Becky Crenshaw

Friday morning, I stood face to front with my calendar which hangs by magnets on the right side of my Frigidaire.

I was filling up a gallon water jug at the refrigerator door.

And this morning in particular, I had a wave of excitement! AUGUST IS HERE!

I bet some of you are like me and get a little excited when it is time to flip the family calendar. Not only does it represent a clean slate for possibilities, but my calendar also has a new Scripture and picture representing the next four weeks.

Call me silly, but I always receive this passage as a Word to cling for a month. July, for example, was the picture of a rainbow and the words JOY COMES IN THE MORNING. Well, that was a good thing because July was HARD as heck, thunderclouds at every turn, but that rainbow made a promise to me.

Tomorrow…. Joy.

So August 1st, like a little girl, I lifted the page to take a peek at my promise for the month and what a timely word indeed.

Pleasant words are a honeycomb. Sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. Proverbs 16:24

What a reminder, right?

Do you ever sit and ponder the POWER of your WORDS? Just think: When your vocal folds produce sound they come together and then vibrate.  Air passes through the folds during exhalation of air from the lungs. This vibration produces the sound wave for your voice. And your voice, paired with meaningful words have GREAT POWER to HEAL.

There is much to say about how our words tear others apart, but today we focus on their “sweetness to our soul!”

Paul encourages us to RENEW OUR MINDS. He says, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

One sure way to practice “renewing our mind’ is to rethink what we are thinking and reframe our speech.  Our vocal cords.

What are we saying, to not only each other…. but what are you saying to yourself? About yourself?

I am my biggest problem here. Anyone else?

So today, begins a month of healing and we begin with our own words.  I am going to kick us off, but I want you to be thinking through areas in your own life where your words are not serving you. 

Let’s take one truth and claim it for ourselves today. Tomorrow. And the rest of this year. As I send my boys off to school today, I have no other choice but to trust in God. And even though I am sending them in a mask, I know the Lord is truly their strength and shield according to Psalm 28:7!  (The Lord is my strength and shield, in Him my heart trusts.)

So today I will SAY this over them, over me, in the car, washing dishes, sitting at my desk, going on my run…. I know a reason to claim this verse will come up multiple times today.

THANK YOU LORD…. YOU ARE THE BEST COVERAGE EVER….

YOU ARE MY STRENGTH AND SHEILD.

YOU ARE THEIR STRENGTH AND SHEILD.

YOU ARE MY HUSBAND’S STRENGTH AND SHEILD.

YOU ARE THE BEST STRENGTH AND SHEILD.

OUT LOUD WORDS. NOT IN MY HEAD BUT OUT OF MY MOUTH.

SWEET TO MY SOUL. HEALING TO MY BONES.

Will you join me this August?  PLEASANT WORDS.

We need this right!?  I do.

If you know of someone else who needs a healing word, send this along to them, as well.

Let’s renew our minds together…. one spoken word at a time.