Do you ever catch yourself saying things like; “I’m so dumb, why did I say that?”, “Ughh, I’ll never figure this out!” or “That looks fun, but I wouldn’t be able to do that…”? I have; in fact, I have said those things about myself all too often!
The Bible teaches us that we have the power of death and life in our tongue. We curse and bless and are often unaware that we’re doing it!
In the Old Testament curses or blessings were spoken over people after much care and consideration was given to the matter at hand. Their words had power! Both curses and blessings had a ripple effect that impacted generations. I wonder if we thought more about what we said before we say it, if we would also see a shift in the ripple effect those words have in our lives as well?
Instead of being self-critical, we could extend grace to ourselves – “I shouldn’t have said that, but I will do better next time.” “This is harder than I thought, maybe I need to ask for help to figure it out.” “I’ve never done that before but I’m willing to try.”
Just a simple shift in perspective moves us from condemnation to hope. You and I don’t have to be great at everything; we simply need to give it an honest try! If I said I could never run a marathon and then proceeded never to go for walks and train my body for physical exertion, then I’m right! We cannot do what we will not try!
We can choose to speak life into ourselves! We can embrace that we are beautifully and wonderfully made and are designed for far more than we are currently doing! God has great plans for our us, we just need to speak life and be willing to obediently try!
Be blessed!
Jennifer
“The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” Proverbs 18:21