It is day 4 of the challenge with Jenni. As you can see, I am a day behind so I am making up for lost time :)
The first time I heard this quote from Maya Angelou it did something deep down inside of me. GOD has been speaking to me for what feels like forever now about the power of our tongues and the effects that it has on others. I dont know what Maya Angelou's beliefs are - whether she has a relationship with GOD or not - but GOD can use anyone, regardless of their spiritual standing with HIM, to further HIS kingdom.
I so deeply connect with this quote. I can remember so many times in my life when someone has said something, though I can't remember their words, that both made me fly and made me fall. I can remember people speaking positive words into my life that made me want to be a better person, made me feel like I could accomplish anything and made me leave feeling so uplifted. And then there were those other moments...the moments when the words that I can no longer remember seemed to gut me like a fish. I remember feeling so alone, so broken and so devastated. Many of my struggles before the LORD's healing were as a result of the deep, cavernous wounds those words left even years after being spoken.
It's amazing that even if you were to approach the word of GOD as simply just a book....aside from it's religious context...aside from the person who represents it...if you simply read it just merely as a book....you couldn't deny the value it brings to the way we approach people. It's a book who's entire focus is on dying to ourselves and putting others first.
Dont judge others.
Take the plank out of your own eye before pointing the fingers at other's faults.
Cast the first stone all those who are without error/sin/wrong doing in their own lives.
Someone hurts you - forgive them. Turn the other cheek. Give them a place to rest their heads, despite what they've done.
Our words are so powerful because it's not just what enters our ears...
it's what the words plant into our hearts - our souls.
We have the power to speak LIFE
or DEATH
to others.
I don't want to be responsible for the emotional, and potentially physical, death of another.
I want to make sure that when others remember me....
they remember I left them feeling as if they were good....loved....special...important and valuable, no matter what their pasts or presents.
I want you to know that no matter where you have come from...
no matter where you are at this moment....
no matter what you have done or are doing right now...
you MATTER.
You COUNT.
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