The Power of Words

Words are all around us. Through texting, emailing, phone conversations, run in the middle of the store conversations to deep intimate conversations, words surround us. Words are used to pass along information, build up, edify, encourage, convey a thought or an emotion and words are even used to destroy, to tear down and to kill.

Have you ever felt comforted by words? Have words ever brought such peace and assurance to your personal thoughts? Have the right words been said that just immediately brought a huge relief over your weary heart?

Let me change the tides.

Have you ever been hurt by words? Have you ever experienced harsh words, such harsh words that just cut straight to your inner core and felt like they literally cut you in two?

Oh, Friend, I have experienced both tides. I am sure we all have. The tone, the pitch, the emphasis and the words themselves, joy has been experienced while at other times, hurt was experienced.

What do we do when the times come when the words are shot at us as arrows intended for harm? Where do we turn? I will tell you I have not always looked to the right sources for healing after being hurt by words. I have turned towards tears, retaliation and of course, chocolate among many others. Each time these avenues were sought, healing was not the result. Results experienced felt that of a prescription medication side effect commercial: "puffy eyes may occur, along with sleepless nights. You might experience great guilt and bloating after seeking these remedies to your hurting heart." Nice. The only source that has truly helped me, and when I say 'truly helped me' I truly mean HELPED ME has been God's Word. The true Source of healing, restoration and comfort.

I want to share with you some precious Words from God that have truly been a healing balm to my heart.

Psalm 31:19-21 "How great is Your goodness, which You have stored up for those who fear You, Which You have wrought for those who take refuge in You, Before the sons of men! You hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the conspiracies of man; You keep them secretly in a shelter from the strife of tongues. Blessed be the LORD, For He has made marvelous His lovingkindness to me in a besieged city"

Look back at these three verses and just take a look at what God promises: His goodness stored up, He wrought for us or in our language, works for, embellishes and elaborates for us; He hides us in the secret place of His presence, he keeps us secretly in a shelter and He has made His lovingkindness to us in an attacked surrounding.

What are we to do? What are our responsibilities? What is our expectation in this arrangement?

First, we must fear Him and secondly we must take refuge in Him. Bottom line: we acknowledge in our heart, thoughts and words He is Lord and He is holy and second, we go to Him.

God's holiness and the reasoning for us to fear Him can be dissected and analyzed to the point where we become very overwhelmed and start to believe we can never reach this level of intimacy with the One True God. But oh, Friend, we can. When we truly acknowledge He is holy and we are nothing without Him then the fear of Him begins. Savor this. His holiness begins our fear.

So what do we do with this fear? Run from it? Hide? Absolutely not. We embrace it and go to Him. Not to our thoughts of retaliation nor our thoughts of emotional outbursts or even the delicious chocolate truffles that bring two seconds of delight to our tongues. We go to Him and we seek His Words to heal the after math of the other words.

What was God's promise? He will hide us from the conspiracies of man in the secret place of His presence and He will keep us secretly in a shelter from the strife of tongues.

Friend, please believe His Words. Embrace His Words. Cling to His Words. Seize His Words. His Words are truth, His Words are life. Furthermore, His Words are for you

Before I close, let me just remind you of the power of God's Words. "And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light." Power. God's Words are powerful. No matter what is said to us by whomever, the power that is desired will never be up to the power of God. Period. His Words trump any and all words that are said directly to us. End of discussion.

Precious One, go to God. Share your heart, whether it be filled right now with joy and peace from blessed words from others or if your heart is hurting and aching from severe and grim words, share it with Him. He is waiting for you.

Price Check on Aisle Three

What classifies an emotion? Can an emotion be a positive emotion? Can an emotion be a negative emotion? Who or what classifies these emotions we have?

For example, being excited when your church is growing and thriving would be categorized as a positive emotion. Correct? Let me put a different twist on it. Being excited when your church is regressing and dying after you have been hurt, now is this emotion of excitement negative? You are justified because of your hurt. Right? Even though this emotion would be seen negative, you would still be justified in having this emotion, right?

We know emotions are embedded in our being. Yet living with these emotions and orchestrating these emotions under the lifestyle of Psalm 150:6: "Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD!" is challenging. Challenging, to say the least, the very least.

Are we praising the Lord when our emotions are running amuck? Are we praising the Lord when we, ourselves, are in control of our emotions?

Our main Scripture used in this discussion is Ecclesiastes 3:1-13. Let's read what our Father writes.
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
A time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
A time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,
A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
A time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
A time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,
A time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,
A time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.


Walking around the grocery store is not exactly what I call a relaxing afternoon. Now, you ask my husband what he does when he is stressed, he will tell you he goes to the grocery store and walks up and down every aisle. Every aisle.

The difference between him and me? About one hundred-sixty pounds. In the form of three little boys that is.

Him going to the store is just that, him going to the store. Me going to the store is me along with three "helpful" boys. Never the less, he finds great relaxation walking up and down the aisles.

Picture yourself walking up and down the grocery aisles. Instead of boxes of low-calorie, high energy breakfast cereals, you find boxes of laughter and bags of dancing. The cans of multi-vitamin soups are now replaced with weeping and mourning. You navigate your way through the grocery store of life and you are surrounded with all the emotions that go with it. Negative and positive.

Is your heart pounding? Is it racing? Are your palms sweaty?

What emotion do you pick? What emotion do you allow yourself to open and set loose? What emotion do you take with you and hold close?

Suddenly, a pleasant chime goes off over the loud speaker and an encouraging and loving voice starts speaking. "Precious Daughter, there is a time to throw stones and a time to gather stones. Now is the time to gather. Go to aisle four and pick up three boxes of laughter and then go to aisle ten and pick up two packages of love. Enjoy your day Dear One."

Or.

What if the same encouraging and loving voice starts speaking and says, "Dear One, there is a time to tear apart and a time to sew together. Now is the time for tearing apart. But it is going to be alright, I am here with you. Go to aisle two and pick up four containers of weeping and then go to aisle six and get one large package of embrace. I promise I will get you through this. Now, go My Daughter." What if?

But we don't have that. Or do we?

Dear One, life is hard. You don't need to read that on a website or on a newspaper to believe it. Along with the challenges that makeup this adventure we call life, we as women like to throw in the emotion factor! We have a knack, let me correct that, we have mastered the art of justifying our emotions to go alongside the challenge of life. Tell me if you can relate to this one.

Someone said some nasty, terrible things to your husband. That's alright, jump over to aisle three and pick up four cans of bitterness. Now, don't worry about the price and the damaging effects of it, they are on special this week!

Or how about this one.

A friend stops calling. No more texts. No more emails. The laughter has ceased. Don't worry. Go to aisle seven and pick up isolation. There is even a bargain this week! With every bag of isolation, you receive five bricks free to put around your heart. No sense in letting anyone else in. They are going to do it to you when they get the opportunity.

Sound familiar?

You see, the last two examples are not of God. There is clearly a time to weep. Clearly a time to be hurt. Yet, Dear Friend, the time and the outlet of the weeping and hurting must be orchestrated by God.

How?

Read verses 9-13 of our main text:

What does the worker gain from his toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on men. He has made everything beautiful in its time. he has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil -- this is the gift of God.

God has given us tasks. These tasks are eternal-minded and these tasks if done in God's design, are a true gift of God.

Did you catch that? A gift of God.

Powerful words to follow precious verses of:
A time to kill and a time to heal.
A time to mourn and a time to dance.
A time for war and a time for peace.

A gift of God.

Want to receive a gift of God?

Listen to His loving and encouraging voice to guide you through this thing we call life. He can and will keep your emotions in check.

Emotions, Emotions, Emotions

Emotions, Emotions, Emotions! Women are filled with emotions. It does not take a medical degree or a long-term case study with women to come to the conclusion women are filled with emotions. End of discussion.

Or is it?

Serving God within the realms of ministry ( ie church, missions, state offices, etc) can give way to many an opportunity for our emotions as women to show their true colors. Joy, happiness, excitement, anxiety, stress, anger and even bitterness can seep out of our facial expressions, our words and even our actions. Is there anything wrong with that?

I mean, c'mon if God created us as women made up of emotions then shouldn't we be allowed to let our true colors shine?

Over the next few entries we will look at these emotions in light of God's Word. Is God pleased when our emotions of happiness are shining through while our heart is filled with hurt and pain? Does it honor God to allow bitterness to take root in our hearts?

Emotions.

One word filled with one mighty punch.

Under Construction

We are currently in the process of gathering Scripture and topics of discussion that will be beneficial to the heart of a Minister's Wife. Topics will be, yet not limited to, bitterness, anger, hurt, forgiveness along with joy, savoring a sweet time of ministry and hope.

If there is a particular topic or an area of concern you would like explored and discussed on this blog site, we would love to hear from you. Our email addresses are listed in this blog entry: http://wivesministry.blogspot.com/2008/09/closer-look-at-smile-on-my-heart.html just scroll down and you will see our emails. We would love to hear from you.

Thank you for visiting our blog and again, our passion is for helping other women in their personal journeys of serving God. If there is a specific need in the area of prayer, we would love to hear from you and pray for you.

Please make sure to revisit us in the upcoming weeks! Until then.....
"Many are asking, 'Who can show us any good?' Let the light of Your Face shine upon us, O LORD. You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound. I will lie down and sleep in peace, for You alone, O LORD make me dwell in safety" Psalm 4:6-8