Barbed wires and concrete; wire cutters and sledgehammer.

Lately, I've been checking out various blogs and interesting websites; sometimes, it's for a design element that I'd like to try out for a website or because the layout itself is visually appealing and it kick-starts my creative streak.

This time around, however, I've been checking them out for their content. Not because I still find the layout awesome (They can be incredibly attentive to detail, while others are minimalist at best; both should reflect the writer(s).), but what a person says should matter and it does matter.

It's almost by accident that I find a blog or two that shatter my perceptions of life, family and, most importantly, faith. Frankly, I needed those perceptions smashed to tiny shards; I've been flippant and numb in those areas.

In one blog entry, two simple pictures speak volumes. The first picture has a little girl (Possibly one of Mrs. Voskamp's daughters.) holding a picture saying "You are loved"; the next picture has "and together we can do it (Jesus is in us!)!" Later on, she writes about how someone that is closed off eventually entraps herself in that "protective barrier" that she builds for herself.

For the record, my preferred way of building walls like that was with concrete topped with barbed wire (Figuratively.); the walls were thick and the barbed wires pierce the toughest skin. That way, no one will hurt me and I won't let their words hurt.

However, words hurt deeply and they can bear the most unpleasant of scars. Proverbs 12:18a says it like this: "There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts..."

God wants a vulnerable heart; He wants a teachable pupil; He wants a trusting child.

The rest of the verse in Proverbs is encouraging: "...but the tongue of the wise brings healing." It is that soft-spoken word, that encouraging cheer, that prayer being lifted up by a close friend is what heals that heart. Thankfully, I've met several women like that and they don't know just how helpful they've been.

Another blog (One I just stumbled on this evening!) has an entry back in December 2010 that spoke of this very thing; however, the author encourages sisters in Christ to take up a commitment of words. The link to it is here and I encourage everyone to read it.

Yours truly has used words as barbs and as scourges in her past (Some as recent as this year!). I can't do that anymore, seeing how hurt I've been.

It's time to bring out the heavy-duty wire cutters and a sledgehammer; God's been at work and it's time for me to come to the wall and tear it down.

One more thing: To those women that have been encouraging and uplifting me as of late? Thank you. I believe with all of my heart that God has placed you in my life so that His glory can be seen and that He will be praised.