I'm not overweight, I'm just BIG!

(I wrote this blog for my friend, Anna's, blog - enjoy! Oh, and check out her super neat blog Alittlebitofanna too!)

My Dad has always meant the world to me. He has been the best example of my Heavenly Father on earth. It is no surprise that I deeply valued the words that he has spoken to me, even from a very young age. My Dad used to tell me all the time, “Anna, you are THE BIG!” To some people that may seem like my Dad was telling me I had a weight problem or that those words are silly and meaningless, but to me those words became inscribed in how I viewed myself. My dad was not saying I was an overweight child (I was a bean pole), he was telling me that I was a big enough person to conquer anything I put my mind to. He also always called me “Tall Anna”, which made me believe for the longest time that I was taller than the average girl…which took me years to realize wasn’t true (and by years I mean recently).

My reasoning behind telling you this story is to show you the impact that words can make on a person. Calling me “THE BIG” may have seemed silly, but it ingrained a confidence and faith deeply within myself that no matter what grades I made, no matter what people laughed at me, not matter what obstacles came my way – my Dad said I could do anything, so I can do anything.

In the book of Proverbs, there is a very well known verse that says:

“The tongue has the power of life and death..”
– Proverbs 18:21

Not only is that a very true statement, it is very commonly underestimated. When I was younger my sister and I would get into fights over silly things like using each other’s stuff without asking. Many times I would lash out at her in a unforgiving manner and put poisonous accusations between our sister-ship, instead of handling the situations with life-giving words and loving intentions. Not only do words have the power to build someone up, words carry the weight of all different types of meanings in them and can deeply damage a relationship and/or a person. It is important for you to think before you speak and to think through the different meanings of what you are saying and how your words could be perceived. Perception is the gateway to understanding and in overcoming obstacles.

In the story of David and Goliath, David’s brothers went off to help fight against the Philistines. When David arrived on the scene he heard the fear in his people’s words as they were not seeing any way to defeat this situation of a giant named Goliath. Instead of listening to the words of his people and perceiving truth in them, he instead listened and heard what God said about their situation. He knew what God said about the Israelites, that they were God’s chosen people, a blessed nation and that God was with them. Instead of hearing the fears of his people and giving in to the hopelessness, he heard a situation where God could show up big time. He perceived a moment where God could be glorified instead of perceiving a moment of desperate defeat. David’s people thought Goliath was too big of a problem for God to move, David grabbed a stone to shoot at him because he knew Goliath was too big to miss. We have got to learn to decipher through what is being said and to find what is true and what the lies are.  The truth is always consistent with God’s word, lies don’t align with God’s truth.

If you hear something about yourself that is not consistent with God’s word or what He has spoken to you, then it is a lie. You are more than what other people say that you are and half the time you are not at all what they say you are. You are who God says you are, period.

Speak life into the people around you – don’t rob someone of a blessing by unspoken words. Light brings life, if we are the light of the world we need to be beacons of life-giving individuals. You are called to be a chosen people, a Holy nation, a people set apart for God’s good and perfect will, not imprisoned by the lies that other people tell us.  I may not be very tall or even taller than most people, but because one person believed I was and called me that – I walked in full confidence of my basketball player height. The value of believing in someone or having someone believe in you by encouraging you with life-giving words is priceless. Be good stewards of your words by building up those around you instead of tearing them down.

“We can’t control what other people say about us, but we can control what we believe.”
 – Craig Groeschel