Speak up!

I've been told all of my life to "speak up!" I also heard:
"Don't be so shy, nobody will bite you."
"Shut up!"
"She doesn't have anything to say now; I guess I told her!"
"Oh, here we go again, more stories."
--all of which served to silence me.

You get the picture.

God doesn't have a time line, that I understand anyway. Is it too late at 50+ to break the silence? If I were asked that question in my 30s, I'd think, why bother then! What difference could it make by then?

satan began to steal my voice when I was about 4 years old. Later, he let me think I got it back, accessed through the use of alcohol and drugs. Oh, the things I said.....even a pirate would flunk one of my vocabulary tests back then, if you know what I mean!


I had an amazing opportunity to share with 200 women this past weekend. At first, I prayed for a good hair day; I mean how could I stand in front of everyone with weird hair? Oh, this is all about me -- wait, no it isn't, it's about what God wants me to do -- then I asked God to give me an anointing to reach whomever needed to hear this word, to "shake something loose" as a sweet friend of mine so aptly phrased it.

I shared my testimony, well, part of it -- I ran out of time. I trust that was God's doing as well. Did my words help anyone? Probably, but I don't know that personally. I did receive a lot of feedback on my particular brand of humor. In short, I made people laugh; that was fun! What I now know is that being willing to share, and preparing based on what I felt in my heart, and the act of speaking itself gave me a brand new testimony:

I found my voice.

And I had fun in that discovery!
There is an indescribable freedom in following the plan God has for your life as you learn it. He reveals each step as it comes, as He readies and equips you for it.