Welcome!

This week's post comes from Starla Espinoza at Keepin It Real

Hey Sista. Welcome and thank you so much for stopping by.  If you are seeking an amazing group of women who love God with all their hearts and souls then you have found us. We have a strong passion to bring glory to God through writing. God has strategically placed us in each others path via Girlfriends in God on FB. We have never met each other in person but after many discussions and viewing each other's blogs, our spirits connected and we realized how powerful it would be to combine forces and form "Blogger's in God" aka BIG sisters.

I love the way God order's the steps of His children. We are His willing vessels to be used for His glory and honor. I am so honored to be used by God in any way that He chooses to increase His kingdom. I believe that the formation of this group is the beginning of something BIG.  Look forward to a weekly post from someone in the group.  I am the first to kick things off so please check out my post below and have a blessed week.

Let The Words of My Mouth

I am a Christian, do you know what that means? That means I'm far from perfect, simply redeemed. These are the words to the beginning of a song by Isaac Carree called "Simply Redeemed". The journey of a Christian is far from perfect. There are so many times that I have had to repent and ask God for forgiveness for either thinking the wrong thing, saying the wrong thing or doing the wrong thing.

Right before Christmas I struggled with a rude voice mail from one of my colleagues. Well, this person works for the same company as I do but she is located in the Southern part of our state and I am in the North. I work in Accounts Payable at my company and we process payments for the entire company. Since the end of the year was approaching, the deadline was fast approaching for projects that need to be accounted for on time. Tension is thicker than ever and people wanted to get things out of the way so they could take extra time off for the holidays.

I was attempting to explain to someone that there wasn't enough funds on their purchase order to pay their invoice. She only understood enough to be dangerous. Sooo, she called me but I was already gone for the day so she decided to leave the rudest voice mail that I have ever received. She was talking to me like I didn't understand what was going on. Her vocabulary included several four letters words that start with an F, S and a D. I think you get my drift. When I returned to work the following day and listened to my messages, the first message was actually an apology from this person. She said that she was sorry and she knows I am just a human being and no one deserves to be talked to that way but she doesn't agree with the way we do things in our department. She didn't sound sincere at all but more like she was trying to cover her behind.

I hadn't heard her initial message yet so I skipped through a few messages and came to her original message. I often listen to my voice mail on speaker phone and some of my co-workers overheard what was being said to me. Everyone was so upset so I discussed it with my boss and he asked me to forward the voice mail to him so he could listen to it. My co-workers were very offended not only by the way this person was talking to me, but she also put our entire department down. She simply did not understand why things are handled a certain way. I have forgiven her even though her apology was not sincere at all. I prayed for her a few times but I have not spoken to her since this incident.

To "keep it real" and be honest, I have been that person speaking to someone in a condescending manner and after being on the receiving end of some one's wrath, I get it. I understand how others have felt when it was me talking to someone when I was obviously annoyed and frustrated with them. I have hurt people's feelings before (w/o cussing) and have apologized to them for being rude. The moral of the story is, our words can really slice through a person like a sword. Even if we are not literally cussing them out, our tone can set the stage for an ugly battle. This has taught me to be more careful about the way I deal with anyone when I am frustrated. I say to myself, "Starla girl you have the right to remain silent and anything you say can and will be used against you."

Lord, you know how often I ask you for forgiveness due to my mouth. I know that if I don't forgive others, then I should not expect you to forgive me. Teach me to be slow to speak, slow to anger, slow to judge, quick to listen and quick to forgive. Create in me a clean heart, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. In Jesus name, Amen.

Starla Espinoza