Words...

"Anxiety weighs down the heart, but a kind word cheers it up." ~ Proverbs 12:25


"Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing." 
~ 1 Thessalonians 5:11


"But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called 'Today,' so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness." ~ Hebrews 3:13


I don't know why, but lately words have become more vibrant to me, more alive.  Not just the things I hear, but the things I say... especially the things I say.  Maybe it's my job, but I'm more inclined to say it has more to do with the tug God has on my heart.  Words of encouragement has always and probably always will be my number one love language.  Wanna know the way to this girl's heart, well then encourage her!  But like I said, more than the words I hear lately, the things that I hear more vividly, more clearly are those things I say.  My heart breaks sometimes when I hear some of the things I say, the things I say out of my flesh and not out of the Holy Spirit.  Do I trust God enough to speak through me?  Sometimes, but a lot of times I don't... or at least I haven't.  Someone close to my heart was the first to really point this out to me, and not just let it slide as my "personality" as I've always claimed.  I thank God that person was a part of my life, even for a short while.  No one had ever referred to me as edgy or sharp before, but then this person came along and opened my eyes to see a whole other part of myself.  Maybe that was the only purpose for this person in my life.

Don't get me wrong, there is a time and a place for playful words, but I needed to start looking at my heart and checking how much of the words coming from my mouth were playful or harmful versus helpful, encouraging, uplifting.  My heart breaks when I hear others cut me down, even if just in fun.  I do not want to be that person who is hard hearted or unloving.  I also don't want to be that person who is constantly trying too hard to get others to like them or please them.  I want to be exactly who God intended me to be and being an example of His love.  I foresee this being a life long lesson for me, but my hope is that others will start to see a change in me.  A sudden softness that glows and exudes the life of Christ.  I pray that His Word would come alive in my heart so that I can come alive to others.