Good morning, my favorite blog community! I was so thrilled to hug the necks of about 50 of you Siestas at the Spokane LPL. You can rest assured you are this teacher’s pets. Thank you so much for your participation here and for your genuine warmth when I get to meet you face to face. Your sincerity and reciprocal love comes across and makes me think again and again how God has blessed us here with something unusual and maybe not all together explainable. He’s so gracious and He meets our needs in all sorts of unexpected ways.
I have LOVED our Talk to Me Tuesdays! This topic ought to be fun, too. In fact, I might especially like this one since I am one who has often fallen victim to the malady that we are about to spotlight. Talk to me about a time your mouth got you in trouble. (Believe it or not, all of these have ties to the James study, whether subtle or outright.)
Ground rules:
*Keep it clean. Of course. In other words, if your mouth got you in trouble with profanity, please refrain from sharing it. Grin.
*If it involves someone else (and the nature of it means that it usually does) either don’t identify the other person(s) involved or make sure it’s fine with them for you to share it.
LET’S HEAR IT! I’m already smiling. Maybe that’s because misery loves company.
Lastly, you Houston area girls come to Living Proof Bible Study tonight if you can and help me welcome that darling young thing, Sarah Reeves, as our vocalist and worship leader for this event. Let’s make her so glad she came to serve us. We’ll also wrap up our series on Imago Dei and I’ll actually try to have more than one point we “get.” God help me. This session is very applicable and, if you haven’t attended either of the other two sessions, it would stand on it’s own. If you’ve never even come before on a Tuesday night, I think you’d get a word from the lesson. He’s spoken loud and clear to me even just this morning. May He be glorified.
I love loving Jesus with you, Siestas. Let’s press on toward the goal. He’ll be standing at the finish line.
You hit it big time with this topic. My mouth ran off not long ago when a dear friend invited me to her home for the first time. I commented on how lovely her home was and she proceeded to tell me all the improvements she and her husband were making to this already beautiful home. Out of my mouth came” wow did you get an inheritance or something?” She looked at me with a stunned look on her face(rightfully so), and told me how her husband was so blessed to have a good job and that they had been saving to do all these things. I was of course mortified the moment I spoke and tried to insist it was none of my business and how sorry I was for saying such a thing.
My mouth got me in trouble with someone I love very much. I would never in a miilion years want to hurt this person, but I did. I told her something someone else had said about her in order to make MY point. Oh, I made my point all right, but in the meantime I devastated my loved one. I am not sure she is over it even now. As soon as I said it, I wished my words had a rope attached to them so that I could pull them back. I “killed” a little piece of my loved one with my one careless comment. Oh, if I could just have those words back!
Oh man, this is perfect because my tongue threw me off a cliff last week…
I spent a week with my aunt in her small Southern hometown. Just so that you can get the full picture here: there is no liquor store. no bars. the restaurants there do not serve alcohol.
One night, I tagged along with my aunt to a church function in where we broke off into teams and went out to people’s homes to share the Gospel. We went to the home of a cranky 80 year-old who was so not interested in talking about the Gospel. To say that it was an awkward situation is probably an understatement.
As we were leaving, I said to cranky 80 year-old, “Well, maybe next time we can just get a pitcher of margaritas and talk about Jesus.”
Oh yes, I did… and believe me, you could not have heard a pin drop.
LEMONADE!! LEMONADE!!! I MEANT LEMONADE!!!! YOU KNOW, THE FRESHLY SQUEEZED KIND?!?!?!?
The ladies were appalled. Can we spell APPALLED???
My only saving grace–after this stopping of time– was cranky 80 year-old, who busted out laughing with “I like this child”
Sounds Like Something Jesus Might have said. Shake them up but give them the Good News!!
Dearest Beth and Siestas!
Thanks sooo much for taking the time to talk to us and get us thinking and reflecting on God and His good works in our lives! 🙂
This is another area that I’ve done “backwards” in my life. I learned early not to share my ideas or thoughts or feelings and developed quite a talent for wishy-washy cameleon-like behavior, when I talked at all. God has been working with me and I find that NOW, in my 40s!, I say the wrong things and hurt people unintentionally. I seemed to have missed some important development at those earlier, tender ages. God will see me through, and I envision
Sometimes, I think I ask myself – When hasnt it gotten me into trouble? I say what’s on my mind, I dont beat around the bush. That can be a good trait and it can also be treacherous. I have learned over the years to try and think first, then speak and act. I’m getting there.
Beth
After your simulcast in September; I realized I am not as kind as I thought I was. A good cure to running your mouth is to go and apologize. I was very worn out by the time I had finished. This is kinda funny, I apologized to someone for what I had said that was out of line. He sent me a text that said he forgave me a long time ago. I was apologizing for something I said the week before. I decided that I would just leave it at that. I too as a single again small group leader tend to be a little outspoken as a part of my ‘leadership’. I am trying to apply to my life grow where I am planted working on myself instead of the people in my group. I just put Bible verses together, we take turns reading them and they put together what they mean, and I ask how can we practically apply that to our lives. Ok that was a bit long. I.t is working
When my daughter (now 12) was a small infant, my mother in law, sister in law and I were going through my daughter’s closet admiring all the beautiful outfits she received from all the showers. I pull a particular dress out and say, “You know, I’m not really sure where this one came from but it’s way too frilly for my taste!” You guessed it – it was a gift from my mother in law! OUCH!
Used to work as the nurse for an internist. We had numerous patients come in for “executive physicals” – they were contacted several times & given lots of instructions to be ready for all the procedures. Invariably the majority would arrive having not followed instructions, often thinking that surely all those rules did not apply to people of their status. They were shepherded around the clinic by one of the sweetest women you have ever met – our executive secretary.
One day she came to tell us that today’s guy had drunk his grapefruit juice w/his morning meds as was his habit – despite being told nothing by mouth after midnight. I said something like, “Which jerk did this?” & she replied, “My husband.”
I wanted the earth to swallow me! She was so gracious as my office-mate & I tried to dig me out of my very deep hole by talking of our many past frustrations.
I learned to be less hasty in voicing my irritations & also a lot about how to be forgiving & gracious to idiots (me!) that you might happen to work with.
EVERY.SINGLE.STINKIN.DAY. It makes my Chris so happy to laugh at me. I am the faux pas queen.
Like when I told one dear sister (meaning she was pretty) that she looks like my relative does after plastic surgery. I was meaning, she looks like Julia Roberts, which is what my relative was going for…. See, it still sounds bad. Just cling my tongue to the roof of my mouth, LORD!
The first situation that comes to mind is……….. Imagine we are at a church dinner. Now, you are sitting beside me and as I look over at your plate I see a large amount of broccoli casserole. Okay, I have already tasted mine and I immediately get this awkward taste in my mouth. The taste of soap. If you have ever had your mouth washed out you know exactly what Im talking about. It was like a bad dream you know when you’re little and you back talked your parents or called your brother stupid you get the bar of soap. Now you being my friend and all I needed to warn you truth is I’m wanting to warn the whole church and was feeling the need to yell DONT EAT THE BROCCOLI CASSEROLE but at the same time not wanting to hurt anyone’s feelings I lean over and whisper in your ear whatever you do don’t eat that broccoli casserole, she whispers back why? I said just trust me when I say it is the worst thing I’ve ever tasted I honestly believe they have spilt dishwashing liquid in it. If I see someone who has bubbles coming our their mouth I will know. It’s just bad bad bad. Then you look at me and say thank you very much Kelly Jo I made that and I can reassure you I didn’t put soap in it. I think its good. So I just about squeeze your neck off tell you how beautiful you are and say well would you like the rest of mine. We are still friends!!
LOL! This was a dose of medicine I needed on a day that I am down with a throat infection! Kudos for that story!!!
Well, my mouth has gotten me into trouble more times than I can count, but here is just one incident. One specific time I can remember talking to my sister on the phone and for some reason I guess it slipped my mind for a second which of my three sisters I was talking to and I accidentally started gossiping (as much as I hate to admit) about her…to her. Yikes! I was so embarrassed and apologized so much. Even though it has been several years since this happened, my face still gets red when I think about it. God sure taught me a lesson that day!
Well… about fifteen minutes ago, I, told my husband that he’s always mad about something!! (he had just gotten upset with our middle son (we have three)…and me, opening my big mouth, found it fitting for me to tell my husband not to get so upset, which he in turn told me he had a right to be upset, which I then replied that he’s always upset. Needless to say, he got a little upset with ME!!! So….I guess my mouth got me in trouble. I decided I would check my favorite blog in the whole world, and of course this was the topic! The Lord ALWAYS speaks to me through this place…. and as soon as I’m done typing this I am going to go apologize to my sweet husband of 22 years!
I can’t just think of one time, with me it seems to be a constant occurance! I have to be very conscience to pray before I am around people for the Lord to shut my mouth and to clothe me with strength and DIGNITY! It is commonplace for me to leave a situation telling myself “Why did you say that?!” I just gotta keep praying, believing God and know he is going to do a good work in me.
I can’t even imagine how many times my mouth has got me into trouble!! But now thanks to technology, my phone gets me into trouble! You know, the one thing none of us can live without now! TEXTING!! Have you ever sent the wrong text to someone? Oh I have and it’s awful!! I have been convicted about gossip and I think the Lord finally had enough and allowed me to send text messages to the one whom I was talking about. Of course it was for “prayer request” only!! Yeah right!!Well needless to say, it has been a lot easier to not to gossip! Have I stopped completely? No, but I am so much more concience of it now and I believe I am doing pretty good! With His help only!!! Thank you Jesus for your patience and your unbelievable grace:) Much Love, Sam Ohern from Indy
I have also sent a text message to the wrong person and it was about them. Thank goodness I was saying something good and not bad, but I was still mortified!
Off topic…Beth, that was absolutely amazing tonight! You tackled such a difficult subject and answered many questions that I’ve had during the past two years. Thank you!
Rest knowing that your message reached 1 + many others, I’m sure. 🙂
In my old neighborhood, several moms would gather in the street to chat while our children played together. One mom in particular seemed to have a lot of knowledge about the families on our street. I commented to her that she was the “Mrs. Cravitz” of the street. Needless to say, if you have ever in your life watched an old episode of “Bewitched”, that did not go over very well. I’ve never insulted a person more in my whole life. I’ve probably never apologized more in my whole life than after that incident. Thank the Lord it is my OLD neighborhood and I don’t have to face that one over and over again!
Have you seen those David Yurman rings that are big stones? Well, I had not, and our great friends were in town visiting. We were eating breakfast in Chicago, and I looked at her ring (bright blue topaz) and said, “Oh, that’s so neat that you still wear your high school ring” (because to me, it looked like a high school class ring)! Well, they burst into laughter, and she said, “Well, I’m going right home and hiding this David Yurman ring in my jewelry box. She had gotten it for her last birthday apparently, and it is really special, and upon further inspection, I could see the differences… it is in fact beautiful, too! Anyway, foot in mouth!
(I hope this isn’t one of those “had to be there to get it” kind of things!) 🙂 Can’t wait for the James study!
I find in reading many of my Siestas blogs that we have much in common, that we truly want to live Godly lives yet so frequently show our sinful sides. Your experiences I also share in, the scriptures you give bless me and encourage me. I am sure on a daily basis my uncontrolled tongue must grieve the Holy Spirit and thankfully Gods grace forgives me when I ask Him.(which I really need to remember to do often!) I was just reading in Proverbs about words fitly spoken being like apples in silver settings. This was extra encouragement to let all th words of my mouth be pleasing to God. Have an awesome week everyone!
One Saturday evening after a ladies’ retreat I went out to dinner with my mom to share about what happened. We discussed many things, but one of them was about a lady who kept getting up and leaving, laughing with her friend during serious moments, and being disruptive. I failed to notice that her mother was sitting a couple tables down. The next morning at church this same lady came to me and asked why I was upset with her behavior at the retreat?……I had no idea how to respond and did the only thing I could think of….I apologized and told her honestly why I was upset. We worked it out and both of us came out better people.
our church has childrens church up to 4th grade. well my granddaughter who is in 5th grade had invited an unchurched friend who was a 4th grader, so i said yes you could go. so they came right back to me in the pew and said “she wouldnt let us go in”. so i couldnt help myself, cuz in my book there’s always room for one more child. i went into “her” class after church and said “you could’ve at least let them sit there to listen” even if there wasnt enough material to go around. i told her that she could have missed the chance to reach that little girl with the message of Jesus. AND she could’ve missed out on the blessing it would’ve been to share it with her. she said that rules are rules!! i couldnt help myself tho.
Oh gosh, Beth!!! That is one thing I wish God would just fix in me! I can’t seem to make any head way in that! My mouth gets me in trouble all the time! I can’t think of one specific incident. Part of my problem is that I don’t feel like I have anything to hide. If you know me well enough to b e talking to me, then you know me well enough to know my thoughts! Although at night I lay awake feeling terrible for something I said that may have not been appropriate. Gosh, you have hit a nerve and tonight I will feel bad for all things I have said that I shouldn’t have.
I’m one who could come up with a gazillion and one examples of how my mouth got me in trouble. Some are very funny and some not so much. But the one that sticks the most happened about 11 years ago.
My oldest son was about 5 and attending kindergarten. I was talking to my husband and complaining about our nanny who watched the kids while I worked full time. After the conversation ended I was tending to my son at the dining table. He was staring at his food and kind of playing with it. Without looking up, he said, “Mommy?” So I answered, “Yes, Austin?”
He continued without looking at me, “Why do you talk so bad about Alicia when she’s not around but you’re nice to her when she comes over?”
Oh my goodness….I about fell on the floor. I simply had no answer. I think I mumbled something about being wrong and that he was right to correct me but I honestly don’t remember the rest of the conversation. It was just one of those moments that stuck. Have I made the same mistake again? Yes. But I’m very happy to say that much progress has been made in the last 11 years. I know without a doubt that that moment was the work of the Holy Spirit.
I work in an office of all men who have their Ph.D’s. They constantly give each other a hard time so when I saw my chance, I took it. One of the men who is quit confident and quit handsome jokingly mentioned to me that his paycheck looked slim (he mentioned this since it’s my job to make sure they get paid correctly) and that he’d have to file chapter 11 because of it. I thought my response was witty, “well that means you’ll be moving in with your parents just like every other 30 year old single man I know”. He mentioned back to me in a laughing spirit that we weren’t yet close enough to joke about something so sensitive. I wasn’t sure what he meant by that at the time. A week later I heard my boss ask him, “so have you moved out and found your own place yet?” My jaw dropped and I felt horrible. I had no idea! I just assumed that the guy who drove the BMW to work and wore the Italian shoes had his own place! How do you apologize for that without bringing up a sore subject again? Whoops!
my former preacher’s wife thought it was funny another brother in Christ had a drug problem and I ask her what was so funny about that? and My former boss was also a deacon there and he was no better than her so I ended up loosing my job and had to change churches but I am in a better place now because of it.
I am famous (or should it be infamous) for commenting on someone’s pregancy when they are not pregnant. It happened to me right after I had my first child and my neighbor brought me lunch over. I commented that I didn’t know she was pregnant. She smiled sweetly and said, I’m not, I just haven’t lost the weight from the last one. Talk about turning red! You would think after this experience, I would never offhandedly make that type of comment again. But you would be wrong. I don’t know how many times it has happened, but at least more than I would have liked.
Tammy Elrod
Mechanicsville, VA
=)
It was tacky day at school during homecoming week and it was after labor day. I complimented one of the other teachers on her subtle tackiness of wearing white shoes. What a great idea. Her reply was that she was just trying to dress cute that day. Oh, my mouth.
I was looking for a job when I was in high school. During the interview for a teller position, I mentioned something about “high finance” and the interviewer asked me what I knew. Instead of talking about gold, stocks, or Swiss bank accounts, I replied, “I love to watch Family Ties.”
For those of you who don’t know that late 70’s/early 80’s show, Michael J. Fox was a college kid who was interested in earning money, lots of money.
Needless to say, I didn’t get the job.
Something that immediately comes to mind has gotten me into trouble way more times than I’d like to recall. This specific instance sticks out in my mind as being the worst- perhaps because it was recent or maybe because it was just plain mortifying.
I lead a girls bible study with Campus Crusade for Christ at a midwestern university and we recently had our annual fall retreat. I went as a leader with all of my girls and spent the whole weekend getting to know them and encouraging them to seek the Lord and His character! It was so amazing! The thing that came up to bite me in the butt this particular weekend, however, was my continual struggle in remembering names. It doesn’t seem to matter how simple the name, how long I’ve known the person, or even after I have rehearsed the name until i’m blue in the face- I still find myself drawing a blank when it comes time to recall what I should call them. Needless to say, it’s not the best trait in the world.
So at this retreat we have these things called “encouragement cards,” where we can write encouraging notes to everyone who attended the retreat. The trick to these cards, however, is that they are posted along the wall of a huge room with NAMES as the only identifying factor. Sounds easy, right? Wrong. I ended up writing very specific things on some girls’ cards and mixed a couple of their names up. I felt absolutely horrible upon realizing this which didn’t erase the fact that it appeared I didn’t care about them-when in reality, I love them dearly. I just can’t remember names to save my life!
My mouth got me in trouble a few months ago. My husband is a worship minister and I was venting to some of the ladies in my church about one of the other pastors on staff I thought it was a safe place to vent my frustrations, but I was very wrong. The next thing I knew I was sitting at his house in tears telling him how sorry and wrong I was. It turns out that one of the ladies I vented to went and told him everything I said and then added some stuff that I didn’t say. So, needless to say I learned my lesson the hard way. Thank the Lord that I was able to go and ask for forgiveness from God and from the person whom I greatly offended.
I work in reception for a pediatrician’s office, what makes this entertaining is that I look like I’m 12, no really, I was told I looked too young to vote today. Because of my young features and high childlike voice (people ask for my “mommy” when I answer my phone) it’s a usual joke in our office that we “hire the patients.”
A few days ago a father made a joke about a children’s cartoon and asked if I had seen it. I, thinking he was making a joke about my youngness, jokingly replied with “No, I’m not exactly in that age group anymore.” Why I even said this..?… I have no answer. But it left me looking like I meant to imply he watched childish shows. In my attempt to make a funny remark, I looked unprofessional, and even less witty, and worse, I offended someone. Now I just smile and nod 🙂
This happened, I am ashamed to say, tonight…AFTER reading this blog post. 🙁 (No excuse).
I went to a church to pick up my two sons and a neighbor’s young boy, they go to a church scouting program on Tuesday nights. My two girls were in the van too.
On the way home, for some reason, everyone was a bit grouchy…touchy, punching each others buttons. The girls kept doing small things they KNEW were provoking….I was tired. (Still no excuse)
After repeatedly asking them to stop and not say anything unless it was kind….I got angry. I actually started talking up a blue streak about attitude and listening and tone, and would you talk to your teacher that way, then why talk to me…etc etc…..I GOT MAD. Said things I ought not of said.
When we pulled into the driveway, my oldest son said, “Mom, you forgot to drop Jay off.”
yea. in my mouthing off anger I forgot the neighbor boy, who we are trying to introduce to Jesus!!!! was in the car witnessing my whole tirade. 🙁
And even if he had not been in the car, my behavior was inexcuseable. 🙁
I’ve sooo been there. I have three boys. Just today my hubby said, “Try to be a good mom, relax.”
Father, please help us to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.
Or, as the Message Bible says it: Post this at all the intersections, dear friends: Lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, and let anger straggle along in the rear. God’s righteousness doesn’t grow from human anger. James 1:19-20
Sending you hugs,
Michelle
Thank you so much for the wonderful weekend in “SPOKANE” and boy did He. God’s word was alive, active and refreshing. The shells were such an awesome statement of what happens when we join together. The icing on the cake was “siesta”. My daughter’s still talking about it. Thanks Beth, like someone else posted so much we want to tell you and all we can do it hug and cry lol.
My mouth well not to long ago our pastor was asking for some feed back to question during the service (small church) and of course I had to answer the questions the good student that I am… so with the next question He said come on lets here some answers and looked over at me except from you. ouch! He was being funny but the truth hurts sometimes.
Another time I had all my kids (5) in the car for a long day of shopping ( to shop at real stores we have to drive 2 hrs) so I pulled in to the parking lot (kids yelling and fighting) and saw a parking spot. Then all of a sudden a women flies in from the opposite direction and puts on her blinker acting like she is going to take “my” spot. I was there first so I just drove in.(think Fried Green Tomatoes) She began to yell about how rude I was. So I proved her right. “I saw it first” I said. She replied whoa your a little crazy aren’t you. “Lady you want to see crazy” all of a sudden quite in the car. I shut up and went into the store. I had to have a big talk on the way home about how acting crazy was not kind.
One Tuesday morning at Bible study, the ladies in my group asked me to read a portion of Scripture because they said “you are such a good reader”. I beamed and gladly began reading. Soon I came to the word “idolater” and I said “idol later” instead of “i doll a ter”. Then we all cracked up laughing.
A better question for me would be “when has your mouth NOT gotten you in trouble?”
I love to talk! I am almost compulsive about it, little sanquine that I am.
Here’s one:
My hubby and I were early in our romance; and at one of my friend’s house, playing cards w/ her and her hubby. The men were meeting each other for the first time. We all had shoes off but socks on and all so I reached over to my hubby to play footsie under the table. He had a shocked look on his face, as he thought he HAD been playing footsie w/ me. Could have been salvageable if I hadn’t opened my big mouth and asked him who he WAS playing footsie with!
Texas,
You may have to pick me up off the floor, you have me laughing so hard. I’ll never be able to play cards with other couples the same again.LOL
Just last weekend, at a Commissioning Ceremony for a class that my DH and I teach, I was greeting people. One of our new graduates introduced me to her girlfriend, a lovely lady. We spoke a couple of niceties but I also saw a very distinguished looking gentleman sitting to the other side of her, so of course, (insert foot in mouth) “And this must be your father you’ve brought to the Commissioning” – Uh, no – this is my husband!
I can take a joke and I usually find dry sarcastic humor really funny (as long as it’s not downright vulgar). Other people sometimes don’t share my love of witticisms and that’s sometimes a problem. I don’t mean to be offensive, but selfishly want to entertain myself or be entertaining or some strange social anxiety crops up where I feel the need to be funny. I have learned to edit my mouth more, but sometimes people do take things too seriously. Guarding your tongue can turn into hoop jumping. We live in a really insecure culture and sometimes that can stifle truth telling and authenticity. I guess people are offended by Jesus all the time because they can’t see his heart.
A favorite verse and the first one I memorized with my kids is Ephesians 4:29. When words start flyin, I ask them or myself – is that wholesome? is it building someone up? Is it benefiting those who listen? Unfortunately, far too often the words are not lovely & admirable and rather than building up, they’re tearin down! Like another siesta above, often it’s not just the words but the tone of voice that gets me in trouble! I regularly ask the Lord to post a guard for my mouth and keep watch at the door of my lips and I thank Him that His mercies are new EVERY morning!
I have a note on my refrigerator that reads “A closed mouth gathers no feet”, and it is there to remind me to watch what I say.
One of the many times my mouth got me in trouble was in the front office of my last employer. The company had been recently bought out by a larger corporation and new management was in making many changes. The new general manager was very quiet and impersonal – probably due to his position. One day he strolls through the front office, and states that he is leaving and going to the Simi Valley office. And I actually said “Forever!”
Yup, I let him and everyone else know exactly how I felt about him. He turned red not knowing how to answer, turned around and left. I wish I could take that single word back.
One of the worse times my mouth got me into trouble was when I was just “talking” at a party to a large group of people about things our husbands do and do not do around the house. My example was not encouraging and actually humilating to him. When we got home he simply said that was “not cool” and that I should have shared w/ him first that such things bothered me before sharing w/ all of our friends and his coworkers. Unfortunately I repeated this mistake a few more times before I realized the sin I was committing against him. Praise God for His forgivness, my husband’s forgiveness and a man who is willing to correct and admonish his wife.
Early in our married lives, we were at a family function and my new sister-in-law had everyone laughing as they listened to her reveal some really “stupid” mistakes her new husband had made. just silly stuff, but it was disrespectful to him. I got caught up in the spirit of how funny her stories were and thought of one I could add about my husband. I was sitting near him and he must have heard my thoughts because he looked at me, held up one finger and said quietly; “dont do it, you are better than that”. I was convicted instantly because I saw his love for me clearly in his eyes and i did not want to be a dissapointment to him. that time I refrained and felt really good about it. there are dozens of other times over the years i have been careless with my words and regretted it but i will never forget being convicted lovingly and being able to resist the temptation.
Once a week (sometimes more) I have to apologize to my children (ages 3 and 5) for losing my patience and raising my voice to them. When I am tired is when my mouth usually gets me in trouble, and it usually is because I got angry about something little and made it a big deal.
Well, my mouth gets me into trouble almost daily, when speaking to my husband, of all people. All my life I have been known for being a quiet, gentle, kind person. But for the life of me, I can’t seem to stop speaking to him rudely. The slightest irritation turns me into this evil, hateful, she-monster. I’m not a screamer. Rather, I drip with scornful venom. It’s terrible. And most of the time he honestly doesn’t deserve it. And I want to stop..I REALLY want to stop, but then I mess up and treat him like he’s my arch-enemy or something. And I LOVE HIM! I really do!! The very worst part is that my daughter watches me do it, and I so badly don’t want her to grow up and treat her husband this way….and then I do it again….Oh, Jesus help me….
OKAY. I thought about it, and there was one particular time that I remember that actually echoes into my own life that this has been said to me.
I have a friend who didn’t talk to me for almost 4 yrs, because I said in a letter to her that I didn’t think she was for real about her faith in God, because of how she trusts Him in her life. Not only was it horrible that I said that to her, but it was also on her birthday.
She has since forgiven me, but I can honestly say that I learned how much it hurts when someone doubts your faith in God, when they can’t see it…when they look at you like your life is just a huge rollercoaster. Truthfully, not everyday is going to be amazing, just that we are given strength through Jesus to get through it.
And I just have to mention when it comes to your own voice Beth, and I mean this as its GOOD:), I was walking through the kitchen the other day, and recalled the “Who do you trust” series with this particular line, ” And in this thing you will not trust me?” Man, God really throws it at me with you sometimes, mama beth…
and the answer was…Yes, Lord I can:)
xoxo
ang
Psalm 139:4
I used my tongue in the wrong way via email. My son is going through a nasty divorce and over the course of months, I emailed him with words about her as “selfish, stinkin attitude”……..well, you get the picutre. Long story short, they reconciled and she came back and went through his emails only to find this slander awaiting her. Needless to say, I received one nasty email from her. They filed for divorce yesterday, but like Beth said in “Breakin Free” sometimes we light the match on our refining fire. God has used this for good, because it has shown me the need to keep my words sweet, I had to eat those bitter words through a repentant email back to her, but did much damage to the relationship. Just further proof the great need for a Mighty Savior. Will I ever learn? Yes, because I have a Brilliant Teacher!!!
The best, actually worse, example I have- is not something that came from my mouth but from my mind which went into a text. Oh, the things we “say” through our phones, etc.
I was in an airport coming home from a conference with two co-workers. One, is not a believer and is fraught with overwhelming anxiety about everything. In love, we often talk about this. This time, was not loving. She had been so worried about missing the plane and going back and forth about whether or not she’d go the bathroom again or not. She decided to- and I went to text the other co-worker about the back and forth-ness of the exchange we had…I KNEW the second I started typing, the Lord saying, STOP. I did not heed this warning. I sent the text, but accidentally to my friend with all the anxiety. I confessed the second she came back but then had to watch her read the text. I had made fun of her behind her back about the issue and she knew. I prayed the whole flight home, may the Lord have mercy on me- for the many sins committed that afternoon. May I be quick to listen to the Holy Spirit’s promptings next time.
About 15 years ago I was babysitting for a couple in the church and their little boy was very fussy that night. My girlfriend called me while I was babysitting to talk about our plans after my babysitting job and while I wasn’t on the phone very long, I did manage to mention that the little boy was a bit spoiled and I supposed (in my infinite wisdom) his momma just had all the time in the world to pick him up and coddle him all day because he screamed every time I set him down. Well, what I didn’t know was that the answering machine hadn’t been turned off from the previous phone call and it recorded the entire conversation which the parents heard in it’s entirety when they returned home. Let’s just say I never babysat for them again and after trying valiantly on both sides to restore the relationship, it was never the same and ended a couple of years after that. Wow, did I learn a lesson that day… 🙁
Good Lord, when HASN’T my mouth gotten me into trouble? One of the hardest things I’ve had to learn in my marriage is to stop talking. Particularly AFTER an argument.
See, I would go away and tell myself all the things I wanted to say but didn’t. But when you rehearse that much, you end up wanting to use it and finding the excuse to do so.
It’s a struggle, but I find myself doing this less. More times than not (though it’s a slim margin), I notice when I’m doing it and turn it off.
Oh gosh. I feel like my mouth gets me in trouble every time the hubs and I have an argument. Lindsay! THINK before you speak! That is so broad, but a huge one!
This is random…I was reading my study for the day from To Live Is Christ and started thinking about how your girls are such a huge part of the James study you’re doing and maybe have been on others. I know TLIC was done years ago and I started wondering if you knew then that someday they would be such an important part of the process with you? Or maybe you hoped they would, but didn’t know. Just a thought!
hi everyone! Reading through the posts, I realized I had the same troubles as everyone else. Some conquered, some not so conquered. I think that as much as i try, the biggest way I get in trouble with my mouth is how I speak when I get agitated. My daughters tell me that my eyes kind of pop and there is a little swagger going on in my head and I usually have at least one hand on my hip. The worst part is that this starts to happen when I think I’m “just sharing my opinion!” Embarrassing!
As a missionary, I live in a country where few people speak English fluently. Usually very modest and private in public, I had started to let my guard down quite a bit, saying things aloud that I might not have said if I was in the USA.
One day, a local man pushed in front of me brusquely in a line where I had been waiting for quite a while. He only had a few items to buy, and if he’d asked me, I probably would have let him go in front of me. The cutting-in-line-without-asking happens often here, though, and I had a long day. I was very tired of that kind of thing.
I didn’t speak loudly, but said–to no one in particular–something like, “Well, THAT was RUDE!”
And, of course, he turned around and said to me contritely in beautiful English, “I’m so sorry. You can go ahead of me.”
I ducked my head a little, “No, you go ahead.” OOPS.