Sometimes it is in stillness and quietness that the battle is won.

I am always happy when I realize personal growth. This week has been less than stellar (in the I am not getting what I want way). But it has been super awesome in other areas. You realize your strength and your weaknesses. This week I realized both. I have a voice and I am not afraid to use it, but I try really hard not to use it irresponsibly. This is a strength. However at points during this week I realized I had not been responsible with my voice, weakness. Let me explain. There is a person in my world, whom I don’t trust. I don’t dislike this person, nor do I see them as the embodiment of evil. I just have that check in my spirit, that warns me to beware. I have learned from experience that, that check is there for a reason. So as I am growing up I am learning to pay attention to it. However, today I think that I may have hurt that person’s feeling, because I was not responsible with how I was feeling. Wondering why I see this as personal growth? I use to hurt people, realize it, and not care; because in my opinion they deserved it (as though I had the right to judge). Today I realized it. Not only did I realize it, it bothered me. I know the person is not trustworthy, but that does not at any point give me the right to trample someone else’s feelings. Realizing this stung, (it hurt me that I hurt them). Society has thought us to speak our minds, and say what we feel. God teaches us to hold our tongue, and put others first. I want to do the latter. I want to be a good witness of what I believe.

“If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless” (James 1:26).

So what am I thankful for today? Painful lessons that lead to personal growth and honest evaluation.