MEAN WORDS

Mean Words

Sometimes the memories and flashbacks flood over me with torrents of words...whispers...attacks...ugly names scrawled across every single one of my black-and-white pictures contained in my long-forgotten high school yearbooks.

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MEAN WORDS

I can feel every sting

I can see every scene

playing over in my head

There's just no relief.

Seems nothing can fill that kind of hurt

In sickness, I flip the page

beg for release -- for the memories to assuage

I tell myself I've left all this behind

Yet some wounds don't wash away with time.

"Can You take away this hurt?"

"Compress my wounds with Your nail-scarred hand

'til these flashbacks and attacks disband

Only You can breathe life into that kind of hurt

Only You see this void as unending worth

So...

breathe life back into me, mend this broken soul

So...

flood me now and make me see, Your love can make me whole

Only Your love washes away

those words that made me bleed.

Your grace, a gentle river,

cleansing every painful deed.

Let the echoes of Your mercy, drown out their cruel disdain,

Let Your truth and love surround me, wash away the hurt and pain.

For in Your arms, I find solace... a refuge from their scorn,

In the shelter of Your embrace, I am forever reborn."

-- Alisa 2021

"Sticks and stones may break my bones

but no one ever warned me about words

I smile and pretend it doesn't hurt

The older that I get, it just gets worse

Lord, find me and remind me that my worth...

...is worth...

so much more than their words"

Music by Leanna Crawford performing “Mean Girls” (Official Music Video). (C) 2021 Provident Label Group LLC, a division of Sony Music Entertainment

You’re never alone and you matter. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available 24/7/365 at 1-800-273-TALK (8255). Your call is free and confidential. - Between the Bells is a one-week interactive program designed for high school students to spark authentic conversations about mental health and to remind those struggling they are not alone. Learn more here: https://twloha.com/highschool/ - Hope Squads help to reduce youth suicide through education, training, and peer intervention. Hope Squad members are nominated by their classmates as trustworthy peers and trained by advisors. Working together, there is HOPE that suicide can be prevented. Learn more here: https://hopesquad.com/ - To Write Love on Her Arms is a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury, and suicide. TWLOHA exists to encourage, inform, inspire, and also to invest directly into treatment and recovery. To learn more and get involved visit https://twloha.com/ - To find the ‘Hope’ necklace Leanna is wearing in the music video, click here: https://store.twloha.com/collections/.... Proceeds from the purchase help support treatment and recovery for those struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury, and suicide through To Write Love on Her Arms. Join me as we walk through the importance of God’s words for us and how we can use our words for His glory in this devotional. https://leannacrawford.lnk.to/MeanGir...