I watch a thousand little knives cut into the soul every single day. My soul. The souls of others. They say that the tongue is the strongest muscle in the body. It’s also the sharpest. We have a weapon at our disposal at all times. And most of us have no clue how to wield it. We brandish it about carelessly. We stab at the people who are on our side. We stab and stab and stab and wonder why we live in a world full of people who are bleeding out.

I walk through life every day and am horrified by the carnage I see. I watch people shove each other deeper and deeper in to shame. Into bondage. I watch as a thousand little knives whiz by me and at me every single day. I watch helplessly as God’s children shrink deeper into themselves after they are shot down by a brother or sister. I watch jealousy at the best of people I love, and I watch them subsequently pull out their knives to throw at the people they see as competition. Because surely that person will not be better than them if they are weakened from profuse bleeding. I look back at the carnage in my own life. I look at the death that has been spoken over me. I look at the way satan tried over and over again to silence me.

But the funny thing is, those words that are meant to tear us down, those traps that satan tries to throw us into, actually end up being the very things that make us strong. The words meant to tear us down lead us to the downward spirals of self-doubt that lead to self-discovery in the end. We question ourselves so deeply, we turn the words over and over in our minds so often that we end up finding what it is that we really love about ourselves. We learn that the very things that someone else sees as weaknesses are actually our strengths.

So I am thankful for the thousands of little knives that have been thrown my way. I am thankful for those that have used their weapon against me. Because I know who I am now. I stand firm in who I am. I stand firm in liking who I am even when others are not so fond of me. I have my own opinion and am no longer afraid to stand up for it. A thousand little knives have made me who I am. Although intended to tear me down, they have done the opposite.