Are You Listening To Yourself?

“Life and death is in the power of the tongue.”

I pray to a God who is the Most High, talking to Him and asking Him for help, because HE has the power to change my world and to heal my body. I believe in Him and all that He says, and I trust Him.

I am not without my own power, however. What I speak, or don’t speak, will make a big difference. When people say, “Tell me about your cancer…” I begin the answer with, “Let me assure you – it’s not MINE – it was not invited and it can’t stay. I am fighting it with everything I know.” The same goes for “your tumor”. I am not claiming these things – they are invaders, and are not welcome.

I cringe when I hear people say they’re “not doing well, getting worse, dying…” How many years ago were those studies of what happens if a person’s co-workers, one by one, say, “Are you ok? You don’t look good…”? By the end of the day, the person goes home, headed for bed, because they “don’t feel well…” I thought we all knew that, and laughed at the truth of it – at our own vulnerabilities. If what other people say means so much, and affects us so easily, then what we say about ourselves must have even greater power.

It’s tragic enough when people denigrate themselves and criticize themselves. “I’m stupid,” “I’ll never get there,” “I’ll never accomplish this….” comes out of people’s mouths all the time – and there they are, predicting what will happen (we call it a ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’). WHY is this so self-fulfilling? Because even if we aren’t really listening to our own words, our bodies are listening.

God gave us two amazing gifts: The first is the freedom of choice – our will is ours to engage and set. He gave us so much freedom of choice, that we are even able to choose whether we believe He exists, whether we believe that He loves, whether we believe what He says. What a BIG and CONFIDENT God He is!

Having that kind of choice, we also get to choose what attitudes and beliefs we will hold and live by. Each day is a new choice – will we trust? Will we love? Will we forgive? Will we embrace the wonders and opportunities of each new day? Or will we let the situations around us define us? Will we let our circumstances outweigh the good things in the day? Will we punish those around us with upset moods and doubts? Will we try to hold God hostage to our desires, threatening to leave Him if our conditions don’t “improve”? Will we let Him work Truth into our lives and our hearts, by trusting His plan and walking with Him?

These choices are ours, every day. Free will choice is a gift that will set the course of our lives – depending on how we use it. There is no “pass” or “incomplete” in this – there is no waiting until we’ve made up our minds -- our beliefs and attitudes will set the day, and our words about ourselves and our health will be heard by our bodies. The choice is ours. We can speak life, or death – with words that have power.