Friday, January 13, 2012

What Can I Say?

Hopefully the start for year 2012 was great for you and your family.  My year started with my husband away in Atlanta for six days.  So for about a week, I got a fresh appreciation for single parent families.  Our son is almost two years old and he is testing his boundaries more and more each day which is always a bit of a challenge for us parents. ha!

My new year also started very lacking in the category of reading God's Word.  Yup, that was random....I know. However, that is basically why I haven't posted a blog yet this year. I have felt so inadequate. I didn't think I had much to offer in terms of healthy encouragement since I hadn't spent much time in the very Source of the best encouragement anyone could ever get. However, as I am typing these thoughts I am realizing that it was a silly thought to not want to write a post.  Honesty is the best way to encourage.....if done with grace and gentleness.  So, there you go......I have just let you all know that I haven't been the best at consistently reading God's Word this past week or so.  Now, that the awkward confession is out of the way, I am going to move on with my thoughts for this post today. Hopefully you will be understanding and continue to read after that strange introduction to this post.

WHAT CAN I SAY?

These past few weeks I have been thinking much about words......how they are used in my conversations, in my e-mails, in my posts, in my texts, in my phone messages.  I have been trying to be aware of what I say and how I say things.  When I have been reading the Word, it has been time reading through the minor prophet books of the Old Testament; for no reason really, just basically because I haven't read those books as much as the other parts of the Bible and I wanted to refresh my mind and heart on what God has to say through those stories.

Time spent reading those minor prophets books of the Old Testament has been very interesting... ...especially when I have been using my study Bible to help with much of the background historical information that goes along with the scriptures. I have been reading to see how these books in the Bible share how the words of ordinary men and women can have profound effects on their family members, their businesses/co-workers, their culture, their enemies and even their future generations.  It is making me take a closer look into how carefully OR carelessly I choose my words each day.  The question I frequently have these days is something like this: What kind of effect does my choice of the "attitude" of my words plus the words themselves really have on the lives of others who hear them?  Does my choice really sway things of history very much?  Does my choice of the "attitude" of my speech greatly help and/or hurt others to the point that I can be helping set someone free from struggles OR helping to bind someone up?

Fascinating thoughts have been swirling in my mind. I will be addressing some more thoughts similar to this current idea over the next few posts, Lord willing.  Where do you stand in this whole idea of the possibility of having...let's just call them.....living words or words with heart (good or bad in nature)?

My scripture of interest that I'll share with you today is the small book of Haggai in the Old Testament. If you are not a Bible reader, you should still take a minute or two to check it out on www.biblegateway.com   I will do the same before I publish this post.
There are several moments in the prophets words to the people of Israel (that is: words that come from God that the prophet was to speak over the people) when God says, "consider your ways".  My husband likes to say our modern way of phrasing that could be "check yourself before you wreck yourself".  hahaha!  I like that.  It's funny, but very not funny at the same time.  haha!

Like me, I hope you all have learned (hopefully quicker than I do) that 'fessing up to things and moving on is a vital part of being a believer in Jesus. I think it is vital because Jesus Christ is the Victorious One and if we are believing in Him to be our Savior, we should live in victory and not live rehearsing in our heads those little moments of defeat or fall backs we get from time to time. Oh, I SO need to stop rehearsing failures; instead rise up and live as I ought.....as one who is forgiven for my past, present and future, not because I earned it but because of God's great love. WHOA.