18: What does God say about giving our word and not keeping it?

The Martins Unplugged

In this episode, Doreen and I tackle a huge issue that many of us deal with… have you ever given your “word” and not kept it? Ouch. Doreen and I both have a speed bump or two with this.

Doreen shares her struggle of saying yes too easily to do something making a commitment and then all the time while she is doing that thing she gave her word about, she is regretting not having the courage to have just said “NO” because she did not want to feel guilty about saying what was in her heart and that was to have said “NO”, so she said yes and regretted it.

For me it is worse. I get selective on who I keep my word to and for some I give my word and if something else pops up on my radar to do, I use this as my excuse to justify why I didn’t keep my word. Many times I even failed to let that person know. I hate to say it but it is usually someone who I don’t really care about what they think of me. On the otherhand if I value that friendship or relationship… I will keep my word or die trying. There is another area of keeping my word that I struggle with as well and my daughter hit me between the eyes with this one. I would tell her simple little things… like let’s go to the store or gym and I allow a business call or something to keep me from doing what I had said I would do with her. Ouch. I had no idea how that had impacted my daughter. Piper was counting on it and made other plans around what I had said we would do, like meeting her friend at the gym. My broken word put her in a bad light with her friend.

One of the big take-a-ways you will get from this podcast is when I share about how saying “NO” can be made into a positive. I will also share a secret that will give some of you listening great freedom which is… it is okay to give yourself permission to not feel obligated to give a reason why you are saying “NO”.