There’s no perfect life.

There’s no perfect family.

There’s no perfect group of friends.

There’s no perfect church.

There’s no perfect neighborhood.

There’s no perfect school.

There’s no perfect anything . . . except; Savior.

I cling to Him.

You can’t always hold back the tears but you can hold on tight to Him when you have a relationship with Him.

This week was a long one and I felt like a failure when I had someone be unkind to me with their words. I know it happens a lot but my heart was completely shattered . . . the words they said, in the one comment they made, just took me to my knees. I’ve honestly never felt so hurt before and never been spoken to uglier by any person before in my life. My heart is physically hurting from the hate spewed at me.

I am heartbroken.

I won’t repeat the comment that was made to me or where it came from but I can tell you that I would have fared much better if I had been called a terrible name instead. It probably wouldn’t have been true *(the terrible name)* but it would have been bearable.

I forgave them immediately.

I don’t know why they said it or what they meant by it; they’re forgiven.

I’m still hurting regardless. I’m praying for them, too. It’s killing me.

Have you ever heard that life and death are in the power of the tongue? The implications of us being careless with our words have far stretching consequences; they can be sinful and powerful.

In Matthew 12:35, Jesus said that “the good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him”. So is it truly revealing what’s in our hearts when we spew hatred? (Also Luke 6:45)

“The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” Proverbs 18:21 So we know that words can create actions through prompting, whether a bad friend is telling you to jump off a bridge or a counselor is talking you off the ledge . . . it can be good or bad. Think about the Holocaust . . . Hitler used his words to speak that into action, through the ordering of his soldiers, to murder millions and millions of Jews. It was meant for evil.

But Proverbs 12:18 tells us “The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.” We can’t honor God and curse our brothers and sisters out of the same mouth. And reckless words really do pierce like swords; painfully. So much so that I had resolved to step away from doing something that I had just started doing recently . . . but God reminded me I was doing it for Him. I started thinking, “What if I’m doing something wrong and someone else needs to do this?” and “What if I’m doing a terrible job and that’s why she hates me?” and so many things like that.

I’m not sure what hurts worse. The source of where the comment came from or the fact that it came from such a random person from that part of my life that there’s no telling what anyone says about me. It makes me not ever want to go back around anyone ever again. That’s a big deal. That’s how badly those words cut me.

If you can’t be kind, be quiet and pray some more. We need to be kind to each other. We’re all going to disagree on stuff. We’re all going to suffer through stuff. We’re all going to hurt with each other and chances are in some ways we’re all going to hurt each other. I imagine in some ways we’re going to hurt with each other or because of each other – in silence – because we will never tell the other about it. We can’t possibly live life in community without experiencing pain in some way or another and some “hurt” is worse than others. The good news here is that God never wastes a hurt and I know He will bless me through this. He’s going to use it. What the enemy means for evil, God can use for good. Maybe it’s going to be something significant . . . maybe it will be something as small as me sitting here and telling you how my hurting heart is screaming to get out of my chest right now – but that if you’re in the same situation, God will be your fence; let Him. Do not retaliate. Do not be unkind. Do not even think an ugly thought in your head to respond with because it’s the same as saying it.

Take it to God.

If you can’t get beyond the hurt on your own, message me and I’ll pray for you too because I know this pain hurts. I can barely see the screen for the tears streaming down my eyes telling you about it.

I am too valuable to let this woman’s hateful, disgusting words keep me down. What she said wasn’t true, it doesn’t define me and I will TRY not to let it isolate me. I will be transparent and tell you that it’s going to be hard.

Go love someone today.

Go speak L-I-F-E into someone today. Because I can tell you this, once those words are said, they’re said! Once they’ve left your mouth they’ve made an imprint on someone indefinitely. Speak life over someone today and plant seeds of hope, love and grace.

I have God’s grace and will continue to position myself in the path to receive more of it. When I see the lady who offended me I will still smile at her, not because her words aren’t still searing through my heart, causing me pain, but because I have my Savior’s grace and because I love her. I’m just going to try my hardest to live above the criticism and hatred that she’s hurled at me. I’ll sneak off and wipe tears from my face when I see her if I have to.

Something my Pastor says a lot is, “Don’t put your faith in people, people will always let you down, put your faith in Jesus.” He’s right. Jesus was hurt wore than anyone else ever will be but He still gave the ultimate sacrifice for us. I can be better than haters, be better than the ugly words, be better than the accusations, be better than all of that. I may hurt but I forgave; I don’t have to hold onto anything. Now I get to heal because I didn’t give my heart over to bitterness. #speaklife #loveharder #grace

“Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips.” (Psalm 141:3)