How’s Your Self-Talk These Days?

“People speak the things that are in their hearts.”     Lk 6:45 NCV

When John Roebling devised a plan to build a bridge between Manhattan and Brooklyn, experts thought it was impossible. They said a bridge spanning that distance couldn’t withstand the winds and tides. But Roebling refused to concede defeat; instead, he and his son, Washington, worked to solve the problems. Then just as construction was about to start, an underwater accident killed Roebling and left his son brain-damaged and unable to walk or talk. The prevailing wisdom was to abandon the project, but Washington Roebling was determined to fulfill his father’s dream. He developed a system of communication by touching a finger to his wife’s arm, and she in turn conveyed his ideas to the project engineers. For thirteen years that’s how he supervised construction—and in 1883 the first car drove across the Brooklyn Bridge. The “impossible” had become reality! Are you facing a seemingly impossible situation at home, on the job, with your finances, or in a relationship? If so, what you tell yourself about it is important. Your self-talk sets you up for joy or misery. You can tell where your faith is by what comes out of your mouth: “Good people bring good things out of the good they stored in their hearts” (v. 45 NCV). One pastor says: “When the pressure’s on, what comes out of your mouth lets you know if you need to make some adjustments…When you want something to show up in your outward man, deposit God’s Word in the inward man. Feed on it continually …once you believe it you’ll find yourself saying it, and once you start saying it your entire being will reflect the treasure of His Word inside.”

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