Words Aptly Spoken by Ginny Helm

Today we welcome, Mrs. Ginny Helm, a lovely pastor’s wife and friend. Thank you, Ginny, for your prayers, encouragement, and words of wisdom. Proverbs 27:9 is so applicable in regard to Ginny. “Oil and perfume make the heart glad, so counsel is sweet to a friend.” Your counsel has indeed been sweet to me!

As the wife of a pastor, I found myself moving away from family and the familiar to a place called Michigan. At the time my husband and I had four young children, the youngest a newborn. I have always liked change and I looked forward to meeting new people and growing in new ways.

The cold snow laden winters and adjusting to not having a car or being able to find my way anywhere even if I did, was an adjustment. The church was larger than any other I had ever attended and because I was occupied with a young family it was hard to make friends. My husband was busy with his new ministry and I was often lonely.

One week I had had a dispute with a woman from the church and was feeling especially low. I had tried to approach the situation with love and understanding but I was misunderstood. We had a large front window on our home. One day that week I woke up to see a large poster attached to the window facing in, it read, “You are loved”. There was something very special about those words being anonymous. Those words released me to be free of gloom and despair. It felt as if God himself had spoken those words and put up that poster. It no longer mattered what someone else thought of me. I was loved.

I learned that words have a powerful impact on all of us, whether written or spoken. One of my favorite proverbs is Proverbs 12:11, “A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver”.  Can you just imagine how beautiful solid gold apples would be in an elaborately woven silver basket? What a gift that would be. In the same way a fitting word spoken at the right time can bring great delight to a person’s day and have a profound effect on that person, possible lasting a life time.

When I was in my twenties, my husband and I were at the church for a business meeting. I was in the kitchen determined to wipe every counter and have all the work done before I went into the meeting. My husband was calling from fellowship hall. Ladies, leave the kitchen – it’s time to start the meeting. Just then an older woman I greatly admired walked through the kitchen. I remarked, “Sometimes I feel so much more like a Martha than a Mary” (Luke 10:39). She replied, “O Ginny, there is plenty of evidence in your life that you have spent time at the feet of Jesus”. That was “apples of gold” to me. From then on, I wanted to live that way. So that people would see evidence that I had spent time at the feet of Jesus.

That kind of evidence is shown mostly through our words. I make a habit of reading a proverb a day that corresponds with the date, such as on May 1 I read Proverbs 1 and so on through the month. The book of Proverbs is full of instructions on our words.  Proverbs 18:21 NASB SAYS, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.”        

Another powerful verse is Proverbs 29:9, “The heartfelt counsel (or words) of a friend is as sweet ad perfume and incense”. We have the potential to be as sweet as a lovely perfume to others. “The lips of a the righteous nourish many”. Proverbs 10:21a

Lord help us to offer words that are beautiful and nourishing.

Ginny Helm was raised in Philadelphia and is a mother of four and grandmother of 9. She has ministered mostly in New Jersey with her husband John who is the pastor of First Baptist Church of Asbury Park. Previously, John was the pastor of First Baptist Church of Pt. Pleasant Beach, NJ, for 29 years.