Like nails in a fence

Words have so much power that negative speech can render eternal damage. My daughters and I were victims of verbal (and emotional) abuse and even though we're no longer subjected to it, we still deal with the after-effects.
     When a child uses language to tear others down, we see him (or her) as a bully but when an adult does the exact same thing, they are sometimes seen as powerful, without the negative connotation, and that's just wrong. That type of harmful language can affect the entire life of the abused, their very path.

The people who I know who are "verbal bullies" seem to have a few characteristics in common:
- narcissistic
- spoiled or neglected as a child
- insecure
- angry
- prone to temper tantrums when they don't get their own way
- vengeful
- spiteful

One of my professors was like this and as a result, I dropped out of college and seemed to have no path or direction for years.
     A landlady sent my first husband a story about a man who, with every harmful word, drove a nail into a fence. When he did come to repent and removed the nails, the holes left by his words would never go away.
     The other side of this story though, was that she professed to be a Christian yet did not forgive. Forgiveness would have filled those holes, no matter how deep.
     We need to pray for those who speak harmful words just as diligently as we need to pray that our own words are pleasing to God.

“Telling lies about others is as harmful as 

hitting them with an ax, 

wounding them with a sword, or 

shooting them with a sharp arrow.”

Proverbs 25:18

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Please join me this week in praying for God to give us positive, Christ-honoring language. Pray for wisdom and discernment. Pray that through our language, others will see Christ through us and be drawn to Him.

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