HELEN SANDERS
4-6-2026
THE AUTOGRAPH BOOK

Many years ago, I had an autograph book. Many friends put little notes in it and signed their names. Some of the things they wrote were funny while others wrote more serious messages.

My favorite Aunt Gertrude also wrote in my autograph book, and I will always remember what she wrote. She wrote, “Words, like thoughts, may fall back dead, but even God himself cannot re-call them (take them back) once they are said.”

I don’t think she ever knew how powerful those words affected me. You see, Proverbs 18:21 speaks about words also. It says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.”

Words spoken, even those in jest, will either bring life to another person or death. You may be a comment in jest to someone that can sting, and you may even say, I was just kidding. Yet, those words will either bring the other person life or death.

We should always think before we speak. In Matthew 12:37 Jesus said, “For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.”

Are you speaking life over yourself? Are you speaking life over others? Choose your words wisely because either life or death will come from them.

If someone has spoken words of death that have hurt, you must immediately forgive that person and choose not to think on them anymore. Don’t let that hurt become an offense. Don’t be a reactionary and speak evil of that person. Let it go. Forgive them and forget.

If you have been the one that has spoken words of death, then ask God to forgive you, and if possible, ask the person you hurt to forgive you too. Then move on. Don’t look back. Don’t think about it again. Learn your lesson and choose to speak life.