Dealing with anger toward your children in a Godly way: God's timing for my personal development reading

          Sometimes your kids can give you big reality/gut checks. When Addie and I were talking before nursing last night, she said in a sad but serious tone "Mom I want you to apologize for spanking me." Now to clarify, it wasn't a spanking but I yanked her towel down off the ring in the bathroom pretty quick in frustration from her not listening to me and it got her hand in the process.
          But, I was frustrated and lost my cool and that's the truth. It's tough when your kid points out a fault you already know. But if I'm going to set a good example for her, I need to show her how to apologize and ask for forgiveness when she does make mistakes. So I apologized and we talked how you can sin when you are angry or if you don't listen to mommy that's a sin too.
          She responded by saying "I don't have sins anymore. God took them and made a hole in the ceiling and flew up to Heaven with them and now they're gone." 
          Then we prayed together. I went first to show her how to say I was sorry for my sin and ask Jesus to help me do better next time. Then she folded her hands, closed her eyes, and prayed an apology and asked Jesus to take that sin away.  We both apologized to each other and forgave each other and made a commitment to (me) take a deep breath first when frustrated and (her) listen to mommy the first time.
          I am so humbled by her innocence, growing faith, and the refreshing honesty she gives me on a daily basis. She is such a blessing from God for my own faith and that pesky pride.

          Fast forward to today. I was reading my personal development while Addison was at school. It was totally God's timing for me to read this chapter today out of Anger: Taming a Powerful Emotion by Gary Chapman. This book is such a blessing. I highly recommend it to everyone.

          Do you ever find yourself letting your anger get the best of you? It's not a sin to be angry! It is a sin to act wrongly because of our anger. We have a responsibility as parents to stop the cycle of not being able to handle our anger effectively and to teach our children to be in control of their emotions.