Power of a Praying Woman 10/17/06 9:02 AM Page 223
j C HAPTER T WENTY-S IX i
Lord, Train Me to Speak Only Words That Bring Life
hen I was 14, I introduced a neighbor boy to one of my girlfriends as “Fat Mike.” All the other kids called him “Fat Mike” to distinguish him from the other Mikes who weren’t. The moment I did that, however, I saw a hurt look in his eyes, and I realized that this was not a name he called himself. I felt very bad about that because I never intended to hurt him. In fact, I thought Mike was good-looking, and I didn’t ?nd his being on the heavy side as unattractive. But he obviously did. I just thought this was a funny nickname that he was okay with. He obviously wasn’t. I was too ignorant at the time to realize no one feels good about a name like that. And I was also too embarrassed and immature to apologize. I hoped that by pretending the entire incident didn’t happen that he would forget about it and everything would be ?ne. I moved away not long after that and never saw him again. I didn’t think much about that incident until about 15 years later, after I became a believer. Wanting to be completely right with God and mend the past, I asked the Lord to bring to my mind anything I needed to be forgiven of so
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