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Abuse survivors, emotional abuse, Ephesians 4:29, harsh words, healing words, overcoming abuse, power of words, survivors, verbal abuse, words, words hurt
I’ve written dozens of posts that encourage and proclaim ‘Use Your Voice!’, however, I realize there are select moments when our words should be chosen wisely.
There is strength and power behind our words. Words can heal, uplift, encourage, console, council, and teach. In the same breath (sentence) the words chosen can bruise, scar, discourage, belittle, harm, and simple ruin a good mood in a second.
Just one word, especially in the English language, can hold a dozen variations of meanings that it is imperative to hear the infliction behind it and understand the context that surrounds it or else it can be misconstrued and cause havoc in the person who ‘hears’ or ‘reads’ it.
For instance – ‘OK’ – Is it that ‘You are ‘ok” good, or ‘ok’ frustrated? or ‘ok’ indifferent, or ‘ok’ happy, or ‘ok’ mad?
In this day and age of texting I find that there is an even greater disconnect among us because battles are being fought, decisions are being made and revelations are being born all without the emotion. Every text received depends on the person’s emotional state when receiving it as to whether or not it is taken in the context it was intended.
Texting isn’t always the culprit. We can be face to face with someone and have our words misconstrued because of the emotional state of the person who is on the receiving end. I’ll be the first to admit this is something I have to work on personally. If I’m upset and haven’t voiced my emotions and someone says something to me that can either be harmless or confrontational …I tend to go to the confrontational. I believe this is because I’ve often felt ‘not good enough’ so it is an innate reaction to assume I’m being attacked when reality is much more kind.
Ephesians 4:29
Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
Life is a process of stumbling, falling, getting back up and learning from the experience. The idea is to learn to take a different route or walk in a different way so as not to keep stumbling and falling along the way.
How simple would it be for all of us on our life journey to be a little more intentional with our words in order to lift others up instead of causing them to stumble along the way? And in our texts…if we need to discuss something important – PICK UP THE PHONE and talk so that emotion can be heard and felt. Oh, and don’t allow ‘texting’ to become your passive aggressive crutch. ‘I didn’t mean it like that’…when you know you did. (We’ve all done it so don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about.)
Blessings
Shannon