Tag: Healing

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When Did Words Become So Powerful?

My dear sisters,

“Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will break my heart.” That was the first line to a song I used to play when I was a kid. Funny how most of us think it’s the other way around. I’ve also heard the phrase, “words can heal, words can kill”. True. I’ve been on both sides of that equation, have you? I also remember one of my students in Thailand asking me, “Ms. Colleen, how do words become “bad words”? Great question! Why do words have so much power and what makes them good or bad?

James asks a similar question (Chpt 3):

Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. 2 For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. 3 If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. 4 Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. 5 So also the tongue is a small member, yet hit boasts of great things.

How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. 7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers,3 these things ought not to be so. 11 Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? 12 Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.

WOW! I don’t know about you, but that digs deep and is worth a second read. First we see that we all stumble with our words. We all have a palate for shoe leather. None of us can control our tongue and we can start a fire of sin and pain with what spews forth. Even the wildest animals can be tamed, but we cannot tame our tongue. We are hypocrites, saying we love God on Sunday or during small group and then we curse God for some circumstance or person in our lives. Ouch. I’ve done that, have you? Our tongue has a root that anchors in our hearts. In fact, the Bible says that out of the outflow of our hearts, the tongue speaks. So what is in our hearts, dear sister? Are they on the foundation of what we have in Christ? Do we fill our hearts with the truth of the gospel and the forgiveness of our sin or the gripes of the world and selfishness?

Even with this knowledge, we know we will fail. What is our hope when that happens? Our hope is in Christ. He spoke perfectly in our place! He paid the price for our evil tongue! He took the wrath of our unguarded speech so that our speech is now His!

Yes, words can heal and kill. Words can break our heart. And what about “bad words”? Bad words are those that come from a heart fixed on its own desires and feelings, not Christ. Words that heal come from a heart that honors Christ. Words that break hearts come from a heart that loves self more than Christ. Sweet sister, speak from a heart that seeks to glorify Christ and your tongue will become as healing as Christ’s!

~ Colleen

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Testimony of a Broken Heart

 

“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”  ~ Psalm 147:3

Dearest sister,

Though grief may come to us in many different ways, the two most common ways are death and heartbreak. Heartbreak doesn’t have to come from breaking up with your boyfriend or the end of a marriage. Heartbreak can come from the loss of a friendship, the behavior of our friends and loved ones, and even the acknowledgement of our own personal sins. No matter how it comes, dear sister, having our hearts broken is a difficult and painful experience.

Some time ago I was struggling with the loss of a friendship.  Actually it was the loss of a “season of friendship” that was very dear to my heart and that I cherished deeply. Circumstances demanded a change in the way I viewed our relationship but I wasn’t ready to accept this new season of friendship where I played a lesser role in my friend’s life. After confiding in my mom one night she told me, “Kayla, you need to grieve this loss.”  I hadn’t realized that I was need of grieving but I did know that my heart was broken. I even felt betrayed, unloved, and abandoned. Did my friend consciously inflict these feelings? Was it my friend’s fault that I was feeling this way; No, of course not.  But in my selfishness I had grown bitter and angry. So I heeded my mother’s words and I grieved the “loss” I was feeling.

Once I let the grieving process begin, the Lord began to change my heart and started to heal the brokenness within me. Oh the sweetness of our faithful Savior. Oh the richness His healing brings. With time I was able to accept this different kind of friendship and once again enjoy the company of my beloved friend.

The lesson to be learned here, dear sister, is that if we do not allow ourselves to feel our hurt and to grieve the loss we are feeling whether it be from a broken friendship, the death of a loved one or any other cause, we have the potential to grow bitter towards God and/or others. Dear sister, you do not want your life to be defined by bitterness or anger! I want to encourage you to lift up your cares to the Lord, tell Him of your grief because he cares for you (1 Peter 5:7). And remember our Lord was called a man of sorrows and described as being acquainted with grief (Isaiah 53:3). He understands your hurt; He knows your grief. So grieve, dear one. Cry your heart out, for afterward comes healing and a peace that passes all understanding.

 

Your sister,

Kayla

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Faithfullness: Healing

My Dear Sister,

Sin. Apart from God it does irreparable damage to our souls and our lives. Apart from God we are helpless to do anything but walk in the darkness. It is only when the Lord intervenes in our life and awakens us to His glorious light do we realize that we’ve merely been blindly stumbling through our lives without even a flicker of a candle to guide us. Along with the light, we receive new eyes. We can now see the hopelessness of our old ways and the destruction we’ve left in our path. Praise the Lord that it brings Him glory to save us in our helplessness and rescue us from our own depravity. Sin has wreaked havoc on every square inch of our lives, yet God takes us into His arms and promises to heal us. He takes our broken lives and begins the process of sanctification, the process of healing that will continue throughout our entire lifetime. God promises that once He begins this good work He will bring it into completion. Paul says in Philippians, “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it into completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (1:6).

Praise the Lord for His great faithfulness. He will never forsake us, and even when we fall He will continue healing us. I’ve seen God been faithful in many ways but if there is one point that His faithfulness is essential it is in making us more like Christ. We will never get there on our own. There are too many broken pieces to put back together, too many jagged edges to smooth away.  If we ignore the damage sin has done to us we will never be healed. Known sin that has not been confessed has the power to devour us. If we make no effort to extract it from our lives it will remain there, eating away at us. Therefore, we must confront it head on. It will not be easy but it is essential for your growth. For we have not been called to impurity, but to holiness (1 Thess. 4:7).

In the Psalms, David cries out to the Lord, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak; O Lord, heal me, for my bones are troubled” (6:2). In Lamentations, Jeremiah writes, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.” (3:22-23). The Lord is ready to flood you with His mercy; not just today but every day for the rest of your life. His steadfast love will never cease; it will go on for all eternity. With Him by our side we have the power to conquer the sin in our life and He will give us whatever we need to accomplish that end. He will be faithful to renew our souls and heal us with His gentle hands.

The passage in Lamentations goes on to say, “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in Him.” Because the Lord has extracted us from the darkness and has plunged us into His glorious light we now have hope. God is our hope, our Savior and our Light. So hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. Confront your sin and ask God to help you pull the root of it completely out of you. He will be faithful; He will give you the strength and He will heal you.

May you be blessed in the year to come,

Kayla