps people from giving a helping hand to the little old lady who can’t walk across the street. Anger is so often fueled by hatred, or intolerance. It is not an act of God. It is the lies of Satan. Satan turns disappointment to frustration, frustration to anger, anger to rage, rage to hatred, and hatred to… his benefit and your loss of control. His sole agenda is to turn God’s children; to cause us to take our eyes off our Father, and he will do this however he has to. He is relentless. He will tell you lie after lie. He will trap you. He will hit you at your lowest point and push you down even farther.

The farther the world gets away from praising God and accepting His Son, the angrier the world becomes. Satan is running rampant in the world, and the world is making it known– loud and clear.

“A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” Proverbs 15:1

I can not imagine living the life of the person who wakes up angry and then goes to sleep angry. I can’t imagine how lonely and dark their life must be. Everyone gets angry, it is a God given human emotion. Even the most devout Christian will get angry. How you handle that anger is the key. If you fall into Satan’s temptation, then your anger will turn to rage; which can then turn more ugly than I care to think about. If you turn your eyes to the Lord and ask for His guidance and deliverance, your anger will subside as quickly as it began.

“You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.” Isaiah 26:3

I imagine a world where people are slow to anger, and even slower to hate. A world where neighbors help neighbors, just for the sake of helping. A world where I don’t have to monitor every little thing my children watch for fear of what they will hear or see. What a beautiful dream.

“Anger is just one letter short of danger. If you speak when you are angry, you’ll make the best speech you’ll ever regret. Anger makes your mouth work faster than your mind. Every time you give someone a piece of your mind, you make your head a little emptier.”

“Whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from troubles.” Proverbs 24:28

Pray. Release your anger. Give it to God. Allow Him to shield you from satan’s lies and temptations. And rest in Him. Amen.

This has to be the most powerful testimony/speech/message I have ever heard in my entire life.

It’s in two parts, and is about 15 minutes long, give or take, in total, but it is so worth it:

Have you ever witnessed an abortion? Have you ever been present when one is being performed? I have. I was asked, by someone very very close to me, to be with her while she had her pregnancy terminated. She was already well into the second trimester. At the time, I was pro-life with exceptions– those exceptions being cases of rape or incest. (Not the case with my friend.) After that day at that abortion clinic, I am no longer pro-life with exceptions. I am 100% pro-life. Period. What I saw sickened me. What I heard sickened me. Even worse, I saw more teenagers than adults there that day. Teenagers. Teenagers who weren’t there for the first time. Adults who weren’t there for the first time. (As was the case with my friend.)

What has happened to the world that we have gotten to such a point that a teenage girl no longer worries about an unplanned pregnancy, because she knows she can just ‘get rid of it.’ (Or even a grown woman for that matter.) What happened to consequences and responsibilities? If you are reading this and you disagree, that’s great, you are definitely entitled to your own opinion. If you are thinking ‘I bet she would change her mind if she was the pregnant teenager’ then you are wrong. I was the pregnant teenager. I had my first child at the tender age of sixteen. Yes my teenage life was over. Yes I became a parent too young. And yes it was an adult consequence of an adult decision my non-adult self made. That is life. My child was not a scientific term when he was conceived. He was a child. A living human being. And I was not going to murder my child. I believe in women’s rights… but what about the babies’ rights? I believe it is a woman’s right to be responsible; to say no; to keep her legs closed; and to prevent unwanted pregnancies. Who is this world missing out on because a life was cut off before it ever got started? Just because the would-be-mother made an irresponsible choice and got pregnant as a result? (Though in some cases, it wasn’t a choice at all.)

I listened that day. And I watched as the person I was there for was in terrible physical pain. And do you know what I thought about? What kind of pain is that baby in that you are killing? That baby doesn’t have a choice about his or her life. What is that baby feeling? What would he or she look like? What would he or she sound like? What would he or she grow up to be? The thought of it killed me inside. The sound of that machine sucking the life out of her, literally, made me sick. I have never forgotten that sound; I have never forgotten that sick feeling, and I never will. As long as I live.

I choose life.