May 31, 2023

"If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." Felicia loved the movie Bambi. He taught us a lot in that movie - how children are innocent and just curious about their environment; how different types of people can still get along together; how speaking ill of someone isn't polite...

Felicia tried, better than anyone I know, to speak kindly of and to anyone she met or knew. Sure, there are your occasional people who just want to be called "jerk." In those cases, Felicia did her best to bite her tongue. But everyone has their button, and Felicia's would get pushed every now and then but, in the 22 years that I've known her, I can't recall ever hearing her fly off the handle, lose her cool and calling anyone a litany of names. In fact, she would get onto me, sometimes, whenever I spoke ill of someone. She'd simply say, in her southern-charming way, "That's not nice."

Felicia understood the power of the tongue - the power of our words. She knew that if we mean what we say (speak from the heart), those words have consequences. This was something she learned in her childhood and grew to understand the spiritual impact of this way of thinking. And she did her best to be an example of "Bite your tongue." I always admited her for that. She taught me how to stop and think before I speak. I'll admit, I'm nowhere near as good as she was, but I'm much better than I ever was because of her...

"I'm much better than I ever was because of her..." that sentence can't be overstated. In every aspect of my life, I'm leaps and bounds better than I ever was because of my wife and her love for me. Yahweh worked through her to form me into the man I am today. Felicia wanted God to use her to reshape me. And not a moment goes by that I'm not thankful for that. Because of my beautiful bride's love for me, because of her love for people, because of her love for Adonai, my life, my own walk with Yeshua, is enabling me to climb this million-mile mountain.

Thank you, Felicia, for being an instrument for God. Thank you for your selflessness and for loving me. Through your love, and God's Guidance, I am the man I am.

I love you, Felicia. Always. Forever. #Fiercely