I want to invite you to sit down with me and meet a dear friend. You’re going to love her and love how God is using her words of life. When we speak words of life to point people to Jesus, He opens doors for greater territory.

How many of us have said to a child, “Use your words”? Words have the power to communicate for good or evil, for life or death. With just a word we can crush or encourage. When it comes to childhood, adults have potential to speak words that last a lifetime.

Somewhere after sleepovers started, but before drivers ed. classes, my kids gave me a word count. I’m used to having a word count for an article or a book proposal or a blog post, but from my kids? The number has never been stated, but if I get close to using too many words at once, my “talk” becomes a lecture and my words fall on deaf ears. Other moms tell me the same thing (using their extra words). Knowing moms have to use their words well, one dear friend of mine got creative. We have to find where kids are listening and go there, even if (especially if) it means embracing new technology.

Sandy saw her five children, ranging in age from middle school through college, growing up. Their futures away from their small town, Midwestern home looked closer than ever, and there was still so much to say. So many words of life yet to be spoken.

She felt motivated by God’s truth as told in 1 Corinthians 2:1-5: “And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”

Verses from Mama

As this year started, Sandy began to write a daily email to her children. In a day when kids are more likely to read screens than paper, this mission minded mom sent messages the way her kids would connect. She shares a scripture and a message of application, calling it “Verses from Mama.” She often includes personal insights from her life on their farm, where she raises chickens, watches the sun mark time over her 100 year old roof, and works with her auctioneer husband. She has no shortage of stories to illustrate life truths. Her local paper found out, and now they’ve invited to share her words in the Xenia Gazette.

It wasn’t long before the hearts of her kids began to respond to the life-filled words, and she carefully added a few other loved ones to her list. Others found out and asked to be included, until a phone conversation led to sharing her Verses from Mama in blog form, with permission from her kids. After all, their Mama writes to speak life for them. Sandy says, “I know how big and great God is and want other people to know too. Whatever God is doing I want to part of it.”

Do you know how to use your words? Let’s use our grown up words to speak truth into the lives of our own children and the other children in our lives. Let’s use our words to speak life into everyone around us.
How will you use your words?

You will be blessed to read Sandy’s Verses from Mama here, and her kids really don’t mind. They know her words speak life.