The whole idea of “If someone gets your goat, you have a goat to get,” has been one of my Aunt Betty’s most helpful teachings. Yet, it is also one of the hardest, as no one likes to see their goat. Here are her words to me:

Pray that you own the parts of yourself that you are not attracted to. Those parts are ignored and denied.  So, instead of using the word repressed, you can use the word ignored and denied.  But they still remain active in your life. And, other people have to bear the brunt of the negative parts that you’re not taking responsibility for.  So, that is what the work is about. It’s about learning to love, because that is what love is about: to seek the others good.  It is three-fold. It is to seek the good of God, others, and self.  It is to recognize that if the person is irritating you and getting your goat then possibly, I’m not saying in every case, you have a goat hiding in you.  So, instead of pouncing on them, and demanding they change, a more effective way is to turn to the Lord and ask Him to help you find the goat inside of you.  Move to try to get over whatever is irritating you. What I do is ask, “Help me find the lost sheep.” He’s a shepherd. He said if you have 99 sheep, and one is lost, go seek the lost.  He is Truth, so the part that I have pushed out of Truth, because I didn’t want to deal with it, is in me. It is the part that is irritating me. In other words, they are getting my goat.  if I let Jesus help me find it, and work with him handing it over and acknowledging that I do the same thing, I can get healed. 

That person who irritates you is a gold mine. Because, all your feelings are telling you, if I really let Jesus work in me, then I am going to get closer to Jesus and so that person is a big help.  It is not easy to be a Christian. The fact is it is a freedom. Jesus said, “You shall learn the truth and the truth shall set you free.”  It would not be so irritating to you, if you did not have the same problem inside of you. As you continue to give Jesus permission to open those doors, and you go through the humiliation of seeing where it’s in you, there will be a transformation, as you enter into truth. You’ll say, “Oh my gosh, I am blaming them for the irritation, but a lot of that junk is inside of me. Then you will not feel the great need to throw the blame on them.  The book, It’s not my Fault is a very good book, because the author shows you the nitty-gritty examples of how we get caught.  There’s the part that we all have that asks, “When is it all going to end?”  When we go to Jesus. We are always sinners. When you don’t have as great of a need to judge them, you will stop hooking with them.