1. When faced with a difficult unexpected circumstance, my typical response is to try to fix it first and then pray about it.
2. When I experience difficulty, I tend to feel insecure because I’m not in control.
3. When it comes to unanswered prayer in my life I lean toward feeling extremely uncomfortable until I get an answer.
4. When I consider my difficult circumstance my general thought is “If I can just figure out a solution, everything will be okay.”
5. My initial reaction when I feel life or faith doesn’t make sense is to analyze and try to find a formula that explains it.
Read This First: To answer the following questions, it is best to take just a moment and reflect on a difficult circumstance you recently went through or are going through now. Keep that situation in mind as you respond to each question. Circle the answer that best fits your situation.
16. When faced with a difficult unexpected circumstance, my first response is to try to make God look good in spite of my bad situation.
17. My general feelings when I experience difficulty usually lean toward trying to explain why it is happening.
18. When it comes to unanswered prayer in my life I tend to explain it by saying “it must have been my lack of faith.”
19. When I consider my difficult circumstance my general thought is I really need God to look good so I will feel okay about this. I can’t afford to question Him.
20. My initial reaction when I feel I have been wronged is to try to shove it under the rug and move on.
21. When faced with a difficult unexpected circumstance, my first response is feeling that God is unfair.
22. When I experience a hard circumstance, I tend to remember all the other things that have gone wrong in my life; retrace my history of trials.
23. I have difficulty with being full of faith, hopeful or positive when it comes to my trials.
24. I tend to compare myself with others and feel most often that others are better off than I am.
25. When it comes to God hearing and answering my prayer, I have low expectations of Him. Or feel like God must love other people more than He loves me.
Your Results Adding Up Your Results: Step 1: Place your numerical score in the blank lines next to each question. Step 2: Subtotal your scores for each set of five questions and place in the blank”Total” lines provided. Step 3: Place your “Total” scores below. Total for Questions 1 - 5 ____________ Matilda Micromanager Total for Questions 6 - 10 ____________ Angie Anger Total for Questions 11 - 15 ____________ Bonnie Bitter Total for Questions 16 - 20 ____________ Connie Compnesator Total for Questions 21 - 25 ____________ Vickie Victim Step 4: Circle the characters where your score is above 10. What Does This Mean? If your score on any of the totals is above 10 you may have the tendency to respond to situations in an unhelpful way. Your scores help reveal you may struggle with anger, bitterness,a victim mentality or an unhealthy need to compensate or micromanage. So, read the descriptions below to see how your scores indicate the “character” you may be. Matilda Micromanager: Matilda likes to be in control. She doesn’t feel comfortable when life doesn’t make sense or when God doesn’t answer prayer as she prefers. She does pray but her prayers sound more like a “To Do” list she presents God. Matilda is all about managing, manipulating, analyzing, formulating and arranging all things in her world to mask her anxiety over not really being in control of everything as she wishes she were. She loves The Lord and wants to walk by faith but she gets caught up in trying to change circumstances for God rather than allowing God to change her through His will and ways.
Angie Anger: Angie is one mad mama! She tends to be defensive, easily offended and unhappy when her life doesn’t go as she wants it to. When God doesn’t answer her prayer as she expects Him to, she tends to react in anger rather than respond in humility. She is quick to judge God for His behavior when it doesn’t measure up to what she wants. Angie does love The Lord but she keeps such a record of wrongs in her heart that she feels disconnected from Him.
Bonnie Bitter: Bonnie does not have a joyful disposition, rather, she wears a scowl. Even if her face is smiling, her heart is a place of seething discontent. She is caught up in what God “should have” or “could” have done rather than being grateful for what He has done even if if it is disappointing. Bonnie constantly chatters about how irri-tated, frustrated and/or annoyed she with God, His people or His ways. She does love Him, but can’t see Him for who He really is because she is so focused on herself.
Connie Compensator: Connie feels good about her life and faith only when God looks good. So, if she encounters difficulty, she cannot afford to be honest or question why God allowed it; instead she must explain, blame or somehow com-pensate for God’s mysterious behavior. She balances out her confusion about faith by simply ignoring what doesn’t make sense and slapping a happy Christian bumper sticker on her pain. She loves The Lord, that is why she wants to make Him look good. But, in “making” God look good, she misses out on God truly “making” Himself known to her even and especially when life is painful.
Vickie Victim: Vickie wears a Tee-Shirt that reads, “not fair!” when anything happens in Vickie’s life that is hard or doesn’t make sense to her, her first response is to blame God or compare her life with others. She is consumed with how things should be fair and equal. She has a great memory when it comes to all the bad things that have happened to her in the past. She loves God, but can’t really experience His love for her because she holds grudges against Him and expects Him to treat her poorly or love her less than He loves others. Key Takeaway
My friend, you took this quiz to determine “who” you are, but the truth is there is a difference between who you are and what you struggle with. You may struggle with anger, bitterness, micromanaging, compensating or feeling like a victim, but the real truth is that who you are is a child of God desperate for His grace! Don’t let the results of this assessment be a source of disappointment or distress. Rather, let the results confirm how much you need God and His grace. We all struggle and we all need God’s grace and power. So, no matter
“who” this quiz says you are, remember, you are God’s workmanship…a work still in progress!
“Who you are and what you struggle with are not the same thing. “
