Yep, I did it again: I put my foot in my mouth and and assumed I knew what I was talking about. Oh that I had remembered David’s words and prayed them before I was chewing “foot” and getting indigestion from it. “Keep me back from presumptuous sins,” he cried. “Let them not have dominion over me!” (Psalm 19:13) Thankfully, there’s another message in the Bible that has us putting delightful things in our mouths, not feet: “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” (Psalm 34: 8)

So you want to know what I did, huh? Sigh! My humbling moments unfortunately, have been far too many in regard to assumptions. I never thought I would say this, but God has worked something in me that’s amazing: I truly want to be corrected when I do something wrong. Huh?! Yes, it’s true! I had no idea before this year in my life, of what glory God gets when we are humble and what blessings can come from it. For a moment being corrected may be embarrassing or a little humiliating (maybe big time humiliating), but I am able to welcome corrections now because I know my flesh is not who I am and is just my proving ground… It provides the opportunity to get a great promotion after I acknowledge and repent over what I’ve done wrong. God turns our mistakes and problems into good, so I say “All right!” over them and “Praise the Lord” for the corrections we need that push us onward and upward.

As I write this I think of Graham Cooke, a delightful minister, who is always alive with joy because he’s learned this and actually welcomes problems. He approaches people asking: “Hey, have you got any problems?” like he’s asking for a bottle of wine knowing celebration time is coming. This is because he knows what God can do and expects Him to do wonders for him and for others. His humor and realness have great transforming power working through them, even impartations of the Lord moving endorphins and causing eyes to see at the same time. I personally have spent far too many years of being hard on myself and can’t tell you what it means to me to realize that in the end that big foot of mine can actually lead to a kiss on the cheek by our Lord.

This particular gift of trouble came after I made a comment about a writing I liked on a new blog I discovered. As some of you may know, “clarity” is a word that the Lord spoke to me a few months ago along with the word “candor. He wants me and all of His people to have these qualities, so off I charged like a knight with my “sword-thought” thinking that it would be a blessing to him. What I didn’t know until too late, was that this blogger didn’t believe in God speaking the way He does to me springing lit up words in my mind. His response to my comment had me scrambling online to find out what “anthropomorphic tendencies” were. Yikes!

But did that deter me? No! I was certain that telling my story of being an atheist just like him would be like bursting sunlight into his soul, so off I went to Jericho, forgetting that Jericho had a terrible fall. That is when my big foot said “open wide” to my mouth and jumped in. As you can guess, this man was not an atheist and I got a big “writer’s tongue lashing” over my “wild assumption” (his words.) It was humbling to be sure, but the Lord used him to make clear to me that I needed to stop making assumptions. I’ve learned that when God puts His finger on a thing, it means that His power will be coming to bring change and because I knew this, I was grateful instead of upset and angry. I truly felt God’s love in my heart and replied with kindness toward this one who I realized was a gift to me.

Later during a time of prayer, I had a vision of the Lord kissing me on both my cheeks and then another vision followed of two hearts in my chest merging together as one. Tell me: What could be better than knowing you pleased the Lord and seeing His work of righteousness merging love and understanding in your heart?

That big foot of mine is entering into the promised land now,… even the land where offenses aren’t taken up and the “foot in mouth” syndrome is no more. So you who also know about your foot being where it shouldn’t be, “Are coming with me?” If so, milk and honey will be in our mouths, not feet!