Words

Words are strong. You can either build a person up or tear them down with a simple sentence. People thrive on being told how good they are. I will not stereotype the typical woman because it doesn't seem like a very good idea to me. For me, I need the affirmation to know that I am doing a good job in whatever it is that I am doing. I hate being told that I am not good enough. Being told I am not good enough may not come in the words "you are not good enough," for the feeling can come in a variety of ways.

Since my senior year of high school, I have had 4 people tear me down with their words & actions towards me. These people have severely impacted my world, my self-esteem & my self-worth. While I should not have allowed those four people the satisfaction of destroying me, I did, and I am still recovering from it. Constantly, I need to remind myself that I am God's daughter--a princess, daughter of the King. So why should I let these people tear me down? I shouldn't because it is Satan that is working through them. I cannot give Satan the victory in letting myself believe the atrocious lies that I have let these 4 people make me believe.

When I am enduring the pain cast upon me by those 4 people or by my own personal views of myself, I read Psalm 139. This is one of the best chapters in the Bible, and it is very encouraging every time I read it.

1 You have searched me, LORD,
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you, LORD, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.

7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts,[a] God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.

19 If only you, God, would slay the wicked!
Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
20 They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, LORD,
and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
22 I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

You see, people can build up & tear down with simple words, but it is not their place--not MY place to speak mean words to or about anyone. I, like everyone else, am guilty of speaking mean words about the people who have hurt me & just people in general. But it is not my place, for God created them. When I am ridiculing someone, I need to remember that they were fearfully & wonderfully made. God made them in His image, so by tearing that person, I am tearing down God.

Words are powerful. So remember the next time you want to tear someone down that not only are you hurting them, but you are hurting God as well.