Has this ever happened to you? A word keeps popping up everywhere and it brings back such a negative feeling that you rather not hear it or read it ever again?
 
For me that word is the word inspiration.
 
It started off as a word which was postive; a happy and exciting word. By definition, it is something I still love to have happen to me and which I love to give to others. Then, due to an devastating experience which involved its repetitious use, the word not only lost its luster, inspiration did exactly the opposite to me that it should have and it took on a very draining, negative and painful association. Once the experience ended, the word began to feel like a taunting spirit that would not allow me to move on completely. It could have very well been a spirit of betrayal, hurt or grief prowling around me incogito.
 
After prayer, much of the damage from that situation was healed and I conveniently left "the word" out of my vocabulary for the next several months to avoid feeling the sting in now carried with it.
 
That is, until the last three weeks, when it began to appear everywhere. It was on websites I went to, in books I read or even glanced at on bookstore shelves, in articles in magazines at the dentist's office and more. Are there not enough words to go around that this had to happen? I felt like the character in The Phantom Tollbooth as he makes his way through the world of words or Alice trying to return to reason.
 
At this point I realized it was a heavenly memo from God and asked,
"What are you up to here, Lord?"
I could almost see a smile on His face in heaven. Moving on wasn't going to be enough.
Today I read it again. This time in a secular book on blogging.
"Ok, Lord, this is time number what,...twenty this month alone?  What is going on?"
"Glad I got your attention, child."  I could sense a playful tone as He spoke to my spirit.
"Look it up. Maybe it means something new now." 
 
And so it does:
 
My new favorite meaning of the verb form of the word inspiration is: "to guide or affect by divine influence" 
(Source: Websters II New Riverside Dictionary)
 
Just like that, He gave me a fresh perspective on a favorite word. He reminded me that it is what He has called me to do for His kingdom, no matter what interfered with it in the past.
 
Do you have a word or words which need to be redefined by the Master Author? Heed the heavenly memo about it and be set free to love that word again. No word is too small for His healing touch, my friend. He can replace any negative memory associated with it. Great words should not be allowed to be stolen out of our writing or artistic toolkit by the enemy of our creativity.
 
After all, He is the original Word:
 
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.
 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
John 1:1-3 (New International Verson)