But that's not what I meant! I mean it quite literally. Who do you think you are? If you had to sit down and write out a list of who you are, what would it say?
I have a challenge for anyone who is willing to accept it. And before I throw it out there, let me just say, we'll be doing this at my dinner table tonight. Write it out. Who do you think you are? I both look forward to and dread seeing what my children might write. As I was reading today, this verse was part of the text:
Words kill, words give life;
they’re either poison or fruit—you choose.
they’re either poison or fruit—you choose.
Proverbs 18:21
Wow. I so hope I see that my words have given my children life and not poison, and the same for my husband, and sisters and brother and parents, friends, enemies, everyone. I do not want my words to be poison for anyone. And sadly I know I have used my words as poison. I want my words to bring life, I have to continually control my thoughts and emotions to do so. This is going to be something I try and work on everyday. I love words. I love to speak them, sing them and write them. Sometimes, I even make up my own words. And since I fling words around like confetti, it is my choice to make them be life affirming.
Tonight when I peek through my fingers to see what my children write, I will ask God for forgiveness for any harshness I see exposed that I contributed to and I will pray for healing for my children in that area, that their wounds will be bound and seen no more. I will also praise God for the wondrous ability he gave children to see more clearly who they are than those of us who have aged and been wounded by life. Then I will do my absolute best to confirm that my children ARE and CAN be all of those things they see as great in themselves, and they can use them to fulfill dreams and their purpose.
There is a second part to the challenge though. I'm asking you to take a step out of your comfort zone here. I want you to call, email, send a letter, Facebook message, WHATEVER way you can, communicate to someone you have used your words as poison. It's ok to start small. I'm not saying you should call the person that has hurt you most (although if you think you are ready- I am so proud of you!) and call it a day. The thing about forgiveness is that is doesn't excuse the behavior of the person you are forgiving, it releases you from the prison (anger, pain, abandonment) you have been trapped in by their actions. But that is a whole other post. I digress.
Communicate with someone who you feel your words may have poisoned. Ask them to forgive you and then give them some life affirming words. You'll have to give about 10 times as many affirming words to overcome the negative poison words.
I truly believe that deep down we want to be built up and yet we often so struggle to do that for others. One day soon, I am going to write out a mission statement for my life and one of the first statements will be : I want to lift and encourage others with my words. I choose to be a life giver.
Let's break the crazy cycle of poison words and just encourage each other. No matter what is happening in our own lives, we can be positive for other people.
Sometimes we don't feel worthy to encourage others, but we are! I read this statement today and I feel it down to my toes:
"Don't go through this baloney of "I can't forgive myself." No, you can't forgive yourself. No one can. God forgives us and we accept His forgiveness and we are forgiven. God will say to you in His word "Woman, I forgive you because I died in your place for that dirty little sin." (Luis Palau)
We've all said it, Why can't I forgive myself? And now it's clear, we can't. We must accept God's forgiveness and then we are cleansed. We may not feel it, but when we choose to believe it daily, we will begin to feel it! It's not feel it and then believe, it's believe and then feel it.
So who's taking the identity challenge with me??? Once you've made your list, I pray that over the next week or month, you'll go through each thing you wrote down, reflect on it and decide if it's true. If it is a lie, something you've been told so often, you believed it to be true, I want you to mark it out. Lies have no place in our identity!
I would LOVE to hear how this works out for you all and you can be assured, I'll be sharing with you!! You can message me here, or if you want privacy you can email me at inshockmom@gmail.com
"Let your only evaluation of worth derive from the awareness of God's love for you. All other measures leave one in a state of delusion." Anonymous
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