Zip your lip

James 1:19-20, 26
My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.
Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.

There is a lot of background to this post, which frankly, I don't feel like spelling out right now.  It would end up being a five part series.
We'll just say this - Last night, for once, God really got ahold of my heart and my tongue before I went off thinking I knew exactly what I was talking about.

I've been reading through the Love Dare, attempting to live out each dare completely, therefore actually taking more than 40 days.  But one thing that keeps coming up over and over is the mouth.  This is not surprising, this happened when I read Love and War by John & Stasi Eldredge too.

For as long as I can remember, I've had a bad habit of thinking I completely understand someone, and I start talking (which can take the form of unwanted advice, correction, rants, you-name-it, it isn't always anger).  90% of the time it gets me in trouble.

It almost happened last night.  And then God checked me.  I felt this small voice say "But you don't know the background either.  You know you have questions about what they mean, so why don't you pray for them instead?"

It was humbling and scary and eye-opening.  Humbling that God would talk to me - I mean, I believe God talks to others, but I've always struggled with believing he would talk to me in an audible way, in a word way, in a way I think and understand (I tend to believe God speaks to me in signs or pictures, and I'm such a word person it just doesn't work, last night was different).  Scary that I needed to be reminded to pause and pray, something I should already know, something I should be adult enough, mature enough to do without reminders.  Eye-opening that maybe, just maybe the studying I've been doing really is producing something noticeable in my life.