Whether or not you have ever birthed a baby, by God’s design all women are created to be life givers. God gave us a capacity in our bodies and in our spirits to give life, to nurture, to encourage, and to comfort with our words.

Here are four ways our words give life.

1. Listening

It’s a skill to know when to speak and when not to speak. Wives, are you taking time to listen to your husband when he comes home or are you quick to tell him all about your day and which child did what? Ladies, are you taking time to listen to your co-worker who’s had a rough week? We give life when we listen because it shows other people that we care for them and that we are willing to do life with them.

You won’t know how to begin giving life with your words if you aren’t listening to what people are saying.

“My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.”

James 1:19 (NIV)

2. Encouraging

Our words can give life or death. A bad word divides, deceives, and destroys:

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.”

Proverbs 18:21

We fail to encourage others when we gossip. When you hear news that someone is dating someone else, do you feel the urge to run to your small group and tell everyone? Or when you hear bad news about someone else, do you find that you need to “process” it with other women? What are your motives in running to tell someone else?

If you have a hard time determining if something is gossip, ask yourself: Is this helpful for building others up according to their needs? Does it benefit those who are listening (Eph. 4:29)? We give life when we point people to the Lord with our words.

From our relationship with God, our heart overflows with words, as David’s did in Psalm 19:14:

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD.”

We should desire for our words to be pleasing in the sight of the Lord. Not to capture the attention of those around us or to be the person in the know, but to speak words of life that point to Christ. When our lives aren’t found in Christ, our words aren’t rooted in the Lord but in Satan. Our struggle to give life with our words is a struggle of our hearts.

3. Rebuking

We aren’t giving life if we aren’t willing to love someone with a godly rebuke. Don’t sit in silence. Hate sin and fight for the purity of the community around you in light of eternity.

When rebuking someone, first we have to identify if the person is really in sin. We do this by going to Scripture and comparing our friend’s actions to what the Bible says.

Then, we pray for wisdom and grace, and for the power to speak in love. Pray for the one you are rebuking. Pray for a conviction of sin, that they would leave your conversation desiring to be more like Christ and seek repentance.

4. Praising

We are quick to give attention and praise to how others dress. Yet we are slow to give praise and honor to people for something they’ve done. Aren’t people more valuable than a cute outfit? We get to celebrate with one another and to celebrate each other. We give life by praising people: we give them honor and we affirm the work that the Lord is doing in them.

As women, we can live out the call to be life givers at any point in our life regardless of our marital status, number of children, or grandchildren. Be a woman who gives life to those around you in your homes, work places, and churches.