About the Author

Holley Gerth is a Wall Street Journal bestselling author, counselor, and life coach. Her newest release is The Powerful Purpose of Introverts: Why the World Needs You to Be You. She's also wife to Mark, Mom to Lovelle, and Nana to Eula and Clem.

(in)side DaySpring: things we love
& you will too!
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(in)side DaySpring:
things we love
& you will too!
Find more at
DaySpring.com
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  1. Holley,
    Reading your post, I think of all the verses in Proverbs that caution against an angry tongue. It’s sad, that in this day and age, we can hide behind our computer screens and lob vicious words at each other – words that we would never say to someone face to face. I join you in being committed to using my words to encourage and build others up and not tear them down. Even among His enemies, Jesus showed love and compassion. That’s a hard model to live up to, but we can try or we can simply give up and give in. Joining with you in guarding my words and in doing so, guarding the hearts of others. May God be our strength.
    Blessings,
    Bev xx

  2. Holley,
    I love the analogy of swords being drawn. Swords are for battle, not for peace. We have to lay them down at some point if we are going to stop waging war. Brene Brown uses the phrase “I’m not here to be right. I’m here to get it right.” As long as we are communicating through weapons, we will only see those on the other side of our beliefs as the enemy. We will never see them as fellow image-bearers of God. We will never embrace our sameness. We will continually look for ways to justify our anger and rightness. May we all lay down our verbal swords and start truly listening.
    Keep writing and fighting the good fight.
    Your words matter.
    Kim

  3. Write on, Holley! Well said. When we’re feeling frustrated and scared, we must turn away and love on the people God puts in our path.

  4. Holley,

    Definitely joining you in a commitment of words. On social media I am very cognizant of the words I post. Wanting always to build up & not tear down anyone. In fact I use the think method of writing. Is it true, helpful, inspiring, necessary or kind. Answer no then don’t post it. I read so many angry posts from people sharing their opinions. My choice is to ignore it & move on. People don’t realize how words ca offend & hurt others. It may seem innocent to you at the time, but can be detrimental to someone else. God made us all different/unique. We won’t always have the same opinion. That is alright. God commands us to love each other as He loves us. We should all think before we write or speak. Take the time to consider your words & the audience you are writing to. Don’t give in to fear but love everyone as Christ did.

    Blessings 🙂

  5. Love this, Holley! Thank you! Ive been holding onto 2 Timothy 1:7 in this season. “For God has given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” 🙂 Love conquers all! All fear, all hate, all evil, all prejudice. Because LOVE conquered all…all sin, all death. Jesus, our truest example of love

  6. I have been disappointed to see some of the vitriol in some recent comments as I have always thought of this community to be a place of love, support and grace.

    I am a pretty opinionated person, so I can understand the desire to express oneself. However, I always to try to express a difference of opinion with respect.

    In this community (and elsewhere) may we lift each other up.

  7. “Because if we live with swords drawn in defense, then we are always on guard, looking for the next fight, seeing threatening shadows in every corner.”

    So true!! Reminds me of a song by Jason Gray, “Fear Is Easy, Love Is Hard.” There’s a line in the song that says “A well defended heart is always looking for a fight/ in a lonely war against an endless night…” That line gets me every time because it is so true. We fight hardest when we’re scared. If only we would learn to fight for each other, as your friend said, instead of with each other then this world could be a much better place!

    Blessings,
    M @ In Beautiful Chaos

  8. JTINLIN
    My pastor preached a similar massage this morning. I am with you! I am so exhausted by the negativity and the opinions. I am committed to being a voice of hope and a light in the world. We women, especially need to be cheerleaders for one another. Let’s be voices of grace and mercy to our sister’s in Christ.

  9. Beautiful words! I pray that we all, as God’s girls, will use our words to uplift and renew one another – I commit!!

  10. This is perfect. I just logged out of Facebook (again) because people have to be so negative and hateful. I don’t get the point of putting it on Facebook. I refuse to participate, so I just log out and move on. I will not engage with hate. Thank you for writing this post.

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