God is slow to anger. My life is embarrassingly easy.

Here’s what I love: God is slow to anger.

God is slow to anger. The Bible says it everywhere…

Exodus 34:6

Numbers 14:18

Nehemiah 9:17

Psalm 86:15

Psalm 103:8

Psalm 145:8

Joel 2:13

…just to name six or seven.

I am quick to anger. It’s embarrassing how easily I can become outrageously frustrated with my poor daughters. In my defense, they do some pretty dumb things. My favorite is when they do the exact opposite of what I say. Many times, their actions result in minor inconveniences—

Me: “please don’t poor that cup of water by the edge of the bath tub.” They do it anyway and we have a fairly substantial puddle on the floor.

Me: “please take your shoes off outside on the deck because they are muddy.” They don’t listen and end up tracking mud inside.

But, sometimes, the result of doing the opposite of what I say can be more serious.

Me: “don’t touch that, it’s hot.” They promptly give it a try and burn their finger.

Why!?

It’s so frustrating to me when they don’t listen and they don’t think.

I’m a yeller. I am loud when I am shocked. I am loud when I am happy. And, I am loud when I am upset. I’m very good at yelling—especially at people who are shorter than me.

“What were you thinking!?”

“Did you hear me!?”

“Look what you just did!”

(Through clenched teeth whilst bandaging burnt finger): “That is why I said not to touch this….”

As a child of God, I know that I am not much different than my girls. God has given me several commands that I’m pretty good at ignoring. He also tries to guide me into ways He knows are good. I don’t always listen. I don’t always obey. I even do stupid things that bring pain into my life even though He tried to warn me.

But, God is slow to anger. Even though, like my own children, I don’t listen. I don’t obey. There He stands, calmly waiting, patiently instructing me again and again. Cleaning up my spills and muddy footprints, bandaging my burnt fingers without yelling. Without yelling.

I am so thankful that He is slow to anger. I am even more thankful that I can ask Him to help me to be slow to anger too. On the days I’ve prayed for this, it’s amazing that sense of calm that enters when I submit and allow Him to work and love through me.

Here’s what I hate: my life is embarrassingly easy.

Our family has begun praying for the entire world. Sound like we’ve bit off more than we can chew? Probably, especially since our desire is not to just say “God bless the whole world” before we start a meal. We’ve decided to try to find out a little bit about each country or people group in the world and then pray for specific things for that country. We have a book called “Operation World” to assist us in this new endeavor. We started with Afghanistan. That’s the first country if you go alphabetically. Might as well start at the beginning. This book is amazing. It has awesome and informative facts about every nation. I began skimming for interesting things to read to the girls—ages 5 and 7. They stared blankly at the giant book in my hands. We ended up praying that the gospel would make it’s way onto radio and be found on the internet since social media is beginning to spread in Afghanistan. It was something the girls understood.

Luckily, my good friend mentioned that Operation World has a website that has prayer videos on several countries. Now, we can watch a 3 minute on-line video with the girls that shows images of the country and its people while someone prays in the background. It’s pretty engaging for my children and a good beginning.

All this to say that as I watched the images of Afghanistan flash across the screen, I began to be aware of just how difficult life is in other countries. I mean, I knew this before, but there is something about praying for a place that opens up your heart to new truths. I feel a bit more connected to this place half way around the world and I feel an urgency to pray against despair and pray for the penetration of the good news.

Watching these clips, and reading about other countries makes me more aware of just how easy my life is. Here I sit in my warm chair, sipping coffee, watching the snow fall outside my window. I’m not worried about a bomb dropping or how to feed my family. (I probably wouldn’t have to go very many miles to find someone who is struggling in the cold of this snowy morning.) Instead of beating myself up about how lovely my life is in comparison to the rest of the world, I’ve decided two things. One, I will be thankful. Two, I will utilize more time in my comfortable day to pray for those who are struggling and ask God to show me where I can take action to affect change in lives less easy than my own.