I am a 29 year old woman, married to the most amazing man to walk this planet. He is my lover, my helpmate, my absolute best friend. The one I cry with and laugh with. The one I vent to and my best listener and encourager. He is my world, in this world. The most amazing words he has ever shared with me came on our first date. You have to know the story to know how those words impacted me. We met through a friend of a friend, and at that it was all online. Our friends weren’t, but our first interactions, actually our first two weeks of conversations, were all through email. We spoke to one another with words painfully honest, openly trusting, and from the heart from day one. I cannot explain to you how either of us felt so comfortable to do such a thing, except that the peace of God filled us from the first email. We knew those first emails were just the beginning. About 2 weeks into the emailing, we wanted to be able to hear one another’s voice. I was already falling in love with this man. It was a true heart love, because we had not spoken of what we looked like, except that I did ask his height since I had this thing about dating people shorter than me. Thankfully, he was 6′2″… I am 5′7″. We talked on the phone that first time for one hour and agreed to meet that weekend for dinner. On the first date, he drove to my house (he lived about an hour and 10 minutes away), we had dinner, then he met my parents. Towards the end of the evening, we got to talking about the anxiety of coming to meet a blind date. He said the most precious words I have ever heard and will not soon forget “I was praying that my eyes would see what my heart already saw.” I guess they did, because after 11 months, we were engaged and within 7 months of that were married.
How powerful those words were. They assured me that I was dealing with someone who was sincere. They reaffirmed that the feelings that were beginning to develop through our emails were genuine. In February, 4 months before we were married, I received another precious set of words. This time engraved on a heart that I wear around my neck. “To the world you may be one person, but to me you are the world.” Tears gather even now as I think about those words.
There are times; however, that words can cause pain. Be careful with your words. You never know how they will hit those who are hearing them. Words are meant to build up not to tear down. Not to make those with wounds, hurt even deeper.
James 3:6-10 It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell. This is scary: You can tame a tiger, but you can’t tame a tongue—it’s never been done. The tongue runs wild, a wanton killer. With our tongues we bless God our Father; with the same tongues we curse the very men and women he made in his image. Curses and blessings out of the same mouth! (MSG)
Until next time, Peace!
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