Zip the Lip 2017

Now THIS is sanctification lol A lot of times we as women get a bad rep and are often stereotyped as being "mouthy", "sarcastic" and always having "something to say." I disagree that this is an accurate stereotype BUT for me I personally have issues keeping my mouth shut sometimes. I don't have a problem with cursing or being disrespectful to people. My problem moreso deals with making comments that just don't need to be said! 

One night, my two girlfriends and I were watching one of Heather Lindsey's monthly study videos that she does every month on her YouTube channel and at that time she was speaking about Biblical Womanhood. Towards the end of the video, she spoke about how sometimes we as women speak when we don't need to. How we input our opinion into conversations when they weren't warranted and how we sometimes have smart and snappy rebuttals. She spoke on how that behavior is not biblical. And then she mentioned the phrase "zip the lip." When my friends and I heard that phrase we immediately were convicted. I automatically thought of all the arguments and difficult situations I've found myself in over the past 23 years because I was unable to zip my lip at the appropriate time. The Bible speaks of how women should have a meek and gentle spirit and not blurting out statements whenever we feel the need to.

Now, I try to do two things before I speak. One being taking a pause to think before I speak. This helps a lt when it comes to blurting out information. By taking a pause before I speak, I can really process my thoughts and also let the Holy Spirit  lead the conversation. Many times when I say things the tone can be mistaken for an argumentative tone and more often than not, it's not. When I take a pause and let my thoughts settle, my tone settles as well and it's not mistaken or misconstrued.

The other things I try to do is pray before I speak. I try to pray before I have important and hard conversations but one thing I need to do is begin to pray before general conversations. It is harder but this also gives space for the Holy Spirit to move.

James 3 talks about taming the tongue. "With our tongue we praise the Lord and Father and with the same tongue we use it to curse human beings." The tongue can speak life but it can also speak death. Our tongue holds so much power and we have to understand that,

My goal is to Zip My Life in 2017 and beyond. I will definitely work hard to only say things that are relevant and edifying in conversation and work hard to pause and pray before I speak. This is sanctification from the Lord and it's hard but it's so worth it to be more like Jesus Christ!