Stewardship Spotlight #2

This week I am thrilled to shine the spotlight on a sweet, personal friend of mine: Nikki. I met Nikki through church and have grown to love and admire her so much! First, she is probably one of the kindest people I have ever met. I’m sure I’ve never heard her raise her voice, and every time I talk with her I leave feeling encouraged and refreshed. I can’t wait for you to meet her.

Hi, Nikki! Thanks so much for agreeing to let me interview you. Tell our readers a little bit about yourself.
First of all, I am completely unqualified to answer any of the following questions (editor’s note: totally untrue!) . . . I desire gentleness, purity and praise in my speech – but i fail so often! Ok, all that said, my name is Nikki. I am a 31-year-old wife and mom. My kids are 5, 3, and 1. Jeff and I have been married for 8 years – we met blissfully in the dining center at the university we attended. Before starting our family, I provided “in-home” care for developmentally delayed children.

What do you think it means to be a good steward of your words and why is it important?
I think it means to try and be wise with the gift of one’s voice . . . simply to be salt and light to those who hear me. This is of the utmost importance because of the power of the tongue for positive and negative.

How do you become a good steward of your words?
I believe obedience begins in the eyes and mind – so the first step of this is to monitor what “goes in” to my mind (with what i watch, what i listen too, etc). And just as importantly, capturing the “unholy traffic” that flies through my mind, and instead of dwelling on it, sending it back out. Sounds corny, but it works for me. The meditations of my mind travel to my heart and then spill out in word and deed. Usually, if these meditations are good, my words and deed follow suit.

What do you do or how do you slow yourself down to think before you speak and use words intentionally?
Well, even a fool is thought wise if he stays silent. I think this is hard; especially as women, we feel the need to fill the empty space in conversation, and this is often when I find myself slipping up with my tongue. Also, if i’m unwilling to be part of the solution, I try to not “discuss” the problem. This helps me when I have the temptation to gossip or criticize.

If you have a difficult message to share, but want to share it with grace and love, how do you approach that conversation?
First, I pray that God will use His spirit to resolve the issue apart from me. Then I wait and watch. If I sense that He wants me to say something, I try to start and end the conversation with a positive, and tuck the negative somewhere in the middle. I suppose it’s a bit passive, but i call it the “negative sandwich.”

I’ll be posting this on Thursdays, my recipe-posting day. Would you mind sharing a favorite recipe?
Of course! Here’s my recipe for Chicken Curry Salad.

Trust me, friends, you want to try this salad. Not only because Nikki is a great cook, but because everyone I know who has had it raves about it for weeks!

Thanks, Nikki, for sharing your heart and your words. I can tell you from experience, Nikki is as amazing, sweet and full of grace as she sounds in her interview here.

Check out her blog when you get a chance, and stay tuned next week as we talk with Kacie about being a steward of our finances.

To read the other posts in this series, click here.