WORDS CAN EITHER MAKE OR MAR BY_ IBUKUNOLUWA MARY ODUNTAN

God has placed something incredibly powerful within us—the ability to speak. Our tongues may be small, but the words that come from them can have a tremendous impact on the lives of others.

Our words can produce either life or death, depending on how we choose to use them.

The same words someone uses to encourage another person can be used by someone else to discourage them. The same words spoken to edify can also be used to tear someone down. Words that bring healing to a broken heart can, in the wrong hands, become words that break another heart.

The words may be the same, but the impact depends on how they are spoken and the intention behind them.

So, how do you use yours?

What kind of words do you speak to others?

Do your words build or break?

Do they make people feel hopeful or helpless?

Do they give courage or take it away?

I have seen people deeply wounded by the wrong choice of words. Some have lost hope because of what someone said to them. Some have believed they were worthless because someone made them feel that way with their words. Sadly, there are even people who have contemplated or attempted suicide because they were made to believe that their lives were meaningless or that they should never have been born.

Never underestimate the power of your words.

With the words of your mouth, you can repair a wounded heart, restore someone's hope, encourage a weary soul, and breathe life into a person who is almost giving up. But with those same words, you can destroy, discourage, and leave wounds that may take years to heal.

That is why you must be intentional about what you say.

Before you speak, remember that the person listening to you may already be fighting a battle you know nothing about. Your words could either become the encouragement they desperately need or the very thing that pushes them deeper into their pain.

The Bible says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21).

You have the power to speak life. Choose to use it wisely.

Please, be kind with your words. You never truly know how deeply your words may affect the person who hears them.

Speak life. Speak hope. Speak healing. Speak love.

I hope you gain insight.

Stay blessed until I write to you again.

© IBUKUNOLUWA MARY ODUNTAN

-Nigeria