chip ingram overcoming emotions that destroy

With my ear tilted to hear him more clearly and my eyes looking back toward his wife, I caught a quick smile from her that seemed to say, I never dreamed he’d change, let alone that he’d be talking with you about something that has been so carefully hidden from the public for so many years. But last week when you said that anger is a secondary emotion and that it’s a symptom, not the real problem, the lights came on! It was one of the most amazing insights of my entire life.Īs I strained to hear this man’s story over the noise of the room, I couldn’t help but see his wife taking notice of our conversation. I’ve tried everything and had all but given up.

I’ve wrecked relationships, almost ruined my marriage, and hated myself in the process. I’ve vomited my anger on everyone around me for twenty-five years. Leaning toward my left ear, he said, I can’t tell you how much this teaching series is helping me.

I recognized his face as a regular at our church, but I didn’t know him personally. He directed me through the crowded room to a semiprivate nook and then broke into one of the biggest grins I’ve ever seen. At the close of the service, he grabbed my elbow as I was leaving the auditorium. I hadn’t given it much thought until then, but as I crawled along on the crowded expressway, I distinctly remembered a conversation I’d had after teaching the same material earlier in the year.Ī well-dressed, distinguished man with a deep tan, white hair, and gold watch was sitting with his attractive wife in church one Sunday. Her voice quickened with excitement as she shared key insights that God had used to transform her and her family.Īs I drove home later that afternoon, it dawned on me just how pervasive this problem of anger is, along with all its accompanying emotions, such as guilt, shame, and frustration. Her gratitude was in response to a series of messages titled Overcoming Emotions That Destroy.

She had learned to bring her anger under control she wasn’t yelling at her children anymore, and the physical abuse had stopped.

But unlike the numbing headlines of today’s newspaper or the bizarre tales of talk radio, this woman’s story had a happy ending. I adjusted my earphones in the studio to get a clearer signal.īetween sobs of remorse and tears of joy, this young mother revealed a cycle of angry outbursts and physical abuse that had left her children recoiling and her overwhelmed with guilt and shame. From the moment she came on the air, I knew this was no ordinary call, and I would soon learn it was no ordinary story. If you let anger get the best of you, it will reveal the worst of you.

Chip ingram overcoming emotions that destroy