The Power of Words

“You’re very hard on yourself”

I’ve heard several people tell me this many times and they were right. I was hard on myself, but I thought I was being honest. The problem was that my opinion of myself wasn’t Gods word about me, and words actually do matter. So much in fact, that to misuse them can cause some very undesired outcomes. 

Proverbs 18:21 tells us that death and life are in the power of the tongue. Proverbs 6:2 tells us we are snared (trapped) by the words of our lips. James 3 outlines it even more clearly. 

“Even so the tongue is a little member and it can boast great things. See how great a forest a tiny spark can set ablaze. And the tongue is a fire (a world of wickedness) set among our members, contaminating and depraving the whole body and setting on fire the wheel of birth being itself ignited by hell.”

The words we speak can affect us and our words can be influenced by the enemy - but out of the heart the mouth speaks (Matthew 12:34), so the deeper issue is our hearts. [There is a connection between the heart and mind which I’ve explained in The Heart to Mind Connection if you’d like to look into that.] 

This is why God warns us to guard our hearts (Proverbs 4:23) and to renew our minds (Romans 12:2; Ephesians 4:23). The outcome of our hearts and minds are expressed by our tongues and once that happens it sets a course in our lives. Simply said, words have creative power. 

When we speak words that seem to be true, for example: “I can never find what I want,” “I’m just not very smart,” “I’m always tired,” “I’m not good at anything,” “nobody cares about me” and so on, are we speaking negative outcomes into existence? Regardless, wouldn’t it be better to speak Gods Words? “I am fearfully and wonderfully made “(psalm 139:14), “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength”(Phil 4:13), “I am loved (John 3:16). 

Words are important and they have consequences. Use them wisely. I will endeavor to do the same.

Check below for more affirming words from God. 

Blessings, and thanks for stopping by !

I say I am unlovable, but God says I am loved . Romans 8:38,39

I say I am weak, but God says He makes me strong. Psalm 18:32

I say I was abandoned, but God says I am adopted. Ephesians 1:5

I say I am broken, but God says He has made me whole. Psalm 147:3

I say I am alone, but God says He is always with me. Joshua 1:9

I say I am lost, but God says He gives me direction. Isaiah 30:21

I say I am afraid, but God says I am powerful, loved and have a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7

I say I am worthless, but God says His son died for me because I am worth it. John 3:16

The Broken Glass Candle

I’m sharing a guest post with you today. It’s a lovely reminder that we are all broken in some way, but God can still take what we have when we come to Him and make His light radiate beautifully through us. 

Isaiah 61:3 

“To give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. That they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”

I walked in from the store with my arms full and a brand new candle in my bag.  As I struggled to get it all on the counter, one bag dropped and I heard the glass break.  My brand new candle was ruined as the glass shattered.  Frustrated, I was ready to throw the whole thing away.  My husband refused to let me do so.  “It will still light; it will still serve its purpose,” he stated.  Immediately, I began to argue back ... “But it’s broken and ugly and glass is everywhere.  It’s just not the same.”

I walked away and when I came back, he had placed the candle on the counter and lit the wick.

My heart immediately was drawn to the light.  How often do we do this in our own lives or with others?  Things don’t turn out the way we want them to.  Plans fail.  Dreams shatter.  Goals hit the floor.  People break our hearts.  And we are ready to throw the whole dang thing in the trash.  Even though it can still light ... still shine ... still bring the fragrance of goodness.  It just may not be pretty or in the package that we wanted or imagined.

May we all be reminded that even in the brokenness and cutting edge of life, there is still goodness and purpose and light.  We simply must be willing to not throw it all away and allow the redemption to take place.  There are times that our story will simply speak a little louder and impact even more people when we are willing to allow the broken places of our life and story to shine for others to see and understand.

- Liz Liles Wagoner

Discovered on SGN, Some Good News, Facebook. 

Thanks for stopping by!

C~

If Our Hearts Condemn Us

I know many struggle with this, and I want to encourage you. I’m using the amplified version for the main scripture. 

1 John 3:20

Whenever our hearts, in (tormenting) self accusation make us feel guilty and condemn us. (For we are in Gods hands) For He is above and greater than our consciences (our hearts) and He knows (perceives and understands) everything (nothing is hidden from Him).

Sometimes our hearts are burdened with a sense of our own unworthiness and we struggle within ourselves even wondering if we are saved, loving enough, doing enough. Note that God is greater in the sense that He is a more perfect judge than our hearts are, for “the heart is deceitful above all things.” Jeremiah 17:9.

It is love which assures us - under the accusations of our consciences. “If you forgive men their trespasses, God will also forgive you” Matthew 6:14.  By loving our brethren in deed and truth, it enables us to quench the charges of our consciences. The very desire in our hearts to show love is the evidence of Gods’work in our hearts. Remember that when your heart accuses you!!

We can also hold every thought captive to the glory of God. This means discerning when something is true or false. We know the enemy can affect our thoughts. Those thoughts are not ours, they are implanted suggestions. Don't entertain them, but deal with them right away. If you know the truth it will set you free. 

God knows all our affairs past, present and future even before we come to Him, and he has the right and will (desire) to pardon. We can thankfully acknowledge this and confess our faults and even the miss-understanding of our hearts - and appeal to God, who is greater than our hearts.

“For if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9 

Hope that helps! 

Find this post and others under ‘Quickies’

Blessings,

C~

Sammy the Hamster

Source:King-animal.blogspot.com

During the child rearing experience a parent is almost always faced with the inevitable request for a pet hamster. Ours was named Sammy and he lived in a big fish tank. He had a food dish, an exercise wheel and some toys - - but,  Sammy wasn’t happy. 

One day I looked in the fish tank to find that Sammy was gone. I frantically searched the house calling his name, but prodigals don’t listen and neither do hamsters. Sammy did show up a few hours later so I scooped him up and placed him back in his warm shavings. I took some corrective action and placed heavy cardboard on top of the fish tank to hopefully deter him, but Sammy was too smart for me. Time after time he got out, even when the cardboard was weighed down with books. I couldn’t figure out how he was escaping!

We decided to get Sammy a hamster ball so he could run freely, but I guess it just wasn’t quite the freedom he desired because one day I caught him trying to escape again. There he was acrobatically perched on the top of his wheel, his little body stretched beyond its limit, his cheeky little pouches stuffed rock hard with food. Talk about determined! I didn’t have the heart to take his beloved wheel away, so it wasn’t a big surprise when later he got out again.

This time I found him on the basement floor. He had found an open spot at the bottom of our main floor closet that would take him onto a high ledge in the basement, unfortunately he missed the ledge and landed on the cold cement floor where I found him still alive. I gently lifted him onto a cloth and placed him on my chest hoping he could recover. I petted him and whispered soothingly hoping he’d be ok, but in a matter of minutes my chest became warm and wet. Sammy had passed on.

I honestly don’t remember where we buried him, but whenever I think of him I get this mental picture of Sammy with a stick over his shoulder, a checkered bag tied to the end of it, on another adventure.

Then I have another thought - - one that only a mother would have. “I bet there’s hamster pee all over this house!!”

True story!

Have a great day,

C~

Of Bountiful Apple Trees

When you meet him you’ll notice a twinkle in his bright, light blue eyes and a happy-go-lucky smile that he wears for friends or strangers. My father-in-law is a wonderful man who is loved by many. He and his wife once lived in a house with two large sprawling trees in the front yard, with a smaller rectangular shaped backyard, fenced in on three sides. The neighboring property had a large apple tree right near the fence. 

Every year around harvest my father-in-law would go pick the ripe fruit from the large boughs spilling over onto his property. Why allow them to fall to the ground? With a smile at Gods provision they prepared them for the cold months ahead. 

Then one day the neighbor cut back all the boughs leaning over the fence. Nothing had been mentioned one way or the other and it was completely legal to pick fruit on ones’ own property. It was a very revealing gesture, but it was his tree to cut down.

In fact, it wasn’t until the next summer that we heard about it. “Do you remember that apple tree that used to be in our neighbors backyard - - the one right beside the fence?”  “It had good apples on it!” Then he reiterated how he would pick the fruit on his side and how the neighbor had cut it back last year. “I guess he cut it back a bit too much, because it died this year.”

These gracious in-laws of mine hadn’t even considered the intent of it. Up until then, the neighbor had a lovely sweet bounty every year, but now he had nothing. His apparent greed had got the best of him and in the end he tasted the fruit of it - - and i doubt it tasted like apples.

Regardless, I guess sometimes greed gets the best of all of us. It truly is better to be generous when we can be. It is more blessed to give than receive, after all.

Have a great day!

C~

Update: May 5, 2023

Happy 93rd bday young fella,❤️

The Heart to Mind Connection

The Scriptures use the words "mind" and "heart" interchangeably. Many times I've heard it preached that the mind expresses cognitive thinking and the heart expresses emotional thinking. However, in Hebrews 8:10 we hear God saying:

"I will imprint My laws upon their minds, even upon their innermost thoughts and understanding, and engrave them upon their hearts."

This verse suggests that the two are synonymous. In fact, the heart seems to perform as the mind regularly throughout Scripture. Then I looked for information that could give some insight on this and came across Dr. Caroline Leaf who provided some of the following information.

The Heart to Mind Connection:

One of the early pioneers in neurocardiology, Dr. J. Andrew Armour, introduced the concept of a functional "heart brain" in 1991. His work revealed that the heart has a complex nervous system that is sufficiently sophisticated to qualify as a "Little Brain" in its own right. Its elaborate circuitry enables it to act independently of the cranial brain...to learn, remember, and even to feel and sense. There is scientific evidence that the heart sends the brain extensive emotional and intuitive signals. Neurological impulses by the heart's nervous system are sent from the heart to the brain where they can influence perception, decision making and other cognitive processes. (These pathways also send pain and other feelings to the brain). The heart is in constant communication with the brain, and scientists are discovering that our hearts may actually be the "intelligent force" behind the intuitive thoughts and feelings we experience.

There are at least forty thousand neurons in the heart (nerve cells). That is as many as you find in the various subcortical centers of the brain. These can be likened to a very sophisticated checking machine, which checks for "congruence for interaction" and is actually a small 'voice' that goes up and helps with your decision making. As that information arrives, you make a decision of your will; is this good or is this bad? Am I going to accept or reject this? And you rely on the heart to guide that decision. This cognitive ability of the heart is due to a chemical called ANF which actually controls the thinking process to help you make a good decision!

But get this...

If your mind is chaotic, it completely wipes out that message from the heart, and your body goes into a state of dis-ease or lack of peace, and you feel it physically!!

WOW. The Bible has said it all along. Check Philipians 4:6-8 and Ephesians 4:17-32. 

It's what we think on and allow ourselves to believe that makes or breaks us. When we listen to and follow our heart intelligence, we become more educated, balanced and understanding. It follows that the more balanced and coherent our emotions become, the less likely we will be to experience sickness and disease.

For more information, check out  Dr. Caroline Leaf, brain specialist and author of "Who Switched Off My Brain?"

Her website is http://www.drleaf.net/osc/

Other information:

Institute of Heart Math:
http://www.heartmath.org/research/research-science-of-the-heart.html
(this link provides some diagrams as well)

The book "Neurocardiology," edited by Dr. Armour and Dr Jeffrey Ardell.

3D Map of heart brain

Proverbs 23:7 NKJV
For as he thinks in his heart, so is he....

Blessings!

Carmen

Pictographs on Genesis

A Quickie Post

The Genesis record had such a big impact on the Chinese people that they incorporated it into their written ancient language. Many of the characters are comprised of other characters resulting in a ‘recap’ of a story. For example:

The Chinese character for boat includes the characters for boat, eight and mouth (living, breathing people).  Herein we see evidence of a large boat carrying eight people in Chinese characters. 

There are many more like this. Here are some samples below.

A living man of dust/mud = the character for ‘create.’

A enclosure with two people = the character for ‘garden.’

The first two people in a home = the character for ‘finish.’

God and two trees = the character for ‘forbidden/warn.’

An unknown secret man, in a garden = the character for ‘devil.’

Devil, two trees and cover = the character for ‘tempter.’ 

Two trees and women = the character for ‘covet/desire.’

It’s interesting evidence of the truth of creation. 

Have a great day!

C~

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The Attributes of Sin

A Quickie Post

To Eve it seemed that the fruit was...

1) Good for food: something appealing to the physical, bodily appetite. 

(Lust of the flesh)

2) Pleasant to the eyes: something appealing to the emotions, the esthetic senses. 

(Lust of the eyes)

3) Able to make one wise: appealing to the mind and spirit, to pride of knowledge and spiritual insight. (anything that exalts us above our station and offers the illusion of God-like qualities, wherein we boast in arrogance and worldly wisdom is the pride of life.)

 (Pride of life)

1 John 2:16 “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.”

C-

Don’t Quit!

Another Quickie…

I found this poem and chose to memorize the first verse of it when I was a teenager. It spoke to me then but even more-so now. Life isn’t supposed to be easy. We are here to learn who we are and whose we are and to help others on their journeys. As hard as it gets, we keep moving, learning and appreciating the good — and there’s lots of good. Enjoy!

Don’t Quit

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will, 

When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill, 

When the funds are low and the debts are high, 

And you want to smile, but you have to sigh, 

When care is pressing you down a bit,

Rest, if you must, but don’t you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,

As every one of us sometimes learns,

And many a failure turns about,

When he might have won had he stuck it out; 

Don’t give up though the pace seems slow- 

You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than,

It seems to a faint and faltering man,

Often the struggler has given up,

When he might have captured the victor’s cup,

And he learned too late when the night slipped down, 

How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out-

The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,

And you never can tell how close you are,

It may be near when it seems so far,

So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit-

It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit.

Edgar Albert Guest

The Ancient Door

Source: wall.alphacoders.com

A Quickie post…

There are moments when things quietly pass by unnoticed. Big things that force open the tightly shut weighty ancient doors of history. It revealed a brightly lit crack illuminating 2000 years of darkness, to a stunning display of love. Turning the tide of rejection and hatred, to one of acceptance. 

Yes, some Rabbis are finally acknowledging Jesus! 

An excerpt from Israel Today, December 23, 2022:

“Jesus brought a double goodness to the world,” declared the group of well-known rabbis. “On the one hand he strengthened the Torah of Moses majestically…and not one of our Sages spoke out more emphatically concerning the immutability of the Torah.” At the same time “he removed idols from the nations.”

A miracle of unimaginable proportions, this acclamation is an opening door. A show of biblical prophecy ‘undoing’ the seemingly impossible. There is still work to be done, but this admission is indeed unprecedented. Times are about to get even more interesting. Read the story at the link below. 

Rabbis Bring Jesus Home for Christmas

C~