Recently, I was going through some old cassette tapes I had stored in the closet. I found one that I purchased when I was a teen from a quartet that had visited our church. I played the one side and turned it around to see if anything was even on the other side. To my surprise, I heard a female’s voice singing a cappella and wondered who this could be that recorded something on the other side of this tape.

After the singing this young lady had a message for my wife and I telling how much she appreciated us for ministering to her and how much we meant to her. She went on speaking of her struggles with trying to live out the Christian life and desired our prayers. She stated that these struggles were too difficult for her to speak to us in person.

The truth of the matter is that this young lady stayed with us for a while, coming out of foster care, and then moved on with her life getting married and having 3 wonderful children. The last that we had heard from her was that she was living out her faith as a dedicated Christian.

What is remarkable about this story is that she recorded this around 45 years ago and we never knew that it existed until the other day.

When I heard the things she said about us, I was overjoyed that the lives we were living had made a difference. Our words do matter. Proverbs 18:21 reminds us that our words can either bring life or death. They can either encourage or discourage others. They can build up or tear down.

Each and every day we have opportunities to use our words as we converse with others. May we ask the Lord to speak through us as we offer grace, peace, and truth.