Hey all! I hope you all are doing well. Christmas is sneaking up on us, isn't it? It's a wonderful time of year for so many reasons. The first of course, is celebrating the birth of our Savior. I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I have been missing snow. I miss the feeling of Christmas with the snow, chilly weather, and cozy nights with the fireplace on. It just doesn't feel the same with a temperature of 70 outside. Today is 43 and drizzly...pretty much like Ohio weather minus the beautiful snow days.
I promise to get to my point, but have to give you the lead up to it so you can understand my thought process. Something AWFUL happened this weekend. It started at approximately 8 p.m. on Saturday night. If you are from Ohio you will totally get what I'm saying. Ohio State lost. I know, I know if your not an tOSU fan you probably 1. don't care, or 2. are glad we lost. Here is the deal though. I have no animosity to Sparty. Actually, I kind of like Sparty. _ichigan folk are torn between TTUP (That Team Up North, i.e. _ichigan) and _ichigan State. 'Little brother' ruined all our hopes and dreams of playing in the Title Game and to some extent, thinking we would never, ever lose as long as Urban Meyer was our coach. Quite frankly, I dreaded getting to the Big Dance and being embarrassed yet again. I could go on and on about how our defense stinks and Carlos Hyde should have been given the ball to get that 4th and 2 with about five minutes to go in the game.
I love ESPN and couldn't resist checking it out after our game. If your a Buckeye you are used to getting zero love on ESPN. I read a few articles about our game and I couldn't help but scroll down to the comments. I do this pretty often because the comments are usually pretty entertaining when the sarcasm isn't directed at my team. All the comments I read were not written by Ohio State fans. Some people were funny with their comments, but others were just down right sarcastic and mean. One person said they hated Urban Meyer and was glad tOSU lost. Another person speculated that Meyer would probably call 911 after the game because he thought he was having another heart attack. One poster said that Urban Cryer would probably fake another heart problem and quit because he knew his team sucked all in guise that he needed a break and time with his family. According to one person he knew his Gator team was terrible so he quit because he was "sick." Oh and he left the SEC because he was afraid of Nick Saban and he knew he could win in the B1G.
Before you think I'm too serious let me propose this. Maybe our words have power. Maybe they really matter. Some people claim to be "brutally honest" when in reality they are just being jerks. Contrary to popular belief we are not entitled to sharing our opinion. I 100% believe in freedom of speech by all means. What God has been showing me over the last few years is that our words are powerful. We are not entitled to spew out everything that comes into our heads. I have found this a huge challenge as my personal health trial has gone on and on. I get in crappy moods and just want to "vent." Usually my dear husband is the recipient of this venting. Poor guy. He wants me to share my heart with him, but he does hold me accountable for my words and the heart behind them.
Proverbs 18:21) The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.
James 1:19) Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger...
Romans 14:11) It is written: "As surely as I live,' says the Lord, 'every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God."
The above Bible verses show us how important words are. The old saying "sticks and stones will break your bones, but words will never hurt you" is so untrue. A hurtful word to a child can impact them for life. Jumping to assumptions about a person rather than really listening to their side of the story can break up a friendship. One day our tongues will acknowledge the Lord. Our words mean something. This morning I was listening to Joyce Meyer on my walk. She's such a hoot and is such an amazing teacher. The series was titled, "Your Mouth and God's Power." The premise of the teaching was that our words impact others around us and ourselves. She teaches that we need to get into agreement with what God says and not what we feel, think, see, or what others say about us. We may feel unlovable and worthless because something told us we were, but God says I am the apple of His eye (Deut. 7:6) and I am fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14). There are some symptoms that I'm still dealing with that are very difficult. I can't even fathom not living with them. It seems impossible that they could be relieved eventually. Matthew 19:26 says, "Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” So my time is better spent speaking what God says and not what I feel.
Joyce even described how I can actually block God's power and anointing in my life with my negative speech. She described a time when she was critical of a fellow preacher. She felt their preaching wasn't direct enough and they were not good at holding the sermon together to teach a main point. She voiced this to her husband. After that she started having a very hard time preaching. She just dreaded having to teach and couldn't wait until it was over. She had never felt this way before. Weeks went past and she couldn't shake the feeling. She prayed and prayed and God seemed silent. Finally her husband said he thought it had something to do with her critical attitude. She prayed and fasted the following day and God revealed the same thing to her. I thought that story was fascinating!
It was interesting to hear these sermons after reading all the hateful comments about Urban Meyer. Reading them really got me thinking about the issue. Hearing Joyce cemented what God was trying to teach me and still is. When I'm frustrated, discouraged, angry, whatever I must speak words of trust in God, faith, hope, and peace. I want my words to impact the people around me in a positive way. I want them to feel hope and peace. I want them to feel better about themselves and be encouraged. I have a loooooong way to go, but with God I can get there and so can you.
....and at least we beat _ichigan. :-)
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