This morning’s conversation with Roland lingered with me long after the words settled. It reminded me of something Elijah House has taught so faithfully: anger is almost always a secondary emotion. It is not the beginning of a story; it is the evidence of one. It is a stink finder, the smoke rising from a deeper fire, a present-day fruit, a compassionate signal from the heart that something unhealed is still calling for Jesus.

During the Life Beyond Trauma seminar over the weekend, Sandra's teaching deepened this truth even further. She recalled a pastor who once said, "If you are angry, somebody has touched your idol." Those words were not meant to shame; they were meant to illuminate. They invite us to look beneath the reaction with honesty and courage.

Sandra shared a moment when a family member dishonoured her so profoundly that she became "so mad I saw stars." She nearly passed out from the force of it. Later, she realised the root was her pain around feeling unheard and dishonoured, a part of her heart that had not yet been fully healed. That intense reaction was never just about the moment. It was the echo of earlier wounds. It was a place where Jesus longed to bring restoration.

In Elijah House, we are taught that pain buried alive never dies; it mutates. It shifts shape, hides beneath coping mechanisms and settles in the shadows until it finds its way out sideways. It rises through anger, defensiveness, withdrawal, control, or even a sudden wave of emotion that feels far too big for the situation at hand. The Cross remains the only place where these old wounds find effective death and true healing.

Sandra’s reflection on idols of the heart wove seamlessly into this truth. Idols are not always carved images; they are the subtle allegiances we form in the quiet.

The Kingdom of self is built every time we reach for:

• a false refuge,

• a coping mechanism,

• an escape,

• a medicator,

• a behaviour that promises comfort but steals wholeness.

When these things become habit, compulsion, or the place we run to for safety instead of Jesus, they become idols. Sandra reminded us soberly that every idol requires a sacrifice — peace, intimacy, relationships, clarity and emotional health.

Yet she also shared a profound hope: the desert, the trauma places, and the barren seasons can become either places where idols are built or places where Jesus brings revelation. Every strong reaction becomes an invitation to ask:

• "What has been touched in me?"

• "Where am I still tender?"

• "What am I protecting?"

• "What false refuge have I learned to trust?"

There is such gentleness in Jesus when these things surface. He never shames. He seeks the bruise beneath the behaviour, the memory beneath the anger, the wound beneath the fire. Only He can dismantle idols without crushing the heart they grew around.

Anger, then, becomes a gift when approached with honesty. It becomes a guide pointing us not to shame but to the places where Jesus is already knocking, already drawing near, already preparing to heal.

💡 Reflection:

• What emotion might be sitting beneath my anger today? 🤔

• Which reaction this week felt bigger than the moment itself? 🤔

• What idol might have been touched — approval, control, safety, reputation, comfort? 🤔

• Where have I reached for a false refuge instead of Jesus? 🤔

• What might Jesus be inviting me to surrender or bring into His light today? 🤔

🎺 Affirmation: You are held by a God who sees beyond your reactions into the tender truth of your story. Even your strongest emotions are invitations into deeper freedom. Nothing is too tangled for His healing, and nothing is too hidden for His restoring love.

🙌 Prayer: Holy Spirit, reveal every place where my reactions point to unresolved pain. Show me the idols I have built in the quiet places of my heart and lead me away from false refuge into the rest that only Jesus can give. Heal the wounds I have buried, dismantle every false comfort, and turn the desert places within me into spaces of revelation.

In Jesus’ Name, Amen.