People can be very careless and thoughtless with their words, myself included. Nearly everybody has, at some point, said something that hurt, offended, angered or insulted another person without meaning to or sometimes we speak hurtful words in a moment of anger. This is human, and normal and if we try to be kind and tactful with our words and apologize sincerely when we know we have inflicted pain or offense, we are doing all that we can do. But sometimes, people use their words like a knife toward another person, slicing their peace and chopping up their self-worth. This, I consider to be in the category of abuse, verbal abuse. Other people may not call it that, other people may not consider it abuse at all, but I do. And believe me, it is a VERY SERIOUS THING. I have been verbally abused, and I know how deeply it cuts into your soul. I know how seriously it degrades your self-worth and dignity and how long the impact of it sticks with you and rattles around in your mind, till you scream or panic from the unrest and anguish it causes. When I was young, I used to think that abuse could be done only by inflicting pain physically. But it is not. It DEFINITELY is not. Verbal and physiological abuse can be just as serious as physical abuse and can do as much damage, though of course, in a very different way. I have had friends who were abused physically tell me that what I was going through was just as hard, just as bad and just as serious as went they had gone through. They helped me see that it really was abuse, even though I had never been hit and they helped me realize that this kind of abuse, the kind that messes with your mind, that makes you believe that you are worthless, pathetic, unloved, ugly, or an outcast, is very damaging and can be life threatening. If you don't believe that your life is worth anything, if you believe that you are ugly and unwanted, because you heard it enough times and because you were treated like trash over and over, you can start to internalize it and believe it deep within your being. And if you believe that you are worthless, what's to stop you from ending your own life. Words can KILL. Verbal abuse is SERIOUS. And even if the words are only a few unkind, degrading statements made to you, whether it was recent or fifteen years ago, these words can become a swollen, painful lump in your soul, spreading throughout you, wrecking havoc, making you look with fearful eyes at the world. We need to treat this matter with much seriousness. We need to think about our words and our intentions and make it one of our highest goals in life, to always strive to use our words to build each other up, to encourage, comfort, guide and express love to each other. We should use our words as God intended, to speak truth, to spread love, hope and encouragement, we should never use our words as a weapon, as a means to destroy, degrade, dehumanize, cut down and injure each other. Verbal abuse is serious and is wrecking lives and endangering people all over the world. Let's learn to see it, call it out and do our best to put a stop to it. If anyone reading this has suffered from this kind of abuse, know that your feelings and your pain are valid and reasonable and that you deserve much time to heal and much understanding and love. Know that you are priceless because God made you with intention and care to have a place in this world. Know that you are loved and needed and that I am praying for you.