{"id":3143,"date":"2012-09-19T05:23:07","date_gmt":"2012-09-19T09:23:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/?p=3143"},"modified":"2012-09-19T11:38:27","modified_gmt":"2012-09-19T15:38:27","slug":"the-power-of-our-words","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2012\/09\/the-power-of-our-words.html","title":{"rendered":"The power of our words"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>In her late 20’s, Mindy pretty face is accented by her vibrant, chatty personality. \u00a0She lives alone in her own apartment. \u00a0Mindy is a new member of our Special Gathering. \u00a0We are a Christian program within the intellectually disabled community. Our mission is evangelizing and discipling the men and women who are developmentally disabled in our towns.<\/p>\n

I’ve known Mindy over the years because she lived in a neighboring city; and she is an active part of the mentally challenged community. \u00a0Her past boyfriend is also a good friend of mine. \u00a0Each Sunday when she comes to our program, she has yet another story to tell about her family.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>In Mindy’s tales of woe, she was the hero; and Mama or Grandmother, the villains. Because I provide her ride to our Sunday program, five of us arrive two hours early. And she helps us with our set up. \u00a0This means that for weeks, we heard about 2 hours of her tattling. \u00a0Her gossip set a negative tone for our meetings. \u00a0In the aftermath, it was hard to shake the atmosphere this fault-finding tone set, making worship difficult to enjoy.<\/p>\n

One Sunday morning, before I picked her up, \u00a0I prayed about the situation. The Lord reminded me of how I would handle a similar activity had this happened when my children were younger. \u00a0I would wrap him or her in my arms and pray. \u00a0On the first indication of her gossiping tirade, I said, “Mindy, every time you talk about your mom or grandmother or anyone else, I’m going to pray that you will stop talking bad about other people.”<\/p>\n

For about five or six weeks, she and I spent more time praying than doing anything else. \u00a0I would smile at her, open my arms and say, “Come here, girl. \u00a0We need to pray about that.” \u00a0She never resisted my embrace or prayer. \u00a0Slowly, her stories became fewer and fewer.<\/p>\n

Even more, the atmosphere of our program returned to joyful expectation, rather than discouragement and fault finding.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Last week, she said to me, “I’m so proud of my mom. \u00a0She is going to start helping my grandma.” \u00a0She proceeded with every detail but the story was positive and uplifting. \u00a0I was proud of Mindy. \u00a0She has started to learn.<\/p>\n

As we sat drinking coffee after the building was set up and I listened for the 15th time to how Mother was going to help Grandma, I was grateful for the power of prayer. \u00a0Also, I was reminded of the power of our words. \u00a0Mindy’s chatter was helping to set a positive expectancy for Special Gathering, rather than a pall of negative thoughts.<\/p>\n

Now all I need to figure out is how do I keep her from repeating her stories 57 times.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In her late 20’s, Mindy pretty face is accented by her vibrant, chatty personality. \u00a0She lives alone in her own apartment. \u00a0Mindy is a new member of our Special Gathering. \u00a0We are a Christian program within the intellectually disabled community. Our mission is evangelizing and discipling the men and women who are developmentally disabled in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":387,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,20,3,40,186,49,16,8,4,41],"tags":[690,21,688,7,699,536,203,715,701,694,689,57,692,6,687,700],"class_list":["post-3143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-church","category-developmental-disabilities","category-faith","category-hope","category-inspiration","category-intellectual-disability","category-mentally-challenged-community","category-simple-truths","category-spirituality","tag-autism-spectrum","tag-christian","tag-christianity","tag-developmental-disabilities-2","tag-faith","tag-fault-finding","tag-gossip","tag-hope","tag-inspiration","tag-intellectual-disability","tag-mentally-challenged-community","tag-prayer","tag-religion","tag-simple-scriptural-truths","tag-simple-truths","tag-spirituality"],"yoast_head":"\nThe power of our words - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The power of our words - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In her late 20’s, Mindy pretty face is accented by her vibrant, chatty personality. \u00a0She lives alone in her own apartment. \u00a0Mindy is a new member of our Special Gathering. \u00a0We are a Christian program within the intellectually disabled community. 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